2024 Pilot Non-Conference Games

UP24 wrote:UP will host the University of Denver Pioneers tomorrow at 2pm.

6’1 Nicholas Shogbonyo looks like their best player averaging 12 points, 4.6 reb, 1.5 ast.

101-90 Pilot win in 2 OT.

Shogbonyo was their leading scorer with 20 points.  Looked like DU had two bigs sitting on the bench in street clothes, one in a wrist cast.  They had 24 fast break points (seemed like more) and 15 points off 16 UP turnovers (DU got 9 steals), while only committing 6 turnovers themselves.  At points it seemed like they had the Chiles visitor magic making 3s, but by the end they only hit 10 of 39 3P tries (fortunately).

Vucasin gave us free basketball by hitting 1 of 2 FTs at the end of regulation that tied the game.  He made 9 of 11 FTs overall, but timing is everything.  He was also 6 of 9 on 2P tries and 2 of 6 on 3P tries for 27 total points.  He played 46 minutes.

Ballisager Webb got 14 points in 18 minutes, being most effective when they went to a high-low game especially in the 2nd OT.  DU had no answer for that.

Aussie had a nice stat line: 20 points in 41 minutes, making 2-2 2P tries, 3-7 3P tries and all 7 of his FTs.  He had 6 rbs, 3 assists, 1 stl, 2 blks, only 3 TOs and 2 PFs.

Chris played 43 minutes with 9 pts, 7 rbs, 5 assists, and generally steady play.

up7587 wrote:101-90 Pilot win in 2 OT.

Denver traveled south the play KP #303 Sacramento St. and came away with a 80-59 victory tonight...moving Denver up to #317 from #339. Denver comes back to the Rose City to play #249 PSU on Saturday.

UP is #304.

Almost game day!

The Pilots travel to Kent, Ohio to take on the Kent St. Golden Flashes, the top-rated team in the Mid-American Conference, KP #118, on Friday afternoon at 4:00 PST.

Two years ago, the only other time UP visited Kent, Kent St. was ranked #99 and UP #117, and KSU came away with the 77-65 victory, but of course there are no Pilots on the current roster who played in that game.

This time, the Pilots are #305 and are expected to lose by just 15 points.

The Golden Flashes (6-2) have notable wins against Louisiana (70-66), Towson (65-54) and Kennesaw State (67-60).

The team's lone losses have been to nationally ranked Auburn (79-56) and UC Irvine (51-39).

#1 VonCameron Davis leads Kent State players in scoring at 14.5 ppg, while #8 Morgan Safford adds 11.3 per game.

The game is on ESPN+ with radio play-by-play on 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT).

DoubleDipper wrote:Two years ago, the only other time UP visited Kent, Kent St. was ranked #99 and UP #117, and KSU came away with the 77-65 victory, but of course there are no Pilots on the current roster who played in that game.

Hate to fact check you, but Coleman Lemke was credited for 1 minute in the previous game.

After double and triple checking my facts, I am assured Coleman did not play in UP's Friday night loss to the Golden Flashes, 76-57.

Next up: Coleman's next opportunity to play will be at home on Tuesday night December 10 @ 7pm against University of Missouri-Kansas City.

UMKC is the early favorite in this game, 72-71.

DoubleDipper wrote:

up7587 wrote:101-90 Pilot win in 2 OT.

Denver comes back to the Rose City to play #249 PSU on Saturday.

Denver, a school that many hope will join the WCC in the next couple of years, beat Portland St., 68-67, on Saturday night.

DoubleDipper wrote:

DoubleDipper wrote:

up7587 wrote:101-90 Pilot win in 2 OT.

Denver comes back to the Rose City to play #249 PSU on Saturday.

Denver, a school that many hope will join the WCC in the next couple of years, beat Portland St., 68-67, on Saturday night.

Denver had the same players as when they played UP, but #32 Addo-Ankrah, who shot 3-6 on 3P attempts against the Pilots, shot 7-10 against the Vikings. PSU led most of the 2nd half until Denver got the lead with 2 minutes left, and held on. Hayden Curtis, in his 4th season at PSU after playing 1 year at UP, played 35 minutes, scoring 11 points with 4 rebounds.

Gameday!!

University of Missouri - Kansas City visits the Chiles Center tonight at 7pm.

UMKC, from the Summit League, is KP #290 and NET #337, and although they have 4 wins this season, all the wins are against non-D-1 teams. Their losses have been against Iowa St., Creighton, American, Albany, Southeast Missouri, Idaho, and Montana St.

Portland is KP #304 and NET #312.

The betting odds this morning favor the Pilots by 2.5 points with a 143.5 o/u. KP picks the Pilots to win, 72-71.

In my opinion, for the Pilots to win, they must limit UMKC's 3-point shooting and grab at least an equal share of the rebounds.

UMKC has four guys averaging double figures in scoring, but the guy to watch is #5 Jamar Brown...athletic and active, he's an excellent shooter and rebounder, averaging 14.6 and 7.5.

The Roos were the preseason favorite to win the Summit League but are currently last in the NET rankings for the league.

Head coach Marvin Menzies was named the 2024 Summit League Coach of the Year.

Uh, before you lay down you Vegas bets,

This isn’t the annual exam week trap game, is it?

Geezaldinho wrote:Uh,  before you lay down you Vegas bets,

This isn’t the annual exam week trap game, is it?

No, that doesn’t usually happen until Friday night…

A bit surprised MBB is playing during exam week, however.

(WBB plays on Friday)

Geezaldinho wrote:This isn’t the annual exam week trap game, is it?

oh crap, I guess it is…

The other team lighting it up from 3 again

UP24 wrote:The other team lighting it up from 3 again

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be ...

UP24 wrote:The other team lighting it up from 3 again

9 of 21 versus 3 of 18. Hard to overcome.

I looked at my printed season tickets. They said the CSU Bakersfield game was today. That is incorrect. It is on Wednesday, December 18. Confirmed by Jason Brough.
I imagine that the digital tickets have been updated, but our paper tickets which were printed a couple of months ago had the original, but incorrect, date.

Yup, I had a game today in my calendar, double checked it a couple days ago and changed the calendar. Thought maybe I'd erred.

Next up, the D-III Willamette University Bearcats. I expect them to shoot 50% from 3P range.

up7587 wrote:I expect them to shoot 50% from 3P range.

One of the teams shot 50% form beyond the arc!!

DoubleDipper wrote:

up7587 wrote:I expect them to shoot 50% from 3P range.

One of the teams shot 50% form beyond the arc!!

Yup, Pilots shoot 10-20 from 3P range. And that's with Jude Harris going 0-2 at the end trying to get his first career points (he eventually made a 2P shot). Dengdit and Ballisager-Webb each only shot 1 3P try, and they both made it. The bigs shot 20 of 25 at the basket, with Dengdit making 7-9, Ballisager-Webb making 5-7 and Oakman making 8-9. Those three also made all their FT's (6-6). The team had 26 assists (Legs thought it could have been 30+ with better passing) and 13 turnovers (the goal was 10).

The Bearcats were 4-8 on 3P tries early in the game, but they shot 6-23 after that. Pilots held their leading scorer #20 to 2-5 on 3P, and after #24 made 4 3P in the first half, they shut him out in the 2nd half.

Hope the team can build on a decent performance over a seriously outmatched opponent.

Left the Willamette game 1 minute early. Did they name a player of the game? I think it should be Bol. Was that his highest scoring game?

Oldguyfan wrote:Left the Willamette game 1 minute early. Did they name a player of the game? I think it should be Bol. Was that his highest scoring game?

It was Bol. It was his highest scoring game and only played 18 min

UP24 wrote:

Oldguyfan wrote:Left the Willamette game 1 minute early. Did they name a player of the game? I think it should be Bol. Was that his highest scoring game?

It was Bol. It was his highest scoring game and only played 18 min

Yes, Bol was the "official" player of the game, but the radio crew chose Coleman because his hard work and "spirited" leadership earned him his first starting spot in his fourth year on The Bluff.

Shantay told us before the game that due to the slow starts the team has been getting off to, he wanted a spirited bunch in the game so went with Coleman, Vince, and Jermaine to get the team off to a fast start.

Me?  I chose Mezz as the player of the game.  Having not played for weeks because others were ahead of him in the rotation, he kept his chin up and rooted for his teammates the entire time before getting a chance to finally play.  And play he did with 8/9 field goals, 3/3 free throws, 8 rebounds, and 0 turnovers in 13 minutes of action.

Good to see new bodies getting some run. Would like to see more of it moving forward/hoping it wasn't only because it was a DIII opponent. Been discussion around this being a development year as is - what better way to develop than by getting some playing time. And hey, maybe you learn some things and find some dudes!

Quick turnaround for the next game, Wednesday 12/18 at 7pm in Chiles, against Cal St Bakersfield. The Roadrunners from the Big West Conference are 5-6. Their wins are against N.D. St, Fresno St, Northeastern, and a couple lower division schools. Their NET ranking is #203, but NDSU is #98 and Northeastern is #139. They've played a tough schedule; several losses are to top 150 teams. Their worst loss is an OT loss to Florida International (#226). Pilots at #333 will be the lowest ranked team they've played.

(And because I can't let it go, the "game that got away" Oregon is now #17.)

They are led in scoring by a couple guards, #21 6'4" Jemel Jones and #3 6'6" Corey Stephenson, each averaging about 15 ppg. Both are Juniors who came to CSUB from community college; Jones is in his 1st year there, Stephenson is in his 2nd year there. They are not prolific 3P shooters, combining for about 3 attempts per game. I expect that to change due to the "Chiles Effect".

The guy to worry about may be 6'4" G Max McGhee #10, who scored 36 two days ago against NAIA La Sierra U and averages 13.5 ppg. His last three games he's 14 of 18 on 3P tries, and he's hitting 38% for the season.

They have a couple bigs on the roster, but they don't rely on them. Shakir Odunewu #34 is a 6'11" 265# So. from Egypt who transferred to CSUB from NMSU. He averages 12 minutes per game and about 5 ppg. Odunewu is 10th in minutes per game on their roster, so they have a deep bench.

Monday, against the smaller Bearcats, the Pilots were able to work the ball inside and score with regularity, but CSUB has some height and they “swarm” to any ball that goes inside, so UP’s bigs are going to have to be prepared to go “inside out” to get the ball to the outside shooters.

Can the pilots expect to shoot 50% from beyond the arc as they did in the last game, probably not, but if they can shoot close to 40%, they should be winners tonight.

There is no line on tonight’s game except a 140.5 o/u. KenPom expects the Pilots to lose this game by 2 points and then lose all the rest of their games except the USD home game later in the season.

I expect the Pilots to win by 3 in a nail-biter.