Pacific @ Portland, 1/27 at 7:00 PM

TV: KRCW
Radio: 910 ESPN
Webcast: https://wccsports.com/watch/?sid=474749
Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=371797

One of those rare WCC games where the Pilots are favored. Kenpom says 70-66 for Pilots and Torvik has 71-63 for Pilots, but the Vegas line is a little tighter with Portland at -2.5 point favorites.

This is a big one for the Pilots tonight as the next four games will represent (by far) the toughest stretch of the schedule for this team. Also a big one for Pacific as they've dropped 6 in a row and 9 of their last 10, and they'll undoubtedly be looking at this one as a winnable game.

NET Rankings: Portland 231, Pacific 306.

Tonight's game marks the first home game in 47 41 days, and it may also mark an opportunity for Coach Legans to give his bench some experience and save the starter's legs for late in the game.

I do not think it is a good thing to have Mike Meadows leading the WCC in minutes per game at 36.4 and Tyler Robertson second with 36.2. The Pilots have led by at least seven points in the first half of each of their first four league games but came up short in three of those contests, including an OT loss at San Diego.

Nik Milosevic should now be healthy and fit enough to spell Meadows, and it is hoped Vasilije Vucinic and Matija Svetozarevic are both now becoming more comfortable with the speed and free flow of the college game compared to the way basketball is played back home.  Nik, V, and Matija are all very skilled players who will eventually be starters, but for now, we have to remember they are freshmen!

Tiger's leading scorers are a couple of big guards. Avdalovic is a 6'5" 4th year player, who transferred from Big Sky's NAU, so Coach Legs should be familiar with him. He's taking half his shots from 3P range, making 43%. Anderson is 6'6" and is their leading rebounder. In UOP's last game against USD, Anderson's scoring was shut down, but 6'0" G Crockrell went off for 24 points, his biggest night of the season by far.

In their conference opening loss to BYU, they played several bench players, but against SCU and USD they didn't play deep into the bench and didn't get a lot of contribution. I think a key to this game will be Pilots getting some good bench production. We also need to see Tyler Robertson shoot well (he broke a 3-game shooting slump at BYU) and not make any critical turnovers.

A win separates Pilots from UOP and PU at the bottom of the standings and moves us closer to SCU and LMU. Sixth place is not yet out of sight. But as mentioned the three following games are rough: @GU, SMC, @USF. Then it's a home stretch of four games in 8 days: LMU, SCU, PU, USD. Last two games are @UOP and @SCU.

Go Pilots!

up7587 wrote:But as mentioned the three following games are rough: @GU, SMC, @USF.  Then it's a home stretch of four games in 8 days: LMU, SCU, PU, USD.

I think the rescheduled home game against USF is in there somewhere but I can't get the schedule to load at the moment.

up7587 wrote:Sixth place is not yet out of sight.

You are correct, and that should absolutely be the goal for this team. Need this one tonight.

Dean Murdoch wrote:I think the rescheduled home game against USF is in there somewhere but I can't get the schedule to load at the moment.

1/29 @ GU; 2/3 SMC; 2/5 USF; 2/8 @ USF

Oops, I pulled my schedule note from the ESPN web site, obviously not updated for the rescheduled game.

Woof

Shouldn't you be in San Diego right now, Lucy?

Not much offense being played in this game. The winner will be the squad that plays slightly less-bad over the last 12 minutes.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:Not much offense being played in this game. The winner will be the squad that plays slightly less-bad over the last 12 minutes.

Pilots were the the slighty less-bad team tonight. 4 total ORebs though, yikes.

That Robertson "hand of god" second-chance bucket was probably the difference, holy moly.

What happened at the end with the coaches? I had the game on silent since it was so late here.

FloridaPilot wrote:What happened at the end with the coaches? I had the game on silent since it was so late here.

I re-watched the archive, and Ann and J-Mo never brought any of it up. Just talking about how great Legans and the team culture has been. You could probably try to read some of the "language" from Coach's lips though.

https://players.brightcove.net/6050660107001/aslJEIcXM_default/index.html?videoId=6294078458001&adConfigId=&autoplay=true

Dean Murdoch wrote:

up7587 wrote:Sixth place is not yet out of sight.

You are correct, and that should absolutely be the goal for this team. Need this one tonight.

Pilots in 7th place at 2-3, half-game behind 3-3 USF, half-game ahead of 2-4 LMU.  For now.

Well, Legs did go to his bench for 40 minutes of substitutions, and it worked.  The starters were fresher than the Tigers down the stretch.

It is not always pretty when 4 freshmen are in the game (it was actually pretty ugly at times), but it works for Coach Meek to substitute liberally to have his starters less tired at the end, and IMO it worked tonight for Coach Legans.  None of the subs scored, but they gave the impact players a much-needed breather.

First WCC victory at home in 2 years and 3 weeks (USF-Jan 4, 2020), and it could have slipped away, but the guys held steady done the stretch.

DoubleDipper wrote:None of the subs scored

I thought you meant none of the subs were able to score a significant amount. Then I looked it up... sure as ****, zero bench points. Wild.

FloridaPilot wrote:What happened at the end with the coaches?

Leonard had won 9 straight over the Pilots, he was probably just mad and sad. Boo hoo.

Did anything happen when their leading scorer got injured? Something about that which set him off?

FloridaPilot wrote:What happened at the end with the coaches? I had the game on silent since it was so late here.

I do not know for sure- but being at the game (although across from the benches), this is what I think may have happened. The Pilots, already up 6, were fouled with 6 or so seconds left to go to the line for 2 more free throws. At this point, Legs started celebrating the victory, there were some "LETS GO's" and "CELEBRATE YOUR TEAMMATES" that he yelled to the Pilots bench. I don't think the Pacific coach was happen with this- opposing coach celebrating early, yelling during his player's free throws, I'm not sure. So, he stormed hard towards Legs during postgame handshakes and did one of the walkby handshakes without much acknowledgment of Legs. Then there were a few words exchanged. A few harmless face to face, "hold me back," "I hope your mother is doing well" pleasantries it seemed.

That said, I'm loving coach Legans and the energy he brings (not to mention the improved on-court product). Go Pilots!

DoubleDipper wrote:None of the subs scored, but they gave the impact players a much-needed breather.

Shout out to Yaru for 15 solid minutes off the bench. He's got to be able to take care of the ball to stay on the court and he was able to do that for the most part yesterday! Only 1 turnover and his 1 assist was a beauty down to Chika for an open layup.

Looked like the plan was to go to Milosevic first, but clearly the staff liked what they saw out of Yaru and I think he ended up being out there for the majority of the second half.

FloridaPilot wrote:What happened at the end with the coaches? I had the game on silent since it was so late here.

Let's begin from the ending...

While the game is still in progress and Meadows is dribbling out the clock, Coach Perry is already past the half court line and into the UP's coach's box and on his way toward Coach Legans to begin the handshake line while Legs is still exhorting the troops.  When Perry gives him the blow-by with a bit of a wrist twist, Legs reacts, Perry reacts back, Legs reacts some more while looking back with comments as he proceeds through the UOP coaches (you did not need to be a lip-reader to know what was being said), but then Legs is cordial with the UOP players.  When Perry comes back around to go to the visitor's locker room Legs gives him a "how's your father" and UP's AD senior associate AD comes between he and Perry, who seems to be done, while Legs, his adrenaline still pumping, is not done.

And now to the beginning (long story short)...

I am told that earlier in the morning UOP showed up for their shoot around and the Pilots were on the court because it was the first home of the new semester and the schedule from the last semester was being used.  Obviously, UOP was not happy, and Legs apologized for the mistake and said they'd get off the court very soon.  No doubt UOP thought Legs was playing games with them and the UOP coach used some unsportsmanlike words...and so it began.

I get it.  If I am Coach Perry, I am frustrated by losing and frustrated a whipper-snapper coach not only beat me, but is also yelling in exaltation at the end...and earlier in the day attempted to game me.  "See you in Stockton in four weeks, *** ****."

Dean Murdoch wrote:Shout out to Yaru for 15 solid minutes off the bench. He's got to be able to take care of the ball to stay on the court and he was able to do that for the most part yesterday! Only 1 turnover and his 1 assist was a beauty down to Chika for an open layup.

Looked like the plan was to go to Milosevic first, but clearly the staff liked what they saw out of Yaru and I think he ended up being out there for the majority of the second half.

Coach Legans has often said he would much rather redshirt freshmen than play them, but last night there were five freshmen in the lineup at any given time.

Yes, to this point Yaru has been known for his defense and his ability to turn the ball over, but last night he was very active and very solid while bringing a much needed spark off the bench.

With some help, I spotted the recruit from Argentina at the game sitting right behind the DOBO.  Hard to tell his reaction during the game or after while he was on the court talking with Legs and Chris Austin, but he was stifling a few yawns in the first half along with the rest of us.

I also saw Geezer much further up in the arena than usual wearing his Argentina kit, but I would be surprised if he was noticed by anyone but me...

PILOTS & TOREROS CHART NEW GROUND: Portland, under first-year coach Shantay Legans, beat Pacific, 64-56, to reach 11 victories on the season — matching the most the program has produced since 2017. The Pilots are 3-3 in WCC play for the first time since the 2013-14 season.

Not to be outdone, San Diego beat Pepperdine by the same 64-56 score, improving to 5-3 in WCC play, its best conference start since 2008.

https://express.adobe.com/page/Wk6mRYTu0RJUv/

Not sure where that non-existent 3rd win is coming from, unless the writer counted the postponed BYU game as a forfeit win or something.

In addition to his defense and the beautiful assist, Harvey contributed some critical rebounding.

up7587 wrote:Did anything happen when their leading scorer got injured? Something about that which set him off?

I don't think so, but it had to be frustrating for everyone that UOP's leading scorer, Avdalovic (a transfer from Northern Arizona, and well known to Legans) had been held scoreless for 22 minutes and then landed on Wood's foot after attempting a 3-pointer from the left corner and left the game in considerable pain.

Avdalovic, averaging almost 12 ppg, was seen on crutches and in the stands later in the game.

Sound Voltex wrote:Not sure where that non-existent 3rd win is coming from, unless the writer counted the postponed BYU game as a forfeit win or something.

There are no COVID forfeits in the WCC...probably just projecting forward to tomorrow night.  

.

Sound Voltex wrote:

PILOTS & TOREROS CHART NEW GROUND: Portland, under first-year coach Shantay Legans, beat Pacific, 64-56, to reach 11 victories on the season — matching the most the program has produced since 2017. The Pilots are 3-3 in WCC play for the first time since the 2013-14 season.

Not to be outdone, San Diego beat Pepperdine by the same 64-56 score, improving to 5-3 in WCC play, its best conference start since 2008.

https://express.adobe.com/page/Wk6mRYTu0RJUv/

Not sure where that non-existent 3rd win is coming from, unless the writer counted the postponed BYU game as a forfeit win or something.

2-3 is the best conference start for the Pilots since opening the 2016-17 season with 2 wins then losing the next 16 conference games.