Gonzaga Post-Mortem

What a mix of emotions. On one hand, I'm disappointed with what happened in the second half and I'm especially ticked that the final score doesn't represent how close the game was. On the other hand, I'm incredibly proud of how the Pilots played tonight.

We scored 78 points on an incredibly good defensive team. A team that coming into the game was #1 in the country in 2pt FG% allowed. No team has scored more points against them in regulation all year. (UConn did score 88, but 14 of them came in OT.) Think about that for a second... UConn, Tennessee, Arizona, Oklahoma State, Maryland, Utah... none scored more against the Zags than the Pilots did. If nothing else, that is really something we can hang our hat on. Much, much props to the coaching staff and the players for executing the offense so well. Even when we struggled to get good looks in the second half, our outside shooting kept us in it.

And really... what a first half! One of the most entertaining, fun, and exciting halves of basketball I've seen in a long time. Both teams played really well and it was just so great to see that happening in the Chiles Center and on national TV.

Gotta give it up to Gonzaga... they were terrific. The way they played I don't think there are many teams in the country that could have beaten them. Remember... this team was ranked in the Top 5 at one point this season and they seem to be coming back into that form. I think we acquitted ourselves as well as we could, minus that ugly stretch to start the second half were we had all those turnovers. They shot well, their defense was really tough (especially second half), they were making their freethrows... tough to beat a team that is bigger and more talented when they have all that going for them. Every time we hit a big shot, they always were able to answer.

But even despite all that... here's my coulda/shoulda/woulda for the game. We cut it to six with like four minutes to go, Heytvelt missed a shot, and we had two guys there for the board. We could have had the ball to cut it to three or four, but instead the shot hung on the rim FOREVER and Daye was able to get up after our guys went back down and get an easy putback. OUCH. I really would have loved to see what would have happened had we pulled down that board.

Nik was awesome in the first half, disappeared in the second. Robin was tough all night, especially on the boards. Luke played well and could have had an awesome game had he knocked down some of those free throw line jumpers. TJ was our savior in the second half... man I love that guy. Gonzaga was clearly keyed in on Jared, but he still was able to knock down a couple shots. Ethan played OK too. The bench didn't have a chance to do much at all... I felt bad for BJ - he almost finished two oops that would have been sweeeeeet.

So yeah... mixed feelings. I'm not going to say it's a moral victory, because damn it... the way we played in the first half we could have beaten those suckers. Plain and simple, we're just not on Gonzaga's level yet. But are we a darn good basketball team? Yes we are... can't wait to see what the rest of the WCC slate has in store for us, and I am VERY excited about the WCC tournament. We definitely haven't heard the last from our Pilots.

A great summary, Stonehouse.

I meant to add this before: Congrats to Purple Pride and the students for bringing their "A" game tonight... the students were tremendous. well done... i hope you can keep that up for the LMU & Pepp games!

Lets not forget that we are indeed still a very good basketball team, with some great things ahead of us for the rest of this year... The #2 seed is certainly within possibility, and really, that would just be HUGE this year.

I kept thinking that if we play that way against any other team in the conference - including Saint Mary's, that they just wouldn't have an answer for us.

Before this three game stand I was hoping to win one, maybe luck out against a second to preserve our hopes for a winning season and maybe a top four. I think we can start thinking about nailing down second in the conference.

Purplegeezer wrote:I think we can start thinking about nailing down second in the conference.

Absolutely. Seriously... why shouldn't 12-2 be our goal? San Diego is tailspinning at this point. Santa Clara will be really tough and so will SMC, but shoot... no reason we can't win out. Seriously.

Now I realize 10-4 is a lot more realistic, but I'm talking goals here. Our goal should be to win out, and the way we've been playing, I could definitely see that happen if we can keep it up.

Aim high: 12-2, #2 seed, double bye in the tourney. I agree, that if we keep playing the way we are now, I dont know who beats us... but SCU and SMC on the road will both be tough.

Win out. Lets get started!

First off, it was fun to watch a game against the Zags where I thought we truly had a chance to win. Although I missed the first six minutes (stupid St. Johns and Seton Hall) that first half was awesome. As big as Nik was in the first half, I almost thought Sikma was the first half MVP, he was scoring, rebounding and playing tough D. I haven't even looked at the boxscore yet, but it seemed like both teams shot well, there weren't too many turnovers (except for that one stretch) and not a lot of fouls. It was a well played game, and it was awesome to see that from the Pilots. It was certainly better quality than the Big East game that immediately preceded it.
That stretch in the second half was brutal, an 8-0 run by the Zags and 5 TO by the Pilots. It seemed for a few minuted after that the body language changed. The game hovered around the 8-12 point difference. The Pilots did a good job getting it down to 6, led by TJ, and I really didn't feel it was over till about 2 minutes left, the Pilots threw up some desperation shots, and Gonzaga kept scoring.
Overall though, I am very proud of the team. Of course I would have preferred a win. But it is time to get back to work and take care of California.

Stoney - I just got done talking with a co-worker about the game and pegged the exact same sequence at the 4 minute mark as a crucial point. We had battled back and played a great defenseve sequence there. I think kramer or someone kind of blocked.altered Heytvelt's shot, and that ball just hung there, and all our guys got kind of dragged under the bucket by their momentum, and Daye with that little tip! Arrrgh!! That possession was huge.

I saw good things out of our players AND our coaches. We do need to turn our attention to USF and SMC now. Let's put the hurt on USF at their place, and then get down to business at SMC.

Lotta thoughts in my head right now. Maybe I'll try and get them down.

Obviously the Zags shot lights out from 3 and from the FT line... that being said when we were able to force them to drive we got next to zero help defense. I thought that was a huge factor. And obviously that is a symptom of having to honor every single matchup. I was really impressed with the play of the Pilots on the offensive end, this team is not far from being able to knock the zags off that high horse.

It's already been said, but if we hadn't committed the silly turnovers in the second half and let them get up by 6, then 8, then 12, we would have made it a much closer game. We're not pushovers and the Zags did have to work the play us. Especially in the first half.

I failed to break a string on the gong last night. Very disappointing.

Agreed with sentiments above... It seemed like in the second half the Pilots had a tendency to be a bit too tenetive to take shots in the paint, thus opting for tough interior passes. A couple times I felt Luke and others had good opportunities to go up for shots and create contact and didn't... It sure would have been nice to get heyetvelt out sooner and get Daye in trouble (although his length is tough to get around, if only his effort matched the effort he put into attitude and whining.... NOT a "tough" player by Bilas standards) when those guys were out it forced the 2 & 3 to collapse on the interior cutter/post man helping on defense and gave our sharpshooters a lot of open looks in the first half while their good big men were out of the game in the first half. That just didn't happen in the second half because their bigs didn't have to go to the bench or play tenative defense.

All in all I thought they played great, and only 1 TO in the first half against a well coached defensive team?? I'll take it. Also it was nice having a PG out there that was pretty equal to Pargo, forced him into tough shots... Even if the announcer did compare Pargo to by my count Tim Hardaway, Steve Francis and I think Steve Nash at one point to my disgust (Haha my mid-game text message to 54 was a little more vulgar than that...)

That said the team, for the first time in a long time, looked like they belonged on the same court. Bravo Pilots, bravo!

Great game, guys. I was pretty scared in the first half. I was glad to see the Zags step up the defensive intensity in the second half and confuse the Pilots on offense.

UP doesn't lose anybody this year, right? No seniors. That means an even better team unit next year! It's really cool to be observing the rise of the UP program. I hope that next year we have 3 or 4 very competitive teams in the WCC (GU, SMC, UP, USD) who can all legitimately vie for NCAA bids.

Thanks egrzag. I think the Pilots earned some respect last night, at least to WCC and west coast fans. Unfortunatly, the highlights on ESPN showed only zag highlights (not a single UP highlight), and didn't really talk too much about how great of a game it was. Hmmph.

I also thought that Gonzaga is looking better. They seem to have im[roved their team game a bunch. Honestly, they have so much talent, but something just isn't there with them sometimes.

Rochin54 wrote:
I also thought that Gonzaga is looking better. They seem to have im[roved their team game a bunch. Honestly, they have so much talent, but something just isn't there with them sometimes.

Agreed... The biggest problem this version of the Zags have is the space between the ears on their individual players. Most games they are the better team on the court based on talent, but lapses of mental focus are definitely their achilles heel. They have the potential to be great as long as they all play on the same page, but unfortunately it seems like half the time some of the team is reading Time magazine, while the other is reading Slam.... Not exactly the greatest chemistry

Yeah Zag fan,

No reloading next year,Ravio won't have to carry the team on his back next year. We wont need that as TJ becomes more comfortable in D-1 competion. Sikma doesn't Spend 3 month's out with a bad knee. Kramer improves his offense. Big "Soft Hand's John cast's his 7'1" shadow on the Chile's Center. Robin won't be counted on for all the offensive move's for Post men.Ethan improves. Stohl, well Jarred won't be guarded so close so he can get his shot off or pass to open man for dunk or layup if covered. BJ will grow to 6'9" like his dad and will improve his high jumping to 7'7" .Jasonn will improve his game to the level of his musical skills. Eric will improve. Nem will take off his "fly" clothes to shoot lights out. Ito take's shooting lesson's from Stohl,and enters the UP BB captain's HOF later becoming coach of the Portland Trailblazer's.


Some dreams, Some truth's,it only get's better with Rev's recruiting skill's and Pilot exposure the next two years.


MesaPilotMonster1 aka MesaPilot1


P.S. Next year you might be scared the whole game. When Josh,Pargo,Daye,Downs,Brown are gone.If Gray isn't playing well then Bouldin will find out what it's like to "carry the team" on his back on the team aaallllll season with their average to above average replacements.Sacre's 3 pt average just won't do it.

Rochin54 wrote:I also thought that Gonzaga is looking better. They seem to have im[roved their team game a bunch. Honestly, they have so much talent, but something just isn't there with them sometimes.

I totally agree. It is very frustrating to watch sometimes. If we could develop a consistent team chemistry I honestly think we could be FF4 bound or beyond. The second half last night was the first half of basketball in a while that has gotten me really pumped up about this team. Now if we can only beat Memphis on Saturday...