Rawls misses the FT and Rice wins 81-78. Phew. Heck of a comeback.

Owls win!!

That is a really nice comeback win.

81-78 final. All 5 starters in double figures, but absolutely no contribution from the bench. Key stat: 17-18 from the charity stripe.

Evee and Sheffield the POTGs for me. Sheffield with I think 14 in the second half and had to deal with Hamilton and Akot the entire game. Shot looked really off in the first but brushed it off in the second. And Evee basically kept us in the game in the first half. But contributions from everybody. Olivari and Mason hit some big shots. Fiedler was solid and made the big defensive play.

2 and 1 on the road to start conference play would be huge.

Our road conference win was so shocking it shut the board down for a couple of hours.

(Just kidding.)

Looking at the upcoming schedule, there is an opportunity to string together some wins with @UTEP, a three game homestand, and @UTSA.

(12-30-2022 12:15 AM)Orange County Owl Wrote:  Our road conference win was so shocking it shut the board down for a couple of hours.

(Just kidding.)

Looking at the upcoming schedule, there is an opportunity to string together some wins with @UTEP, a three game homestand, and @UTSA.

I managed to get the final posted on the (old/current) conference board before I could come here and post Pera’s postgame comment on the ESPN+ court side interview.

Loosely paraphrased here..

7 game losing streak to WKU snapped, how does it feel?
Pera: yeah it feels great, I’ve never beaten them before.

Talked about hanging tough defensively when our shots weren’t falling. Defense kept us in the game. And when the shots do fall, watch out!

Coach, how do you turn around and get ready for travel and a quick turn to go play at UTEP Sunday afternoon?
Pera: I have absolutely no idea! we’re just going to enjoy this one tonight!

Really great win (it takes quite a bit of the sting off the women's loss). We had some luck in that two WKU starters got hurt - and their head coach was sick and wasn't at the game to begin with (although according to the WKU fans, that might have been a good thing for the Hilltoppers).

I'm really impressed with how much improvement this team has shown (especially the starting five). We're 10-3 and have moved way up in the various ratings. There are still a lot of tough basketball games yet to be played, but the difference in talent and execution between this team and the football team are night and day.

And as I said earlier in the thread, UTEP has to travel as well (and will be coming off a double overtime loss at UAB so it's not like they'll have any easier of a quick transition than us).

Way to go team! With how we played Texas and the ability to battle back, this team may be for real this year. Would love to see us finally make some noise in conference.

It was great to see Evee really step up and make a difference in the game. I worry about the lack of bench contribution and the minutes the starting 5 are logging. You can really see the improvement in each starting player and I think Mason is really just beginning to show his upside. His 5 assists were important. It is night and day between his first couple of games and where he is now. He still has a bunch of work to improve his defense.

(12-30-2022 08:01 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  Way to go team! With how we played Texas and the ability to battle back, this team may be for real this year. Would love to see us finally make some noise in conference.

May have to block out March 8-11 for the championship tournament in Frisco.

Meant to post this prior to the WKU game (what I was treating as the official start to conference play). To get a sense of why Pera is hesitant to go to the bench, we need only look at the numbers. Excluding non-D1 games, here are the ratings for our bench guys (percentiles rated against all qualifying D1 players):

Guys Who Play Consistently
> Lieppert: team is 4.3 points per 100 possessions (P/100) worse offensively when he's on the court but 10.6 P/100 better defensively (the defensive number surprised me)
> Huseinovic: team is 3.8 P/100 worse offensively when he's on the court and 1.0 P/100 worse defensively

Guys Who Play Sporadically
> Lewis: 94.9 P/100 scored when on the court (10th percentile), 98.5 P/100 allowed when on the court (60th percentile)
> Jones: 91.2 P/100 scored when on the court (4th percentile), 110.5 P/100 allowed when on the court (11th percentile)
> Akuchie: 89.8 P/100 scored when on the court (3rd percentile), 112.9 P/100 allowed when on the court (7th percentile)

Pretty clear why Jones and Akuchie haven't played more minutes and why Pera wants to give Lewis some run, even if Lewis sometimes makes it more difficult for himself (with the silly decisions, turnovers, and fouls). I didn't include Geron's numbers, which are off the chart good (like 95+ percentile for everything), because he only has 11 minutes against D1 opponents and they're basically all in mop up duty.

Isn't too much illuminating stuff for the starters. Evee has been by far our most valuable player. We're 14.2 P/100 better offensively with him out there and 16.2 P/100 better defensively. Fiedler is unsurprisingly our most important offensive player, with a -23.7 P/100 scored drop when he's off the court. Mason's ratings are shockingly poor. We're only slightly better scoring the ball when he's off the court but 16.6 P/100 improved defensively when he's not playing. Our 96.9 P/100 allowed when he's off the court is actually decent nationally (67th percentile...versus 6th percentile when on the court).

Big win!

Is this Pera first road win in conference since becoming head coach?

(12-30-2022 02:31 PM)Texasowl Wrote:  Is this Pera first road win in conference since becoming head coach?

Nope. Owls defeated UTEP in El Paso last year, 71-68. Didn't check any further back.

(12-30-2022 02:31 PM)Texasowl Wrote:  Is this Pera first road win in conference since becoming head coach?

Last 5 seasons... 1 win, 1, 3, 3, 1

Getting 4 or more this season would be a new high.

That's not counting conference tournament games - those are probably all neutral wins?

(12-30-2022 04:27 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  

(12-30-2022 02:31 PM)Texasowl Wrote:  Is this Pera first road win in conference since becoming head coach?

Last 5 seasons... 1 win, 1, 3, 3, 1

Getting 4 or more this season would be a new high.

That's not counting conference tournament games - those are probably all neutral wins?

how about 8?

Artist: The Byrds
Album: Fifth Dimension
Song: "Eight Miles High"
March 14, 1966 Columbia Records

It's actually 9 (this is Pera's 6th year). I don't think you want me to link 9 to 5, so maybe this song? Hopefully they can win tomorrow at UTEP to get to #10 as there are a lot more titles to choose from with that number.

C'mon you guys, I am disappointed. This song is perfect, 6 years, 9 wins.