Pilots @ Pacific, Thursday, Feb. 24th, 7:00pm

This game is a rematch of the Pilots home conference opener, when they beat UOP 64-56.  In that game, the Pilots only shot 5-19 (26%) from 3P range, and got zero points from the bench, but they made 9 of 15 2P shots in the 2nd half, and also got 22 FT attempts that half, and made 19.  If you recall, the game ended with the head coaches barking at each other in the hand shake line over some perceived slights from earlier in the day.  UOP followed that game up with a then shocking win over BYU.  Since then they are 2-6.  Most recently, they had two home games where they beat LMU by 1, then lost to USF by 33.

As we have discussed, a win will go a long way to securing a 6th place finish and avoiding an opening round rematch against Pepperdine in Las Vegas.  For a team with a short bench like ours, that is priceless.

It appears watching the game will be the WWCSports app., with radio on 910ESPN.

UOP currently the 10th ranked WCC in KenPom, at 279.  Pilots are now 185.
And UOP will have two days less rest, since they played USF tonight.
That means only one thing:

Honestly, I think (I hope) the Pepperdine game gave them a scare of what's to come.

Pacific is favored by 1 point, with an over/under of 139, suggesting a 70-69 game.

It wasn’t pretty and the turnovers were uncharacteristic of the Pilots team we’ve seen over the past two weeks.

But who cares?? 6 SEED PILOTS, BABY!!

(Thanks SMC)

75-69!  Only 10 of 29 on 3's. Tyler missed 3 FTs. But they got to the line late in the 2nd half and overall made 17 of 23 FTs.  

Wood and Austin with 18 points each.  Meadows with 12 of the bench.  They outrebounded UOP 34-28.

Oh yeah, .500 in conference with one to go.

This win guarantees a better than 0.500 record even when removing the non-D1 games from the schedule. 15-12 with a minimum of two games to go.

In Coach's post-game radio interview, he admitted he was nervous about this game (him too?). He said Chika and Kristian did not play great on offense, but Meadows and Robertson know how to win, and the team finished the game with 9 straight defensive stops of Pacific.

Dean Murdoch wrote:But who cares?? 6 SEED PILOTS, BABY!!

I guess I jumped the gun here, eh?

USD and SCU wins on Saturday probably send USD into the 6 spot.

up7587 wrote:75-69!  Only 10 of 29 on 3's. Tyler missed 3 FTs. But they got to the line late in the 2nd half and overall made 17 of 23 FTs.  

Wood and Austin with 18 points each.  Meadows with 12 of the bench.  They outrebounded UOP 34-28.

Oh yeah, .500 in conference with one to go.

Currently 7-6 in conference (.538) with one to go.

Yeah, looked at a table that hadn't updated yet. I have it right on the Other Games thread, though.

Post game radio with Meadows: https://vocaroo.com/1haF1USJ0UIq
Post game radio with Coach Legans: https://vocaroo.com/1n5YQSwGC7Yk

As a parent you are supposed to do all you can to prevent your children from experiencing pain and suffering....but I couldn't resist and took my three year old to his first Pilot game last night in Stockton. I may be setting him up for a lifetime of frustration but this program right now feels different.

As for the game We only made it to halftime because, despite wanting to blast the soundtrack to Cars all the time, the noises of the game (the scoreboard buzzer, the officials whistle, the pep band) were a bit too much for him. That said it was still a great time. We got licorice and popcorn and some ice cream after, plus I got to see the Legans effect in person.

My main take away: The energy surrounding the team. The bench was loud, up on their feet, engaged. Legans was leading defense chants and coaching every time a substitute came out of the game. I know none of this is news to those of you who have seen a game in person, but there's an energy to this team and program. I'm excited for the future....i'm excited for the now!

Too bad he couldn’t take the loudness. Kids ears are a lot more sensitive than adult ears. They haven’t yet been degraded by traffic, firing range, rock concerts, crowd noise, airplane noise, construction noise, or as in my case, all of these. Even with my diminished senses I have trouble with the 100db piped in noise at a Blazer game.

You might consider getting the little guy some hearing protection before your next outing.

https://momlovesbest.com/hearing-protection-kids

DTLegend wrote:As a parent you are supposed to do all you can to prevent your children from experiencing pain and suffering....but I couldn't resist and took my three year old to his first Pilot game last night in Stockton. I may be setting him up for a lifetime of frustration but this program right now feels different.

As for the game We only made it to halftime because, despite wanting to blast the soundtrack to Cars all the time, the noises of the game (the scoreboard buzzer, the officials whistle, the pep band) were a bit too much for him. That said it was still a great time. We got licorice and popcorn and some ice cream after, plus I got to see the Legans effect in person.

My main take away: The energy surrounding the team. The bench was loud, up on their feet, engaged. Legans was leading defense chants and coaching every time a substitute came out of the game. I know none of this is news to those of you who have seen a game in person, but there's an energy to this team and program. I'm excited for the future....i'm excited for the now!

It's a calling.  My earliest memories of attending Pilot games are as an early elementary schooler.

What was the crowd like?  The box score says almost 1,100 people.  Watching the stream, I thought the gym was pretty empty.  Looking at this video tweeted by @karimsellers, it looks worse than I thought.

up7587 wrote:

DTLegend wrote:As a parent you are supposed to do all you can to prevent your children from experiencing pain and suffering....but I couldn't resist and took my three year old to his first Pilot game last night in Stockton. I may be setting him up for a lifetime of frustration but this program right now feels different.

It's a calling.  My earliest memories of attending Pilot games are as an early elementary schooler.

I was seven when my dad took me to my first game at the Chiles Center. Kasey Flicker hit a 35 footer at the buzzer to beat USF. For better or (mostly) worse, I was hooked for life.