USF @ Pilots @ 7pm

Pregame Brewfest begins at 5:30 featuring at least five local breweries (the feature beer is "Co-Pilot IPA"), and the food special is a Nacho Bar and a Mac n Cheese Bar.

It's Junior Parents Weekend and there is also a play at Mago Hunt, so parking will be even more limited than usual....

USF is favored by 14.5 (o/u is 140)

Last year the Dons "nipped" the Pilots, 84-61, as freshman Souley Boum hit a career high 26 points, but this year Souley is at UTEP and the entire team is better than ever.

Does UP basketball ever have a parking problem?

Impressive first half in that we did NOT have more turnovers than made baskets. 9 of each.

Very good effort tonight and nice to take care of the ball too.

Took care of the ball after the opening 10 minutes anyway.

Just couldn’t get a stop in OT. I don’t think USF had an OT possession without scoring until Ferrari missed the front end of the late one-and-one.

Tonight they hung with a real good team. Baby steps.

Dean Murdoch wrote:Took care of the ball after the opening 10 minutes anyway.

Just couldn’t get a stop in OT. I don’t think USF had an OT possession without scoring until Ferrari missed the front end of the late one-and-one.

Tonight they hung with a real good team. Baby steps.

Yeah think maybe 6 or 7 TO in the first 10 minutes- then at one point I believe they went 12 minutes without one. Made SF beat them. Really think they'll beat Santa Clara in the finale. If McSwiggan hit that open 3 in the OT things might have turned out differently.

Well, despite my pessimistic halftime post, last night turned out to be the first game in a LONG time when it has actually been enjoyable to watch a full Pilots game. I honestly, legitimately had fun at the game last night, which has not been the case for quite a while. It makes such a huge difference to have a good crowd on hand (and one that is actually rooting for the home team!), and then for the team to give that crowd a reason to get involved in the game. All around, last night was promising.

That being said, I did find a couple of coaching decisions in the OT period to be questionable, especially since they were contrary to what the team did to have success throughout the game.

First, McSwiggan. He started OT and I think he played the entire extra period. Very bad coaching decision. At this point he is a liability on offense, and I don't get the sense that he is a world beater on defense either. He scored 4 points in regulation, and then 0 in OT. Including, as bobcat2 noted, missing a three-point attempt at a key juncture... That missed shot came right after a timeout, and looked like a designed play. If you need a bucket in OT, why in the world would you design a play for McSwiggan to shoot a three? He is currently shooting .313 on the season.

Second, Diabate. As in, why was he not playing in OT? Without his offense in the second half, we would not have made it to OT in the first place. Instead, Akwuba played in OT despite having racked up only 3 points and 3 rebounds in regulation. Then Hogland came in. Hogland is more of an offensive threat than Akwuba, but why would you not go with the hot hand (Diabate) with the game on the line?

So with Akwuba and McSwiggan on the floor, the Pilots had 2 out of 5 players who pose approximately zero offensive threat. And then when you had a chance to set up a play coming out of a timeout down by 4, you design it for McSwiggan.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:Well, despite my pessimistic halftime post, last night turned out to be the first game in a LONG time when it has actually been enjoyable to watch a full Pilots game. I honestly, legitimately had fun at the game last night, which has not been the case for quite a while. It makes such a huge difference to have a good crowd on hand (and one that is actually rooting for the home team!), and then for the team to give that crowd a reason to get involved in the game. All around, last night was promising.

Very much the same for me. Can't remember the last time I had as much fun or was as invested watching a Pilots game.

I'm shocked they only ended up with 10 turnovers in a 45-minute game. They had SIX in the first 10 minutes, and then only four the rest of the way. That's outstanding against a solid team in a game with as much high-leverage situations as yesterday's had.

Also - rebounding! Pretty much a dead wash between the two teams which is a massive improvement from where it's been for much of the year. The one late possession where USF went missed 3, rebound, missed 3, rebound, made 3 absolutely stung - and I think the Dons had a couple of second-chance baskets in OT, but so did the Pilots. Credit to the young collection of bigs, especially Diabate who had each of UP's final four field goals in regulation.

I think a lot of us have been looking for some tangible reason to be optimistic about this squad. Last night we got it, and it was a lot of fun to watch.

It was fun!  The noisy crowd (lots of kids, junior parent’s night, beer fest), energized the players, and the result was a competitive game.

USF has something UP does not, 5th year senior Frankie Ferrari…. and not only did he put the team on his shoulders in OT, he was like another assistant coach on the floor the entire game…. always directing his teammates.

I sit with some pretty savvy fans, and they too questioned the out-of-timeout play to Josh, and not having D and Hugh in the game at the beginning of OT, but I’m hesitant to criticize the coaches when I know I couldn’t do better…. but we all know we could do better than the refs!  

With seven days between games, this past week was spent on reducing turnovers and rebounding instead of only preparing for USF, and that preparation paid off.

Assuming UP will lose May graduates Xavier, Crisshawn, Franklin, and Josh (it appears the NCAA in not going to allow Josh a 4th year), I was heartened that the best performances were turned-in by players who will (barring transfer) return next season…. and the season after that too!

Hard to say if the Pilots will win again this season, but I think most of us will welcome competitive and exciting games like Saturday night’s until they do.