Pilots vs. Nevada Friday, Dec 7 @ 7pm

The Pilots play only their second home game of the season tonight….it’s against Nevada at 7pm.

Even if you don want to tarnish the lasting memory of the Pilots last game against Nevada, a 30 point blow-out by the Pilots in 1998, you may still want to show up tonight just to see Nevada’s 6’7,” and big, 23 year-old sophomore, a native of Gabon. Wow, if she was just a little smaller, she could be Dorian’s twin.

WolfPack by 20.

Nevada is 12th in the nation in possessions per game, so at least we'll get to see a lot of running. They're 148th in actual points per possession (Portland is 321st out of 345 teams).

Yeah I was bored and Basketball State has a women's site too with all the same stats.

WOW!

Our Pilots really came together this evening in picking up their first win in six games, beating Nevada 70-61.

They are a very young team, and the coaches have been working hard to find the right combination of skill and chemistry, and for tonight at least, they found it. Tonight set-plays that were designed to take advantage of UP’s of cutting to the basket worked to perfection, the team cut way down on turnovers (14), and shot almost 50% from the field and almost 80% from the line.

At least three players had career highs: Ellen Nurmi had 15 pts on 4-6 shooting; Cassandra Thomson had 18 pts on 8-11 shooting to go with 8 rebounds; and Kari Luttinen had 23 pts. But the big difference might have been the return of junior PG Jasmine Wooton who came back from missing a number of games due to injury to play 40 minutes. I have to also tip my cap to Amy Pupa who played very, very tough in the middle, holding Nevada’s bigs to almost nothing while providing the leadership and steady play that resulted in the Pilots second win of the season.

Next up: A VERY good Fresno State team on Friday December 14 at 5:15 preceding the men’s game against Portland Bible College. Something a little extra special about the Fresno State team….the assistant coach is Hanna (Seltzer) Howard, the former UP PG who graduated in 2005.

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:Nevada is 12th in the nation in possessions per game, so at least we'll get to see a lot of running. They're 148th in actual points per possession (Portland is 321st out of 345 teams).

It was fun basketball this evening....Nevada had 72 possessions for 26 scores (84.7 offensive efficiency); UP had 71 possessions for 33 scores (98.6 off. eff.).

They played terrific pressure defense, hopped all ove their 6-7 player, who, as it turns out, wasn't so good if she got even the slightest way away from the basket. Credit Thompson with help from Pupa for that. Nevada only had one player shoot better than 33%

Great team effort and the best shooting I have seen in a long time from a Pilot team. It was fun to see them take it to he other team for a change.

Nevada had a player who old really shoot, but in the second half Lutinen made sure the open threes weren't available.

And Nevada dominated the boards 47-33, so they still are getting he possessions, but they again dint do good things with the second and third chances.

Oh, I forgot to mention, the defense was awesome! The Pilots forced 20 turnovers, including 17 steals, and scored 24 points off the turnovers.

The Pilots did NOT win the battle of the rebounds (33-46), and gave up far too many offensive boards (8-24), but the Pilots outscored Nevada in the paint 36-20.

Understandably, there weren't very many fans at the game tonight, but those who saw it witnessed a very entertaining game and a WIN!

Oh, and the 6'-7" player Geez mentioned, scored zero points, had 4 rebounds, and 2 turnovers in 8 minutes.

And Nevada's sharp shooter, named Sharp, scored 25 points on 6-15 from beyond the 3-point line...only one in the second half....with 20 seconds left in the game.

DoubleDipper wrote:

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:Nevada is 12th in the nation in possessions per game, so at least we'll get to see a lot of running. They're 148th in actual points per possession (Portland is 321st out of 345 teams).

It was fun basketball this evening....Nevada had 72 possessions for 26 scores (84.7 offensive efficiency); UP had 71 possessions for 33 scores (98.6 off. eff.).

Offensive efficiency is points per possession so it's 0.847 or 84.7 pts/100 possessions.

If you want to look at how many possessions ended in scores, that's called floor percentage.

http://www.wbbstate.com/info/statprimer

However you look at it, the Pilots put together a great game on both ends of the floor tonight.

Yea, I got a C- in undergrad statistics at UP....stupid decimal points; and those other things.......numbers!

For a common opponent comparison, Nevada beat the Ducks at Matt Court today 73-77. Oregon is 0-7. That December 21 game could be winnnable for the Pilots.

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:For a common opponent comparison, Nevada beat the Ducks at Matt Court today 73-77. Oregon is 0-7. That December 21 game could be winnnable for the Pilots.

Yea, it’s something we hate to see, the UO Women’s Basketball Team has been devastated by injuries this year. The last I heard they are down to only seven players, but are hoping for a return of at least one player from the excellent UO Volleyball team that plays Penn State on Thursday in the NCAA semifinals.

UO, under Coach Paul Westhead, plays a fun up tempo run-and-gun offense, and based upon UP’s performance on Thursday, that may be the best style for the Pilots too. Tough games coming up against Fresno St, then on the road against Boise St two days later…..but the game against UO should be fun to watch.