Pilots at Diamond Head Classic Dec. 22, 23, 25

First up today at noon PST (10am HST) is Houston, favored by 17.5 over the Pilots with a 135 o/u. This game is live on ESPNU with a repeat broadcast at midnight.

KenPom ranks the Cougars #34 while the Pilots come into the match at #266.

Houston is #2 in the nation in offensive rebounding and really have no weaknesses at either end of the court...

If both teams play to form it should be a blowout...let's just hope no one gets hurt!  

6 straight stops and we only got 2 points out of the ensuing possessions :/

DoubleDipper wrote:… Houston, favored by 17.5 over the Pilots with a 135 o/u.  

The under bettors hate Harewood.

Is shots attempted differential as stat that is tracked anywhere? UH attempted 64, UP attempted 49. Seems like that is a recurring theme this year.

Pilots -13 on the glass, -6 on TO margin and they shot 34% from the field... not a recipe for success.

It was good to see Quincy and Malcolm back in action today, and it was also good to see all available players get playing time (Cody was in street clothes), which means everyone should be pretty well rested for tomorrow's game.

Next up for the Pilots is Boise State at 1:30 PST (11:30 HST) on Monday Dec 23 in Honolulu...the game will again be telecast live on ESPNU. KenPom ranks the Broncos at #113 and the Pilots dropped to #271.

Boise St. led Rev and Georgia Tech 31-26 at the half, but GT went on a 24-4 run at the eight minute mark to pull out the 74-60 win.

I'd rather the Pilots faced BSU with Shaver on the bench than GT with Rev on the bench...

Boise St. is favored by 11 over the Pilots today with a 136.5 u/o.

Interesting stat: BSU is #341 in the nation in offensive rebounding...UP is #331.

Stats wise the Pilots look pretty good at the half against BSU. Shooting 50%. Same # of shots as BSU. Rebounding close, 11 vs 14 and only gave up 1 OReb. Only 3 TOs. But the Broncos look better, with 6 3Pt makes and 9-9 on FTs. Pilots only 5-9 on FTs. So UP down 43-34. Need better FT defense.

Whatever happened to Jojo? Holy cow is he having a tough year. This Boise State team is horrible and he's shut out

Is it my imagination or is the team passing/ positioning getting worse as the season progresses. One of the things I looked early in the season was that the team seemed to have a much improved team offense and passes were happening quickly and crisply as compared to last season. I did not see today's game, but based on the stats and the previous few games I assume poor passing was again part of the issue.

Can anyone comment on what they saw today?

dholcombe wrote:Can anyone comment on what they saw today?

I think your assessment is spot-on in that the Pilots were playing "small-ball," but without the 3 or 4 or even 5 passes that we saw earlier in the season before finding the open shooter, but maybe that is because UP is now playing tougher defenders...better teams.

The offense that was crisp and fun against lesser opponents is now lacking in efficiency...in large part because of turnovers (only 10 today) and a complete lack of offensive rebounding (1 today).

It was another frustrating game for Isaiah, who fouled out with 6 points, and for JoJo too, but at least he rebounded and defended well despite scoring zero points.

Nice to see a scoring break-out game for Chase, but he gave up distribution for scoring with only 1 assist (and 1 turnover).

In one of the better games of this year's tournament, UTEP beat David Letterman's Ball St. team last night, 71-70.

#275 UP will now play the #111 Cardinals at 10:30 am PST (8:30 HST) on Christmas Day...and apparently it's live on ESPNU.

(BSU was #112 when they defeated the Pilots).

Getting waxed by teams in the #110 range. Can't wait until we play #6.

Yeah, really Loyola and San Diego look like the only teams Pilots could beat. 2-14 in conference looks about right. Very perplexing how every year this team seems to get worse as the year goes on.

All and all, this year's DHC has been a good one with most of the teams evenly matched.

The odds on today's final games:

#111 Ball St. by 10.5 over #275 UP (133.5)
#110 Boise St. by 2.5 over #114 UTEP (134.5)
#106 Georgia Tech by 1.0 over #159 Hawaii (137.0)...could be the best game
#39 UW by 1.0 over #26 Houston (139.0)...definitely the two best teams in the tournament

One of these things is not like the others.