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Portland Pilots (13-16, 5-9 WCC) at San Francisco Dons (17-12, 6-8 WCC)
Date: Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Place: San Francisco, Calif.
Arena: Sobrato Center at War Memorial Gym
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: 910 ESPN Portland
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats
Portland Pilots (13-16, 5-9 WCC) at Pacific Tigers (13-16, 6-8 WCC)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Place: Stockton, Calif.
Arena: Spanos Center
TV: ROOT Sports
Radio: 1080 The Fan
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats
THIS WEEK
• Portland concludes the regular season with road games at San Francisco and then Pacific.
• The Pilots visit San Francisco on Thursday for an 8 p.m. tip-off and then take on Pacific on Saturday at 4 p.m.
GAME COVERAGE
• Thursday’s game will be aired nationally on CBS Sports Network with Carter Blackburn and Pete Gillen announcing. Saturday’s game will be televised on various regional sports networks including ROOT Sports Northwest with Barry Tompkins and Dan Belluomini on the call. Out of region fans can catch games on the WCC Network.
• Radio broadcasts will be on 910 ESPN Portland on Thursday and 1080 The Fan on Saturday. Jason Swygard and Joel Sobotka providing the commentary with the pregame show starting 30 minutes prior to tip-off.
• Live coverage links for Portland games can be found at PortlandPilots.com.
• Follow @PortlandMBB on Twitter and Instagram for the latest team content.
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland dropped a 103-84 home decision to Santa Clara last Saturday, the team’s lone game of the week.
• Mike Meadows erupted for a career-high 39 points in the loss, while Tyler Robertson added 16 points. Santa Clara drilled 16 three-pointers and shot 56 percent from the field to pull away.
• Meadows’ 39 points are the most since Matt Houle set the school single-game scoring record of 43 points against San Francisco on Feb. 13, 1993. He joins Tyler Robertson and Kristian Sjolund to score 30 or more points in a game this season, while six different Pilots have scored 20 or more in a game.
• Robertson ranks 18th nationally in total assists (149), 20th in the country in free throws made (133) and is one of just 23 players with a triple-double this season. He leads the WCC in assists, assists per game and free throws made.
• Robertson and Penn State’s Jalen Pickett are the only players in the nation averaging at least 14.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game.
• Robertson broke the Pilot record for both free throws made and attempted in a game on Nov. 11 against Portland State. He made 22-of-24 overall to break the previous marks held by Jim Winters (20-of-23) which dated back to 1956.
• Kristian Sjolund ranks 42nd nationally in effective FG percentage (.623) and 33rd in true shooting percentage (.650) according to KenPom.com (DI games only).
• Juanse Gorosito’s 55 three-pointers made ranks second all-time among Portland freshmen trailing only Jared Stohl’s 58 (2007-08).
• Portland leads the WCC and ranks 10th nationally free throws made (17.2) and 11th in free throws attempted (23.4) per game.
• The team matched a school record with 18 three-pointers made in a 100-61 victory over New Orleans on Dec. 10. Robertson eclipsed the 1,000-point mark and also broke the Pilot single-game record for assists with 15 that same game.
• Moses Wood also joined the 1,000-point club on Jan. 19 against San Diego.
• Head coach Shantay Legans was hired last March after he led Eastern Washington to the 2021 NCAA Tournament. He recorded his 100th career win on Nov. 30 vs. Multnomah.
• The Pilots finished last season 19-15 overall and sixth in the WCC, recording their highest win total since 2010 and their fourth-highest win total since joining Division I in 1958. The 7-7 record in WCC play was also their best since 2015 and the team recorded its first ever postseason victory at the Division I level.
• The Pilots set a single game scoring record a year ago in a 122-78 victory over Willamette, eclipsing the 115 scored against St. Martin’s in 1978. Portland also broke the program’s single game three-pointers made record with 18 against VMI on Dec. 3, 2021 and made 264 three-pointers.
• The 267 three-pointers made this season eclipsed last year’s mark and is second in school history behind only the 2015-16 team with 289.
• The Pilots finished last season ranked seventh in the nation in free throw percentage (.791) to establish a new UP single-season record. The team also finished 12th in free throws made (544) nationally last year.
• Portland returns all five starters and the top seven scorers from last year’s team. The Pilots return 91.1 percent of the scoring production from last year, second nationally to Virginia (91.4).
• The Pilots signed G Vince Delano and F Cyprian Hyde to National Letters of Intent in November. Delano (6-2, 170) currently attends Arizona Compass Prep, one of the top basketball prep schools in the country. Hyde (6-10, 220) finished last season averaging 16.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.
• A total of 13 former Pilots are currently playing professionally, while alum Erik Spoelstra (’92) has won two NBA Championships as head coach of the Miami HEAT. Ben Sullivan (’07) also won a 2021 title as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks coaching staff and is now an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics.
• A total of 17 Pilot games are currently scheduled for television, including a minimum of seven on national TV.
INJURY BUG & ROSTER NOTES
• Mike Meadows (groin) has missed 12 games this year due to injury.
• Moses Wood (foot) missed the first three WCC games and Tyler Robertson went down with an ankle injury in the first half of the league opener vs. LMU and missed the next game at BYU.
• Chris Austin started all 34 games last year and was second on the team in scoring (14.4), but broke his leg in the season finale at Southern Utah and will redshirt this season.
• Freshman F Bol Dengdit is also redshirting, while Maine transfer G Vukasin Masic had an NCAA immediate eligibility waiver denied and will sit out the 2022-23 season.
• The Pilots have had 10 different players start a game this year and used 12 different starting lineups.
WITH OR WITHOUT YOU?
• With the lineup in limbo due to injuries, Portland’s offensive numbers changed dramatically to open WCC play.
• The Pilots were one of the top offensive teams in the country during non-league play averaging 79.3 points, making 10.0 three-pointers per game at a 39 percent rate and dishing out 17.1 assists per game… all top 30 nationally.
• With key players missing early in WCC play, those numbers dropped.
• In Division I games with Moses Wood the Pilots are averaging 78.5 points, making 9.4 threes per game and shooting 46 percent from the field and 38 percent from three-point range. In the three WCC losses without Wood Portland scored just 57.3 points, made only 4.3 three-pointers per game and shot 35.9 percent from the floor and 22.0 percent from three-point range.
BALANCED ATTACK
• Six different Pilots are averaging 7.7 or more points this season.
• Six players have scored 20 or more points in a game, while three (Meadows, Robertson, Sjolund) have scored 30 or more. Portland and Missouri are the only teams in the country with six different 20-point scorers. In the win over San Francisco Robertson, Wood and Sjolund all had 20-plus points.
• 11 players are averaging more than eight minutes per game.
SHARING THE BALL
• The Pilots had 28 assists against Multnomah which matched last year’s 28 against New Orleans for the most since the Pilots recorded 30 against Texas Southern on Dec. 29, 1995. The team record is 34 versus LMU on March 5, 1988. UP has recorded 20-plus assists in eight different games this year.
RECORD-BREAKING ROBERTSON
• Tyler Robertson broke the UP record for assists in a game with 15 against New Orleans on Dec. 10. The previous mark was 14 by Dionn Holton on Dec. 9, 1995 vs. Southern Oregon. The Melbourne, Australia native also scored his 1,000th career point in the same contest.
• Against Portland State on Nov. 11, Robertson set the Pilot record for both free throws made and attempted in a game. He converted 22-of-24 overall to break the previous marks held by Jim Winters (20-of-23) which dated back to a matchup with Seattle U on Feb. 12, 1956.
• He ranks ninth among Portland’s career leader in free throw percentage (.825) and ranked second in the WCC and 22nd in the nation in free throw percentage (.883) last year including a streak of 34 consecutive free throws made.
• Last season, he posted a remarkable 31-point, 11-rebound, 11-assist triple-double in a Feb. 12 win over LMU to join teammate Mike Meadows as the only players in program history to record a triple-double – Meadows did so against Willamette. Only 26 players in the nation last season had triple-doubles with UP and Western Kentucky the only teams with more than one player on the list.
• Robertson became the only NCAA Division I player in the last 25 years to log a 30-point triple-double, make 5-plus threes without a miss (5-for-5) and drill 10-plus free throws without a miss (10-for-10) in his remarkable performance against LMU. No other player has achieved all three of those marks throughout an entire career, but Robertson accomplished it a single game.
THE NEWCOMERS
• Coach Legans brought in a talented recruiting class including four transfers and five freshmen. The additions of 6-foot-10 grad transfer Joey St. Pierre (Milwaukee), 6-foot-9 former WAC Freshman of the Year Wyatt Lowell (Utah Valley/BYU/Snow JC) gives the Pilots more size this season.
• Mississippi State transfer Alden Applewhite is good sized wing with a versatile skill set, while Maine transfer Vukasin Masic provides scoring and distributing ability as a combo guard.
• Freshman guard Juanse Gorosito is an elite shooter, while freshman Bol Dengdit has good size and skill for a wing at 6-11.
PILOTS VERSUS RANKED OPPONENTS
• The Pilots dropped to 7-78 all-time against opponents ranked in the AP Poll and 0-10 against team’s ranked No. 1 after narrow losses to North Carolina and Michigan State at PKI, as well as two losses to Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s.
• Portland has lost 22 consecutive games to ranked opposition with the last win an 82-73 defeat of No. 18 Gonzaga on Jan. 9, 2014 at the Chiles Center.
PILOTS SIGN TWO DURING EARLY NLI PERIOD
• Portland has announced the signings of G Vince Delano and F Cyprian Hyde.
• Delano (6-2, 170) currently attends Arizona Compass Prep, one of the top basketball prep schools in the country. Last season he competed for Phoenix Prep in the elite prep basketball circuit, The Grind Session. He broke the circuit record for most three-pointers in a game (10) and helped lead Phoenix Prep to the Grind Session Final Four.
• Hyde (6-10, 220) provides versatility from the post position with his size and athleticism. An elite shot blocker with three-point shooting range, Hyde was named the Vista High School Defensive Player of the Year last season. He finished the season averaging 16.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.
HEAD COACH SHANTAY LEGANS
• Legans was hired in March of 2021 after he led Eastern Washington to the 2021 NCAA Tournament. In his four years as head coach at EWU, Legans compiled the school’s best overall (.605) and conference (.726) win percentages.
• Legans finished third or better in the Big Sky Conference all four seasons, led the Eagles to the 2020 regular season crown and 2021 tournament title.
• His teams improve each year as the season progresses best illustrated by his 49-20 (.710) record in games played after Feb. 1 as a head coach.
• All three assistant coaches are back this year for the Pilots. Bobby Suarez and T.J. Lipold came with Legans from Eastern Washington, while Jeremy Pope came on board after coaching most recently at Arizona Compass Prep.
• His staff is among the nation’s youngest as all three assistants are under 35.
PILOTS SHOW OUT AT PKI
• The team concluded a challenging non-league schedule that included games against North Carolina, Villanova and Michigan State at the Phil Knight Invitational, as well as road games against Kent State and Oregon.
• The Pilots put the country on notice by pushing then-No. 1 UNC and Michigan State to the wire in close games and knocking off Villanova at the event.
• Portland will not host BYU or visit Santa Clara as part of the WCC’s unbalanced league schedule.
• The Pilots are the only team nationally that played Gonzaga and North Carolina, the preseason No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country.
ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO
• The Dons (17-12, 6-8 WCC) are No. 110 in the latest NCAA Net Rankings and No. 99 on KenPom.com.
• USF defeated Pepperdine and Pacific last week to move into a tie for fifth place in the WCC standings.
• Notable wins have come against Arizona State, UNLV, Fresno State and Wichita State.
• Guards Khalil Shabazz (16.7) and Tyrell Roberts (16.2) lead USF.
• Head coach Chris Gerlufson is in his first year on the Hilltop.
PORTLAND-SAN FRANCISCO SERIES HISTORY
Overall: USF leads 66-30
H / A / N: 19-27 / 10-36 / 1-3
Streak: POR W2
Last 10 / 5: 3-7 / 2-3
Last Meeting: Pilots 92, San Francisco 87 (Jan. 12, 2023 at POR)
ABOUT PACIFIC
• The Tigers (13-16, 6-8 WCC) are No. 202 in the latest NCAA Net Rankings and No. 192 on KenPom.com
• Pacific enters the week tied for fifth place in the WCC standings.
• Pacific has posted notable wins over North Dakota, North Dakota State, San Jose State and Santa Clara.
• Keylan Boone leads a balanced attack with 14.0 points per game.
• Head coach Leonard Perry is in his second year at the helm.
PORTLAND-PACIFIC SERIES HISTORY
Overall: PAC leads 32-15
H / A / N: 10-11 / 4-21 / 1-0
Streak: W3
Last 10 / 5: 3-7 / 3-2
Last Meeting: Pilots 81, Pacific 72 (Feb. 9, 2023 at POR)
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