Wed. Game, the Kris Dunn show on full display...

[stever20]

kind of game that if PC makes the tourney barely, they'll look back on this game as a huge reason why.

[handdownmandown]

WOW. Dude straight up blew a freaking dunk with four seconds left.

And last night I was thinking that the conference was getting all the lousy breaks.

[billyjack]

So, PC is a young team and is working in a lot of new players. I'll take any win, even ugly ones like this. We sucked in several areas, but they're things we can improve on. 3 point defense was awful, and free throws were terrible.

Because of our height disadvantage, we stayed in a zone to keep Bentil out of foul trouble, and Illinois shot 45% or so from 3 so they burned us. Winning a game with Dunn and Bullock only scoring 12 or so points each is a miracle.

Anyway, going forward, once our freshman build up minutes we will improve. Bentil did a great job getting their big guy Thorne to pick up quick fouls.

So the Gavitt Games are tied 2-2, with each home team winning. Attendance was just over 8k. The south end zone seats were empty, but everywhere else was pretty filled. The south floor seats are usually reserved for families, and school and church groups, so on a Wednesday that area didn't fill. I gave my tickets to my sister and her boyfriend and they said there was a great atmosphere, pretty intense, but i wasn't there so i can't comment.

Now we get Brown on Saturday...! What could go wrong against them?!

[Jet915]

Yeah, I was wondering why a whole section near the hoop was empty. Maybe they need to give those seats to season ticket holders and reserve the upper deck for churches, groups etc. cause it looked horrible on TV.

[stever20]

So, PC is a young team and is working in a lot of new players. I'll take any win, even ugly ones like this. We sucked in several areas, but they're things we can improve on. 3 point defense was awful, and free throws were terrible.

Because of our height disadvantage, we stayed in a zone to keep Bentil out of foul trouble, and Illinois shot 45% or so from 3 so they burned us. Winning a game with Dunn and Bullock only scoring 12 or so points each is a miracle.

Anyway, going forward, once our freshman build up minutes we will improve. Bentil did a great job getting their big guy Thorne to pick up quick fouls.

So the Gavitt Games are tied 2-2, with each home team winning. Attendance was just over 8k. The south end zone seats were empty, but everywhere else was pretty filled. The south floor seats are usually reserved for families, and school and church groups, so on a Wednesday that area didn't fill. I gave my tickets to my sister and her boyfriend and they said there was a great atmosphere, pretty intense, but i wasn't there so i can't comment.

Now we get Brown on Saturday...! What could go wrong against them?!

think it's kind of interesting, saw on ESPN them bringing up how there were 13 true home teams in the tip-off marathon that ESPN did, and of those 13 teams, 10 teams won. So home court advantage does mean a lot, especially in close games.

[FriarJ]

As someone on our board said. Dave Gavitt was responsible for the final 20 seconds.

[Edrick]

PC's offense is so rudimentary right now its easy to defense. That's going to have to improve or it won't be a Tournament team. Illinois isn't going to be close to a Tournament team and provided a litmus test. That's a loss in Champaign to a team that just was beat by double digits vs North Florida.

[FriarJ]

We do this every year and it's so silly, A beat B by XX. C only beat them by X, so A must be better than C.

North Florida (an NCAA tourney team, I will remind you) made many of their wide open 3's. Providence did not, and also shot 40% from the ft line. Different spread in the result. Each game stands on their own.

[Edrick]

OK....then the same team that trailed North Dakota State by 11 at halftime before rallying for a 6 point win.

The actual scores aren't what is relevant. What is relevant is that Illinois simply isn't good. That offense has no flow at all and as a result allows bad teams to just stick around. Whether or not that changes is what that comment was about. If it doesn't, PC isn't going to be relevant.

There isn't a margin of error for a team that projects 5 or 6 in a league that will get 5 or 6 in. It gets late early.

[mel ott]

We do this every year and it's so silly, A beat B by XX. C only beat them by X, so A must be better than C.

North Florida (an NCAA tourney team, I will remind you) made many of their wide open 3's. Providence did not, and also shot 40% from the ft line. Different spread in the result. Each game stands on their own.

Agreed, It sure is fun to start watching Big East teams again. Special to get to see teams that will eventually see on our home court. Providence looked bad obviously from a shooting standpoint. However, Dunn's defense and Bentil and the other forward played great defense. They are very active on defense and it's what won them the game. Not a great game for them, but a great outcome.