Next Up: @Pacific

The Pilots bus two hours from San Francisco east to Stockton for the next game.  UOP hosted GU yesterday, and gave them a battle, staying within 10 points most of the game.  GU only shot 18% on 22 3Pt attempts. UOP only played seven guys; Oregon transfer Kendall Small did not play.  The leading scorer is Robert Gallinat, a 6'-3" G who is a JC transfer.  The Tigers also have a shot blocking, low scoring big man, 7'-0" Namdi Okonkwo, who transferred from Portland State.  They are mostly upper classmen, with only two freshmen and two sophomores on the roster.  They rebuilt by bringing in transfers.

UOP beat the Pilots 66-54 at Chiles week three of conference play.  They are 7-6 in conference, tied for 4th with USD. Their best wins are home victories over BYU and USD.  They only have one loss to a team not among the big 3 in conference, a 2 point loss at USF.  

They are done playing SMC-GU-BYU, and have a chance to finish a strong 4th place with a 5 game winning streak to close the season.  Let's hope the Pilots can spoil that dream.

Oregon transfer Kendall Small has been injured and has not started any of the WCC games, but has appeared in six.

The guy who has always given UP fits is PF Anthony Townes. Anthony is no longer a starter, but he and SF Jahlil Tripp, and PF Jack Williams can really control the boards and give the Tigers second and third chances. On defense, the Tigers are first in the WCC at blocking shots.

Talking to Coach Porter prior to the trip, his biggest concern is giving UOP second chances and defending their inside scoring.  It sounded as if he's willing to concede them the 3-point attempt while collapsing on the shorter range shooters.  UOP is last in WCC play in 3-point shooting (31.7%), but they are shooting over 50% inside the arc and 72% from the line. It wouldn't be a surprise if the Pilots were to get in foul trouble attempting to defend and rebound against the bigger, more mature Tigers.

We can probably expect to see about an 11 or 12 point spread in favor of the Tigers who rank 4th in the WCC in offense....the Pilots are 10th in overall offense.

DoubleDipper wrote:We can probably expect to see about an 11 or 12 point spread in favor of the Tigers who rank 4th in the WCC in offense....the Pilots are 10th in overall offense.

The Las Vegas line is settling at UOP being favored by 10 points with a 139.5 o/u.

Satisfying first half. Held Pacific cold, 1-10 3FG (only one came at the last shot of the half), 5 minutes near the end w/o a bucket (again broken by said last shot). Phil on fire in the paint. Wish the gap could've been bigger, knowing this team and leads into half. Also still being edged on rebounding. But I'll take it I guess.

EDIT: Aaaand Pacific takes a 9-2 start to second half.

Sound Voltex wrote:Satisfying first half. Held Pacific cold, 1-10 3FG (only one came at the last shot of the half), 5 minutes near the end w/o a bucket (again broken by said last shot). Phil on fire in the paint. Wish the gap could've been bigger, knowing this team and leads into half. Also still being edged on rebounding. But I'll take it I guess.

EDIT: Aaaand Pacific takes a 9-2 start to second half.

Agreed,                                                                                                                                                                                                

The Pilots are slow on defense tonight...

Sometimes it is just nice to see Tyson hit a three pointer...a thing of beauty...

I'm sorry, but the wrong player had the ball on the Pilot's final play. Bad coaching.

Certainly a heart breaking weekend.

up7587 wrote:I'm sorry, but the wrong player had the ball on the Pilot's final play.  Bad coaching.

agreed,,,

Possibly Shaver? Who has won a few games for the Pilots already, or could get the ball to Tyson , or another shooter when they double him...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

2 FRUSTRATING losses in my opinion. I'll give TP credit that i think we had really quite good game plans heading into the games. But our last 1/4 of the game execution and coaching and personnel decisions need to be better.

Just ranting now but how in he H-E-double hockey sticks is the ball in Malcom's hands for our end of game play??!!?? That's not his skillset AT ALL - that's Shaver's....should have been in his hands. Sub optimal play end of game thursday, and the same tonight. Cost us 2 potential wins.

And holy crap we let them have an easy bucket to win the game tonight.

Wow, what a really disappointing performance in the second half.

Agreed on the last possession.

up7587 wrote:I'm sorry, but the wrong player had the ball on the Pilot's final play.  Bad coaching.

TP has to decide, when it's game time, is he a coach or a father....!?

Having a coach's kid(s) on a team can cause a lot of animosity amongst the players due to perceived or real favoritism....

I have concerns for the future if the ball is not in Walker's or Shaver's hands for the rest of the season....and beyond.

Post game radio with Coach Cantu - mentioned Walker has some academic business to take care of off the court that warranted his switch with Malcolm.

https://vocaroo.com/i/s1N69DuB1BIB

Also didn't we still have one timeout left? I know the last one at USF didn't work out but I'd take that over desperation halfcourt heaves.

Rochin54 wrote:2 FRUSTRATING losses in my opinion.  I'll give TP credit that i think we had really quite good game plans heading into the games.  But our last 1/4 of the game execution and coaching and personnel decisions need to be better.  

Just ranting now but how in he H-E-double hockey sticks is the ball in Malcom's hands for our end of game play??!!??  That's not his skillset AT ALL - that's Shaver's....should have been in his hands.  Sub optimal play end of game thursday, and the same tonight.  Cost us 2 potential wins.  

And holy crap we let them have an easy bucket to win the game tonight.

To be clear, I'm not down on Malcom or Franklin. Malcom's been playing quite well and demonstrated his upside, and Franklin i think has a ton ton ton of upside after he uses this summer to just ball and find his groove. Tonight that was just not the scenario to put the ball in Malcom's hands. I get it somewhat - he really did have a good game offensively and was in a groove, but.....

Future is bright. We need to continue to improve in coaching, player execution, academic excellence, fan attendance, and fan $$ support. Let's keep a program outlook and get it done!

Frustrating for sure.

FTs were the real backbreaker... tough to win when they out score you by 16 from the strope (and take 22 more FTs overall) even if you make five more buckets than them and outshoot them 47%-37% from the field (and 43%-23% from three).

Growing pains of a young team, I know, but still... frustrating.

Two big factors in today's loss. We gave up 15 offensive rebounds, and a series of dumb/unfortunate plays in the last few minutes of the game. "Growing pains"? Perhaps. But that means that we'll have to actually grow. I'm not convinced of that yet. You'd think that some of this growth could happen as this season progresses, but we don't seem to be any better at winning close games than we were earlier. How many games do we have to give away before we've learned something?

Pilots have played 8 WCC games in which the score was within 5 points either way within the last 2 minutes of regulation. 4-4 in those games:

vs USD: L (OT)
at SCU: L
at USD: W
at LMU: W
vs Pepp: W (OT)
vs LMU: W
at USF: L
at UoP: L

Our other 6 losses were not close: at BYU, vs USF, at GU, vs UoP, vs GU, at SMC.
With the exception of the game at USD, we beat the two teams below us, and lose to everyone else.

It certainly is frustrating to think that we are 6 points away from being 7-7 in conference play. But, we have to acknowledge that we are also 2 points away from being 3-11 in conference play too.

Tyson started the week with 943 total points. After putting up 9 points against USF and 14 against Pacific, he is now at 966 career points. 34 points over 5 remaining games (four regular season plus at least one WCC tournament game) means he needs to average 6.8 points in order to reach the 1000-point club.

The Good:
D'Marques scored 14 points in 14 minutes of play.
Philipp made 6 of 9 shots, grabbed 5 offensive rebounds, and 9 total rebounds.
Josh got his shot back, scored 11 points.
Malcolm scored 9 points on 4 of 9 shooting.
Marcus scored 9 points, and got 9 rebounds. A near double/double.
The Bad:
Josh had 4 fouls, including a terrible one late on Gallinat with 2 seconds on the shot clock, when he was not going to get a decent shot off.
Franklin made a 3P late in regulation; it was his only points in 24 minutes of play. And he was totally faked out by Reynolds, fouled him for 3 FTs that tied the game.
Malcolm had 4 assists, and 5 turnovers, including the one with the game on the line.
Marcus was only 1 of 6 from 3P range.
The coaches; at the end, waiting for 20 seconds to start the final play. IMO, that puts too much pressure on one player to make a play. Run the offense, and take the first good shot. Waiting still left plenty of time for UOP to score, and not enough time for UP to respond.
The Ugly:
D had no shots, and 4 fouls in 10 minutes of play.
JoJo had 1 shot (missed), 1 assist, and 1 foul in 16 minutes of play.
15 offensive rebounds for UOP. Their shooting % was poor, but they got extra attempts.
The refs; UOP shot 28 FTs, the Pilots shot 7. And of those, the two best % shooters, Josh and Marcus, missed front ends of 1&1s. A 16 point differential on free throws won the game for UOP.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:Pilots have played 8 WCC games in which the score was within 5 points either way within the last 2 minutes of regulation. 4-4 in those games:

All of these games were decided in the last 2 minutes. Here's the largest lead that either team had in each game:

vs USD: L (OT) -- USD by 10 w/ 9:23 left in the 1st (and by 9 with 2:14 left in the 2nd)
at SCU: L -- UP by 8 with 11:03 left in the 1st half; SCU by 8 with 17:40 left if the 2nd
at USD: W -- UP by 12 with 2:32 left in the 1st
at LMU: W -- UP by 13 with 7:09 left in the 2nd
vs Pepp: W (OT) -- UP by 15 with 7:37 left in the 1st
vs LMU: W -- UP by 11 with :33 left in the 1st
at USF: L -- USF by 10 with 14:27 left in the 1st
at UoP: L -- UP by 12 with 1:05 left in the 1st

By my analysis, that's 2 comebacks by the Pilots to make games close (vs USD, at USF); 5 times that the Pilots blew a double-digit lead (at USD, at LMU, vs PU, vs LMU, at UoP); and one game that was a true back-and-forth the whole way (at SCU).

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:Tyson started the week with 943 total points. After putting up 9 points against USF and 14 against Pacific, he is now at 966 career points. 34 points over 5 remaining games  (four regular season plus at least one WCC tournament game) means he needs to average 6.8 points in order to reach the 1000-point club.

He's averaging 13.33/game over the last three weeks. If he keeps up that pace, he'll break the record at home on senior night vs. BYU. I hope it happens for him.