Another Road Win

The women won another game, from O-Live: UP 86 Pacific 73

Even though it was the Sunday after finals, the 356 present (the Hawaii game had 405 for comparison) made the arena more silent and awkward than Chiles can be, save a brief "Defense, Tigers, Defense!" chant with about 6 minutes left. Perhaps the fans in the community were biding their time for UCONN on the 28th.

Every time Pacific made a run, the Pilots were able to respond with a run of their own, often spurred by Z or a nice defensive stop by Day. Not too bad for a team that did not give up the lead after Pacific scored first.

The empty arena did allow me to sit behind the bench like PPT did and sitting behind the bench did provide nice insights into the coaching, with Coach Sollars threatening to and actually pulling anyone jogging through plays, resulting in some nice stretches of up-tempo play. I was also able to see the active strategy in substitutions. Their big leads did allow for some different lineups including line changes, and Tara "Cranial Assassin" Cronin playing the point for a bit, and everybody getting playing time.

However, the game was far from clean, with many errant passes finding the sideline from both teams when players did not cut right or were too unselfish, some of them a side effect of the up-tempo play. If they keep at their up-tempo play, this could be an intersting team to watch in conference play.

The officiating did miss some obvious calls on both sides, capped off by a blatant non-call of Egle Karolyte running at least 5 steps with the ball before laying it in for her only points of the game. I understand the game was in hand, but it was a good way to validate the complaining by the Tiger faithful.

It was interesting to visit the Spanos Center for my first true road game for Pilot athletics. Positives include the sense of nostalgia from the wooden handrail separating the upper bowl from the lower, all their banners, retired jerseys, and wooden benches for seating on the team bench side and their player intro videos. Negatives were the scoreboard soundboard and the announcer placing too much emphasis on "Tiger Basketball."

Please, Stoney and game staff, do not buy or use wacky sounds or adopt hokey images after every score or block. It will make the experience during lightly attended games more awkward than it already can be.

Their marketing department did have some interesting giveaways like throwing Frisbees attached to In N Out coupons, having fans hit free throws instead of half-court shots, and a dash to the marketing table for a prize pack. The latter might not work so easily at Chiles, but a tip of the hat for creativity.

The Pilots rest today before they take on the Anteaters of UC Irvine @ 1pm completing the Big West Roadtrip before the PSU game @ the Stott Center on Tuesday the 28th, a good follow-up for fans after the Men hosting Nevada next Monday.

Thanks for the in-person report. And ditto on the comments. At the PSU game, the announcer was a screamer, who was not only obnoxious but not understandable.

up7587 wrote:Thanks for the in-person report. And ditto on the comments. At the PSU game, the announcer was a screamer, who was not only obnoxious but not understandable.

Dude must think he's auditioning for an NBA gig. Luckily the Pilots didn't give him much to yell about. At least he dropped the "KNOCKED out of bounds!" schtick this year...