Pilots vs. UC Davis at 1 o'clock Saturday

The Pilots have to make a quick mental and physical turnaround to play UC Davis at 1pm in the AFTERNOON on Saturday, but the Aggies might be even more fatigued.

UCD is 2-4 on the season after beating Idaho, losing to Arkansas St., and then losing to VMI in OT, over four nights in Jonesboro, Arkansas before coming home and losing to Sacramento St. last night on just three days rest.

The Pilots appeared to be injury free after last night's melee in the Viking Pavilion, but there's bound to be a mental letdown after playing a "rivalry game" against the crosstown Vikings.  (We've had the discussion about "rivalry games" before, and I gotta say, last night's game definitely seemed to meet all the criteria...and I hope it continues to feel that way as it would be good for both programs).

Like the Pilots, UC Davis has a freshman at the point, Ezra Manjon, and his backup is also a freshman, which probably explains the higher rate of turnovers that UCD is experiencing compared to their usually good ball-control game...

It's kind of scary that UP is actually favored in this game, but let's not get too far over our skis just yet...


I'm guessing UP's point guard, Chase Adams,  can matchup quite well against any other mid-major freshman point guard...Saturday will be a test of that theory.

DoubleDipper wrote:... after playing a "rivalry game" against the crosstown Vikings.  (We've had the discussion about "rivalry games" before, and I gotta say, last night's game definitely seemed to meet all the criteria...and I hope it continues to feel that way as it would be good for both programs)...

I would still argue that the Vikings are our only true rival in the traditional sense of the word -- even if it is not "heated." I'm not sure what the official number is, but I believe that we hold the all-time record against the Vikings at either 20-18 or 19-18, so it's pretty close! (Source)

Anyway, if you want to have a decent discussion of rivalry, here is the "academic" definition of rivalry from Tyler and Cobbs (2017): "a highly salient outgroup that poses acute threat to ingroup identity and/or esteem." I only fear that this means anyone could be a rival.

Perhaps I should have left these thoughts in the PSU thread. Looking forward to this weekend's game!

DoubleDipper wrote:It's kind of scary that UP is actually favored in this game, but let's not get too far over our skis just yet...

Despite their 2-4 record, the Pilots better not take these guys lightly, they've got four players averaging in double-figures, and their highly regarded freshman point guard, Manjon, is living up to his preseason hype.

#11 Caleb Fuller G 6' 5" 210 lbs Sophomore - 11.5 ppg
#22 Joe Mooney G 6' 3" 187 lbs Senior - 16 ppg
#13 Matt Neufeld C 6' 11" 240 lbs Senior - 13 ppg/5 rpg
#5 Ezra Manjon G 5' 11" 165 lbs Freshman - 12.5 ppg
#40 Elijah Pepper G 6' 4" 200 lbs Freshman

Don't foul Neufeld or Mooney, they're a combined 37-46 from the line.

As a team the Aggies shoot just 33% from beyond the arc, but they've limited their opponents to just 29%, and as DD mentioned, they've been having trouble with turnovers, averaging over 16 per game.

What do you think? Do the Pilots try to go inside and take advantage of their size advantage...I guess that's for Coach Geving to decide.

FloridaPilot wrote:I would still argue that the Vikings are our only true rival in the traditional sense of the word -- even if it is not "heated."

For me, in my first "live" game of the season, it was definitely a rivalry game, and I think the players felt that way too as many know one another from summer open gym sessions. But for the fans, it certainly didn't seem heated.

A pretty good turnout, but just like at UP, the Viking Pavilion was lacking students to make a lot of noise or wave signs.  When I popped into a pizza place in the heart of PSU's campus before the game, I asked a number of students if they'd be going to the game, and all looked at me like I was from outer space.  "There's a game?" "What sport?"

I was just noticing that the next 6 teams on the schedule collectively have 1 win, and the win belongs to UC Davis

Geezaldinho wrote:I was just noticing that the next 6 teams on the schedule collectively have 1 win, and the win belongs to  UC Davis

Haha, yeah I too noticed that, and even highly touted Houston, UP's seventh opponent is 2-2 after today's 12 point loss at #12 Oregon.

D-1 games only:
UCD 1-4
Incarnate Word 0-4
CSUN 0-5
Seattle U. 0-4
Florida A&M 0-4
Jackson St. 0-5
Houston 2-2

But as UP's women's team found out yesterday after taking their 4-0 record against CSUN's 0-4 record: "On any given day..."

The losses by the No. 25-ranked Pilots to PSU and Idaho are a forever reminder that this team cannot take any team lightly. Ever. 

Heck, I was worried about Willamette after the Multnomah near-disaster. I worried about SJSU because of the Hofstra win. I worried about Maine because of the emotional factor with Isaiah playing his old team. I worried about PSU because of that aggravating pressure style they play. And now I’ll worry about UC Davis for possibly no good reason other than I’m a Pilots fan and heading into the game with a feeling of despair is just kind of the norm.

Dean Murdoch wrote:The losses by the No. 25-ranked Pilots to PSU and Idaho are a forever reminder that this team cannot take any team lightly. Ever. 

Heck, I was worried about Willamette after the Multnomah near-disaster. I worried about SJSU because of the Hofstra win. I worried about Maine because of the emotional factor with Isaiah playing his old team. I worried about PSU because of that aggravating pressure style they play. And now I’ll worry about UC Davis for possibly no good reason other than I’m a Pilots fan and heading into the game with a feeling of despair is just kind of the norm.

Brother from another mother.

DoubleDipper wrote:It's kind of scary that UP is actually favored in this game, but let's not get too far over our skis just yet...

Yikes!! The Las Vegas line has the Pilots by 8 points with a 131.5 o/u....

More angst and despair!  

Calm and poised down the stretch. Again. (With the possible exception of throwing the ball two rows deep with a couple minutes left)

And done without JoJo Walker. I didn't catch the beginning of the broadcast, I'm assuming he got banged up in the PSU game? Nice to have 8 days off now for him to heal up.

It felt like Davis was dominating on the glass at times, but the final numbers don't really back that up. Total rebounds 35-31 for Davis, second chance points were only 8-7.

Wins are fun.

Not only is the team able to adjust on the fly this year, but so are the coaches...

The plan was to work it inside to D and Hugh, but together they had 5 fouls in the first 8 minutes ruining that plan. Instead dribble-drive-and-dish was the order of the day, but it was a good thing the Pilots were hitting their 3-point shots to make it work.

Unsung hero: Quincy, who was very steady down the stretch with his ball control, passing, and couple drives to the hoop.

Kind of an unsteady game for Chase, but when your team picks you up, who cares!

I'm kind of worried about Isaiah's ribs...that was quite a blow he took. Talking to him after the game he said he "needs the week off."

The guys have always kidded Jacob about his lack of rebounding...I think he proved today that he can do it despite his lack of bulk, and once he had some help guarding Neufeld, the game turned in the Pilots favor.

Talked to JoJo, his back stiffened up right after the PSU game...the week off will do him some good too.   Quincy played despite a bad foot that kept him out of the PSU game and was originally going to keep him out of today's game, but 4 hours before game time he said "the pain just went away."

Yes, there was the expected angst, but this is not last's year's team...

DoubleDipper wrote:

DoubleDipper wrote:It's kind of scary that UP is actually favored in this game, but let's not get too far over our skis just yet...

Yikes!! The Las Vegas line has the Pilots by 8 points with a 131.5 o/u....

More angst and despair!  

You guys worry too much.

Beat both spreads.

I could tell JoJo had back trouble when he walked in.

He was walking like I do.

Geezaldinho wrote:I could tell JoJo had back trouble when he walked in.

He was walking like I do.

I was impressed to see JoJo go out on the court to help the training staff walk Isaiah back to the bench after his bump.  Not sure that's allowed, but it showed a strong team bond this year that seems to be very different than last year.

up7587 wrote:
I was impressed to see JoJo go out on the court to help the training staff walk Isaiah back to the bench after his bump.

That was JoJo? By the way he was walking, I thought it was Geezer!

I’d love to see Isaiah White get the WCC Player of the Week award. 21 points and 8 assists against PSU. 23 points and 3 assists against Davis.

Isaiah White has been a revelation. I think the Pilots would have at LEAST one more loss if he wasn’t on the team. His super smooth all around game has reminded me of Nik Raivio a bit. Looking at his stats from last year, I was surprised to see he only shot 41% from the field and 30% from three. He is sitting at 50% in both so far this year. I don’t think we can expect that going forward, but I can’t imagine him dropping to those averages from last year. Hopefully he can keep it going because he has looked like a borderline All Conference player so far.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:I’d love to see Isaiah White get the WCC Player of the Week award. 21 points and 8 assists against PSU. 23 points and 3 assists against Davis.

Unfortunately for White, there look to be three other strong candidates for WCC POW:

Jahlil Tripp, Pacific
21p, 13r, 1a vs Coppin St (W)
22p, 4r, 2a vs Boise St (L-OT)

Jordan Ford, Saint Mary's
24p, 2r, 2a vs Fresno St (W, neutral site)
20p, 1r, 2a vs Lehigh (W)

Colby Ross, Pepperdine
38p, 6r, 3a at USC (L)
18p, 4r, 3a va Sacramento St (L)

I'd guess that Ross will get the award, unless he gets knocked for the fact that Pepperdine lost both games.

Some idiot must have hacked my account over the last couple of weeks and used it to make highly inaccurate posts:

Post-USC game:

NoPoNeighbor wrote:This had the feel of a quirky offensive performance for the Pilots, in that I highly doubt we'll see 46% 3-point shooting again.

Post-PSU game:

NoPoNeighbor wrote:Tryon should give up on shooting threes and just try to get fouled. Like a reverse hack-a-Shaq strategy. He was unstoppable from the free throw line.

I stand corrected on both fronts. The Pilots have shot three-pointers within a margin of error of 46% (or well above) in three of the four games since my comment post-USC:

60% vs Davis
44% vs PSU
45% vs San José

And against UC Davis, Tryon went 3-5 on three-pointers en route to his first career double-double (15 points, 12 rebounds). Unfortunately he was only 2-6 on two-point attempts. One of his point-blank misses resulted in him getting his own rebound (his 10th rebound of the night, on what should have been an over-the-back call) and then making a lay-up (giving him 11 points and securing the double-double). He was 2-4 on free throws, which were his first two misses of the season from the charity stripe. He's now 14-16.

Fourth in the nation in three-point percentage at the moment! Pilots are lighting it up at 45.8% - only teams that are better are South Dakota, Richmond, and Northeastern. And three guys individually in the top 100. White (#69), Walker (#79), and Fahrensohn (#86).

With the exception of last year, the Pilots have actually shot the three well under Coach Porter. The obvious difference this year so far is that the rest of the offence is falling into place as well.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:He was 2-4 on free throws, which were his first two misses of the season from the charity stripe. He's now 14-16.

On the post-game radio interview, Jacob mentioned he was only 50% on FT's, and needed to get back to work practicing.

In addition to being #4 nationally in three-point percentage, the Pilots are currently tied for #13 in the nation (with Gonzaga, Michigan, Iowa and Memphis) in assists per game, at 18.0. Last year we averaged 11.1 assists, good for #302.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:In addition to being #4 nationally in three-point percentage, the Pilots are currently tied for #13 in the nation (with Gonzaga, Michigan, Iowa and Memphis) in assists per game, at 18.0. Last year we averaged 11.1 assists, good for #302.

I never know whether to compliment the offence or to compliment the stat teams when it comes to assists...but in this case the Pilots actually have a higher assist rate on the road than they do at Chiles so far this year.

The first edition of the NCAA Net Ranking came out on the last Monday of November last year, so I'm wondering if we'll see that pop up today. Guessing the Pilots would be right around the middle - maybe 175 or so - given that the NET has no influence from preseason rankings and there haven't been enough games played yet to hit the Pilots too hard for their lack of strong opponents. Or maybe they'll hold off for another week or so because they got absolutely roasted last year for having LMU at #10 in their first ranking!

All right, Isaiah White!
https://wccsports.com/news/2019/11/25/mens-basketball-portlands-isaiah-white-named-wcc-player-of-the-week.aspx

When was the Pilots’ last Player of the Week award?

NoPoNeighbor wrote:All right, Isaiah White!
https://wccsports.com/news/2019/11/25/mens-basketball-portlands-isaiah-white-named-wcc-player-of-the-week.aspx

When was the Pilots’ last Player of the Week award?

It was probably Alec about two years ago haha