By Jeff Trousdale
The University of Portland men's basketball team squandered a 43-42 halftime lead over Gonzaga to lose 93-78 in front of 4,987 fans last Thursday at the Chiles Center. But you already knew that, didn't you?
While the Pilot's were able to hang tough with the Bulldogs for the first 20 minutes, it was the final 20 that left them struggling to find an answer for Gonzaga's aggressive zone defense and overwhelming size on the perimeter and down low. Now the question to ask is whether that will be a theme for their season as well.
The Pilots have started the season unlike any in recent memory. Just as they initially appeared to be headed for victory against the Bulldogs, so too they have seemed destined for a successful season based on first half results. The UP men have notched victories against teams like Washington, Saint Mary's and Nevada, all solid programs that would likely have defeated UP teams in the past, on their way to posting six more wins than they had for the entire season last year.
What the Pilots were unable to do is dethrone Gonzaga from their perch on top of the WCC, a game that could have been a defining moment for the season. Junior forward Robin Smeulders said that the team is ready to move on from the loss and finish the WCC strong.
"We have a positive attitude, we still have six or seven more games so we just want to focus on those games to finish out the WCC," Smeulders said.
The big men on the team, Smeulders and sophomores Luke Sikma, Kramer Knutson and Jasonn Hannibal, have struggled recently with their scoring. The big men combined to score 25 points or more in nine of the Pilots' first 11 games. In the 12 games following they scored more than 25 points only three times.
"We're letting the perimeter guys score right now," Smeulders said. "We are just focusing on guarding the big guys and trying to win the rebounding battles."
Head Coach Eric Reveno said that his team had its most difficult stretch of the schedule over the last three games, but that it still has more battles to come. Reveno gave his players two days off following the Gonzaga game, their first such break since Christmas, to recover and prepare for the second half of WCC play.
"I think that we could have played better against Gonzaga, but we did well," Reveno said. "Specifically, we could've attacked their zone better and limited turnovers in the second half but I think the first half of the WCC and that game was pretty good, and we're just trying to get better."
According to Reveno, the most important thing to do moving forward is win out in the WCC in order to get the second seed in the conference tournament, which would allow them two bye games. Reveno said that the biggest improvements he is looking for are inside scoring and transition defense, areas that they have struggled with of late.
"Now we're playing for something," Reveno said. "Second and third (seed) is a pretty big difference in terms of the reward so it's important that we get that number two seed."
The Pilots enter the weekend with a game tonight at San Francisco and continue Saturday on the road against Saint Mary's.
"People look at teams and say 'we should win this one, this one and this one, but if you lose one of those then that changes everything," Reveno said. "Going on the road heightens that and we can't go on the road and lose a bad game."
Smeulders said that he thinks the third time could be the charm if the Pilots face Gonzaga in the conference tournament, a sentiment that junior guard T.J. Campbell agreed to following the game.
"It's a tough loss but it shows that we can hang with the big teams," Campbell said, referring to the first half. "Now we just have to get it done."
