The Pilots have been sliding ever since their first game against Gonzaga in the Chiles Center on Jan. 7 was canceled due to weather conditions.
The game was rescheduled for Jan. 23 at 5 pm in the Chiles Center. This rescheduling has the Pilots facing No. 4 Gonzaga, the only undefeated team in the country (19-0), twice in three days.
The first of the two games came on Saturday, Jan. 21 in Spokane. The Pilots were competitive in the first half, but struggled to score in volume and found themselves down 34-23 at the break.
But even on a night where Gonzaga played below average by their standards, they still managed to pull away from the Pilots in the second half as they cruised to the 73-52 victory.
The loss was the fifth in a row for the struggling Pilots.
Four of the five losses have come by at least 20 points, including a 74-33 beat down at the hands of No. 21 Saint Mary’s. The Pilots managed only nine points by halftime of the matchup against the Gaels, which matched the lowest point total in a half by a Division I team this year.
Four blowout losses and one heartbreaking, last second loss against LMU, but none of them could compare to the loss the team suffered when Alec Wintering went down with a torn ACL in the Pilots’ 75-50 loss to USF last Thursday.
“This is really unfortunate for Alec," head coach Terry Porter said of the injury. “He has been the heart and soul of this team and done so much for this program over the last four years. Alec is undoubtedly one of the best players to wear a Pilot uniform and has also been a great representative of the University.”
Wintering is the team leader, main scoring threat and one of the greatest Pilot basketball players of all time. At the time of his injury, Wintering was just five assists from becoming the Pilots’ all time assist leader and ranks in the top five in scoring in Pilots history.
Losing Wintering is a big blow for the Pilots and their first game after his injury came on the front end of the two games being played against Gonzaga.
Without him, the Pilots missed the explosiveness and scoring opportunities that he creates when on the court, not just for himself, but for his teammates as he averages nearly six assists per game. His absence left the Pilots without the weapons to capitalize on the lackluster performance from the undefeated Bulldogs.
Wintering was averaging 19.5 points per game at the time of his injury and his experience playing against the powerhouse Bulldogs was missed in the loss as he is the only Pilot remaining from the 2013-14 squad, which was the last to beat Gonzaga.
After winning their first two conference matchups the Pilots looked like they were primed to shake things up in the top-heavy West Coast Conference, but the five straight losses, and the loss of the teams’ undisputed leader has the Pilots season looking bleak.
On Monday night they will face Gonzaga once again, who looks to improve their best start in school history by moving to 20-0.
Should the Pilots lose on Monday their overall record would drop to 9-11 on the year, and their sixth straight loss in conference play would move them to 2-6, tied for the second worst record in the WCC.
Head coach Terry Porter talked about the challenges that the team faced after the loss on Saturday, their first full game without Wintering running the show.
“[Wintering] has been so important not just offensively but defensively,” Porter told Spokane media after the game. “[Playing without him] is just different. Like I told the guys, continue to fight the way we fought tonight, that’s the standard and if we continue to play that way we’re going to give ourselves chances.”
The Jan. 7 game against Gonzaga was originally going to be played over Winter Break. When it was rescheduled it looked as if it would work out in the Pilots’ favor because it would allow for more of a home court advantage as the rest of the students would be back from break to cheer on the team.
Now it seems less like an advantage and more of a kick in the ribs for the Pilots who are already depleted and sliding in the West Coast Conference standings.
They head into the second straight game with Gonzaga having been outplayed by them just two nights before. The Bulldogs, trying to move to 20-0, aren’t even the No. 1 team in the country despite being the only team yet to lose — likely because their strength of schedule doesn’t warrant the top seed. Their mid-major status and games like the last one against the Pilots, where they were outrebounded and struggled shooting, create skeptics that don’t believe they are ready to compete with Kansas, Villanova and UCLA, the three teams in front of them in the standings.
If they remain undefeated and truly dominate the competition in the WCC they may eventually end up in the No. 1 spot in the country.
And they look to do both on Monday night against the Pilots.
An upset win for the Pilots would be truly remarkable, but most expect the Bulldogs will hand them their sixth straight loss and ease their way toward the WCC regular season championship and the NCAA tournament.
Even if the Pilots lose on Monday night they still have 10 games left on the schedule to find a rhythm. This will be a tall task without their top player in the lineup for the remainder of the season and even if the Pilots do improve, the combination of a long losing streak and the loss of Wintering have put the Pilots in a hole that will be tough to get out of.
