2025 Pilots WCC Conference Games

Gameday!!

Interesting coaching matchup in the WCC opener.

David Riley was Shantay's assistant at EWU and took over there when Shantay came to UP.  Then, WSU is cut adrift from the Pac-12 and the Cougars coach, ex-USF coach Kyle Smith, heads to Stanford, and Riley gets an unexpected opportunity at WSU...and he has done very, very well!

The Cougars (10-3) have notable wins against Bradley (91-74), Nevada (68-57), Boise State (74-69) and Northern Iowa (76-68). WSU's losses have come to Iowa (76-66), SMU (77-60) and Washington (89-73).

It is always difficult to guess which visiting player is going to go off for a career high when teams come to the Chiles Center, but six WSU players are averaging double figures for the Cougars, including #8, junior guard Nate Calmese (16.0) and #4, sophomore forward LeJuan Watts (13.2).

The early line has WSU winning by 12.5 and KenPom has the Cougars winning 84-69.

Remember the game is earlier than normal...it's a 5pm tip with Pilot Club at 4.

WSU can’t miss early. Price has 11 points already…

UP24 wrote:WSU can’t miss early. Price has 11 points already…

Price made 3 of 4 from 3P to start the game. Cougars made 8 of their first 10 3P tries, finished 10-17 for the 1st half.

Pilots winning the second half! Good work this half just too little too late unfortunately

UP24 wrote:Pilots winning the second half! Good work this half just too little too late unfortunately

Gave a few folks a little sweat. Pilots closed to down 12 with a minute to go, but WSU made a late dunk to win by 14. The spread was 12.5.

Is Jinup Dobuol hurt?

up7587 wrote:Gave a few folks a little sweat.  Pilots closed to down 12 with a minute to go, but WSU made a late dunk to win by 14.  The spread was 12.5.

It was that blitz at the start that sunk the Pilots, but they did not give up, outplaying and outscoring the Cougars in the second half.  In retrospect, and as a means of helping Jermaine, I think the staff will agree they should have gone to a zone defense when the Cougar bigs started hitting from the outside.

Now, if we can just keep this very young Pilots team together for at least another year...

The Cougar fans packing the seats last night were knowledgeable and respectful, in direct contrast to the fans that used to show up to support the Utah school. I look forward to their return next season.

After the game I drank beer with a couple of those WSU fans at the T-Room and learned that David Riley's team was purchased for somewhere in the neighborhood of $900,000 in the portal. I was also told by another beer drinking source that pending another court case, and beginning August 1, contributions to NIL collectives will be tax deductible. I think this will just let the rich schools get richer, but it should also help those who want to help UP.

Monday night in Corvallis, the Pilots go up against another temporary refuge from the Pac-12, and another 10-3 team, OSU.

I do not know the UP offensive game plan, but it's going to have to be very good because Oregon States ranks No. 12 nationally in scoring defense at 60.5 ppg.

6-9/220 German Michael Rataj leads four Beavers in double figures at 15.5 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, and UP's posts are also going to need some help inside against 6-9/260 Iranian Parsa Fallah, averaging over 11 ppg, but he does NOT shoot from beyond the arc!!

The Beavers (10-3) have notable wins against UC Davis (90-57), UC Irvine (67-55), Charleston (74-65) and Oakland (80-74, in OT). Oregon State's losses have come to North Texas (58-55), Oregon (78-75) and Nebraska (78-66).

OSU is an 18.5-point favorite. KenPom predicts #66 OSU, 81-61.

DoubleDipper wrote:David Riley's team was purchased for somewhere in the neighborhood of $900,000 in the portal.

That's pretty expensive to move from Cheney to Pullman.

Another loss, but they played a hell of a lot better than #320 in the country tonight.

Away game at the Spokane Arena vs Gonzaga!

6:00pm and on ESPN+

Gonzaga lost to UCLA by 3 after Nembhard choked a free throw and the last possession. Last game Pepperdine was able to keep it competitive after being down 18. Gonzaga won that one 89-82.

Obviously still a great team but it seems like if you can take Ryan Nembhard out of his element they struggle.

Road game playing USF (13-4) @ 7:00pm

Malik Thomas has been playing out of his mind recently averaging 20.4 points and 39.3% from 3.

He had 34, 24, and 34 points his last 3 games.

Ndewedo Newbury and Ryan Beasly are questionable

USF favored by 19.5 points in War Memorial Gym.

After tonight, UP will have opened WCC play by facing the five best teams in the conference, WSU, OSU, GU, SMC, and USF.

I guess one measure of how the team is doing is by comparing the final scores to what the oddsmakers expected...

1. WSU 89-73 (WSU favored by 12.5)
2. OSU 89-79 (OSU favored by 17.5)
3. GU 81-50 (GU favored by 30.5)
4. SMC 81-58 (SMC favored by 18.5)

After all these expected lopsided losses, how will the team react going forward?  Will they be better and tougher or demoralized and disorganized?

We have often seen four freshmen on the floor at one time and have seen relatively little contribution from the two seniors, so does Coach Legans keep going deeper in the bench to find the right combination and build the team for the future?  

After tonight's game the Pilots have a week to figure it out before hosting UOP next Thursday, January 16...let's hope this team can achieve some success and the team's primary contributors can be convinced to stay out of the portal at the end of the season.

DoubleDipper wrote:1. WSU 89-73 (WSU favored by 12.5)
2. OSU 89-79 (OSU favored by 17.5)
3. GU 81-50 (GU favored by 30.5)
4. SMC 81-58 (SMC favored by 18.5)

After tonight's game the Pilots have a week to figure it out before hosting UOP next Thursday, January 16...

5. USF 81-72 (USF favored by 18.5)

It was a big night for McKinnon (28 pts) and Rapp (19 pts), and Austin finally got rolling with 12 pts as a starter.  Masic, who is either in a real funk or is being guarded closely, came off the bench and was scoreless.

I watched to UOP at WSU game, in which the Tigers scored 48 points in the first half, 10 more than the Cougars, and finally won it in OT, 95-94.  

It is a disturbing trend that UP has given up over 80 points in all of the WCC games this season and UOP is coming to town after scoring 84 points in regulation.

SCU outlasted the Beavers at home and in OT, 82-81.

DoubleDipper wrote:I watched to UOP at WSU game, in which the Tigers scored 48 points in the first half, 10 more than the Cougars, and finally won it in OT, 95-94.  

That is a surprising home loss for WSU, considering their three previous losses were non-conference games, 2 on neutral sites and 1 at UW. That is UOP's first conference win, and only 4th D-1 win this year.

DoubleDipper wrote:I watched to UOP at WSU game, in which the Tigers scored 48 points in the first half, 10 more than the Cougars, and finally won it in OT, 95-94.  

It is a disturbing trend that UP has given up over 80 points in all of the WCC games this season and UOP is coming to town after scoring 84 points in regulation.

Oh, oh. The oddsmakers have picked the Pilots to win tonight's home game against UOP by 1.5 points...tipoff time 7pm and it will be televised locally on the CW.

KenPom agrees with the one-point victory and expects tonight's game will be one of only two games the Pilots will win the rest of the season...

Regardless of the outcome of tonight's game, the Chipotle Chicken and Rice Bowl at the 6pm Pilot Club should be delicious!

DoubleDipper wrote:Oh, oh. The oddsmakers have picked the Pilots to win tonight's home game against UOP by 1.5 points...tipoff time 7pm and it will be televised locally on the CW.

Oh man, what's going on!!

The line is now Pilots by 2.5 -- o/u 147.5.

UOP is Jekyll and Hyde. After beating WSU in Pullman, they lost at home to OSU by 36 points.

Pilots "beat" the 2.5 point spread despite UOP making 14 of 29 (48.3%) on their 3P tries.  Pilots made 9-27.  UOP is 28.7% on the season.  Every player who took a 3P shot (all 5 starters and 1 sub) made 2 or more of them.  The "Chiles Effect" was discussed during the post-game coach interview.

Pilots really helped themselves going 21-25 on FTs, while UOP was only 7-11.  Pilots also had only 14 turnovers, and made most of those in the first half.

Not to be too pessimistic, a win is a win and Bol was clutch, but I seriously thought those last three pointers attempts by Pacific at the end were gonna fall. And that inadvertent whistle at the end of the second half saved us from potential heartbreak.

Sound Voltex wrote:. . . I seriously thought those last three pointers attempts by Pacific at the end were gonna fall. And that inadvertent whistle at the end of the second half saved us from potential heartbreak.

The first 3P at the end was wide open, but #33 Benton (3-6 before that) missed it. #1 Washington's attempt was closely guarded and a very tough shot. Three offensive rebounds in the last seconds will cause plenty of grey hairs, though.

Without that inadvertent whistle, we thought Rapp may have gotten the rebound and put back a winner. I doubt UOP could have scored as long as there wasn't a foul called.

I love seeing Dave Smart lose basketball games.

up7587 wrote:Without that inadvertent whistle, we thought Rapp may have gotten the rebound and put back a winner.

That’s where I was at. The broadcast was talking about how lucky the Pilots were at the end. I thought it negated an obvious putback by Rapp.

The only luck was the possession arrow didn't give the ball to Pacific.

Sitting close to the action as I do, it was obvious the effort the guys put into the game last night deserved nothing short of a win.  Regardless of their numbers, a little breakdown:

Bol: Clearly the player of the game as he grabbed rebound after rebound on both ends of the court. His put-backs were the counter to UOP's 3-point shooting.

Max: Took an absolute beating on occasion but kept coming back for more with his clutch plays.

Aussie: It was obvious the game plan was to go inside, and that's where the big freshman ran into trouble with turnovers, but his blocks, rebounds, a couple of clutch threes...and the 3-point attempt that resulted in 3 free-throws, more than made up for the turnovers.

Chris: Finally!!! We are beginning to see the aggressive guy we knew a couple of years ago before his terrible injury.  

Vince: Just a freshman but counted on as the starting point guard, he showed he can control the pace and NOT turn the ball over while also playing good defense.

Mikah: Another freshman who has gained the confidence of his coaches and the self-confidence to be able shoot from the outside when the inside is not available.  He has the potential to be a star at UP.

Kelson: A freshman who may not be flashy but has a high on-court IQ and is will likely be a lock-down defender while continuing to develop his outside shot.

The free-throw factor: Last night UP had zero free-throw attempts in the first half and ended up going an eye-popping 21-25 at the line...outscoring UOP by 14 points from the stripe.  Home court advantage?  I certainly hope so because UP needs something to counter all the treys the opponents rain down in the Chiles Center.

All five eligible on-scholarship freshmen saw action last night...often with three on the court at one time.

This is definitely a team for the future if they were to stick around instead of bolting to the portal at the end of the season.

Can't blame them for taking the money and heading elsewhere, I guess, but I would think they'd want to develop together and become winners while taking pride in their accomplishments together.

I've only been gone from The Bluff for a few years, and I am already part of a past generation...