Pilots vs Multnomah (Nov. 30, 7pm)

Multnomah is an NAIA school, and as far as I am concerned, Tyler and Moses do not need to play in this game at all. I think the NBA calls it "load management." Play Wyatt Lowell, let Joey and Vasilije dominate, play the walk-ons, and don't get anybody hurt. Coming off 3 games in 4 days, and heading towards 3 games in 8 days, be smart about this game. The three home games coming up after this are all schools in the 277 to 341 Kenpom ranking, and it is critical to win them all. That sets up for two tough road games at Oregon and UC Riverside before conference play starts. Currently at 5 wins, it would be excellent to reach 10 wins ahead of WCC play.

As you can well imagine, the coaching staff is not taking Multnomah lightly, and knows the UP defenders will have to stop the Lions 3-point shooting.

And yes, unless plans change, Legs says he will finally give Wyatt Lowell some playing time. A large chunk of Wyatt's family was in Portland over the Thanksgiving weekend and were very disappointed Wyatt did not get off the bench.

I agree with up7587 (not for the first time) that Tyler and company need to play fewer minutes, and it would it sure would be nice to see a couple of walk-ons (besides Chika) get some time too, as it may be their last opportunity.

Multnomah's head coach will be retiring at the end of this season (his assistant is taking over), and there is no doubt his team would like to give him a signature win over a D1 team as a parting gift.

The Lions have 12 players who are transfers from other programs, and the Multnomah website does not list any overall statistics from the seven games the team has played this season, but it appears #3 Jones, #4 Richardson, and #51 Taylor do the bulk of the scoring. My favorite player, just because of his name, Squeaky Wilkins, a transfer from Western Michigan, has not played the last few games.  

Multnomah beat Pacific on Saturday, 105-85, so they are capable of scoring.

"I agree with up7587 (not for the first time) that Tyler and company need to play fewer minutes, and it would it sure would be nice to see a couple of walk-ons (besides Chika) get some time too, as it may be their last opportunity."

I wish the walk-on option were possible because I and another UP father I know would love to watch our sons take the court, but if they did, their redshirt season is blown. Football players can participate in up to 4 games without losing redshirt status. If you take the court in even one basketball regular season game, your redshirt status is lost. It doesn't seem productive or fair, but we live by it.

DoubleDipper wrote:.  

Multnomah beat Pacific on Saturday, 105-85, so they are capable of scoring.

Boxers or Tigers?

Boxers

up7587 wrote:Multnomah is an NAIA school, and as far as I am concerned, Tyler and Moses do not need to play in this game at all.  I think the NBA calls it "load management."  Play Wyatt Lowell, let Joey and Vasilije dominate, play the walk-ons, and don't get anybody hurt.  Coming off 3 games in 4 days, and heading towards 3 games in 8 days, be smart about this game.  

Results:
- Tyler and Moses had the most minutes played, 32 and 33 minutes respectively.
- Wyatt Lowell played 18 minutes, scored 20 points on 7-12 shooting, including 6-11 from 3P range. He got Sjolund's time, who only played 14 minutes and made 2 of 5 shots
- St. Pierre only played 7 minutes, made 1 of 3 shots, and got 1 rebound. Vucinic played 20 minutes, scored 16 points on 8-9 shooting (several dunks), got 6 rebounds including 5 offensive rebounds.
- Coleman Lemke (walk-on) played the final 2 minutes, and the team fed him the ball. He made 2 of 3 shots from 3P range, and was the post-game radio interviewee.
- The only injury appeared to be Lowell's little pinkie, possibly dislocated. He seemed unconcerned about it after it was wrapped.

The bench scored 71 points, shot 62% (26-42) including 13-25 from 3P range. Although Robertson and Wood played a lot of minutes, the team mostly did what I hoped would happen. Ten players got significant minutes, all of them except Jack Perry got at least one rebound, all of them except Perry and St. Pierre got at least one assist (28 total on 36 shots).

Five more games to play until WCC play; the next three at home, a visit to Eugene, and to UCI. Need to win at least four to reach double digit wins before conference play.

up7587 wrote:Wyatt Lowell played 18 minutes, scored 20 points on 7-12 shooting, including 6-11 from 3P range.

The only injury appeared to be Lowell's little pinkie, possibly dislocated.  He seemed unconcerned about it after it was wrapped.

Five more games to play until WCC play; the next three at home, a visit to Eugene, and to UCI.

I will resist saying a star was born, but for those of us who have been bugging Legs to get him on the court it was rewarding to see Wyatt play so well and know that he can light up the offense from behind the arc.

Yes, his pinkie looked dislocated, but considering the injuries he's endured in the past, I doubt the pinkie is foremost in his mind.

Actually, the Pilots will be playing at UC Riverside, not UCI on December 22...but I agree, all those California schools seem to run together.

I plan to attend that game in Riverside just before Christmas, and I hope there will be other Pilot fans in the area who can also attend.

Oh, and about the game...it seemed a fun game for both schools...Lots of good-natured ribbing and laughter.

Multnomah will be a difficult team to beat this year if they keep hitting those 3-point shots (14-27/52%).

It is not often one sees the presidents of two universities sitting together courtside during a game, but the Multnomah U. president, Dr. Eric Anthony Joseph, and UP president, Dr. Rob Kelly, both in their first year as president, seemed to be having a jolly good pre-holiday time together.

up7587 wrote:
- The only injury appeared to be Lowell's little pinkie, possibly dislocated.  He seemed unconcerned about it after it was wrapped.

He was so unconcerned that the refs didn't want to call the injury timeout. If you want the timeout called, act like a soccer player