Pilots Host Unbeaten Seattle U Saturday at 5 PM
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Portland Pilots (4-1, 0-0 WCC) vs. Seattle U Redhawks (3-0, 0-0 WAC)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022
Time: 5 p.m. (PT)
Place: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center
Video: WCC Network
Radio: 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT)
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats
THIS WEEK
• The Pilots split a road trip with a loss at Kent State (77-65) and win at Air Force (64-51) earlier this week. Portland returns home to host Seattle U on Saturday at 5 p.m.
• Season tickets, mini packages and single-game tickets for all home games – as well as game promotions – can be found online at PortlandPilots.com.
GAME COVERAGE
• Thursday’s contest against Air Force will be on the Mountain West Network, while Saturday’s home matchup with Seattle U airs on the WCC Network.
• Radio coverage for all Portland men’s basketball games is on 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT) with Jason Swygard and Joel Sobotka on the call. The pre-game show begins 30 minutes prior to tip-off and coverage concludes with a post-game featuring stats, highlights and interviews.
• Fans are encouraged to meet with fellow Pilots to watch road games at Chill N Fill on North Lombard Street near campus.
• Live coverage links for Portland games can be found at PortlandPilots.com.
PREVIOUSLY THIS WEEK
• The Pilots suffered their first defeat of the season with a 77-65 loss at Kent State on Monday… Portland committed 27 turnovers which led to the Golden Flashes gaining a 22-6 edge in points off turnovers… The Pilots had three players score in double figures, led by Moses Wood, who had 13 points, eight rebounds and two steals. Chika Nduka tacked on 12 points off the bench and Tyler Robertson chipped in as well with 11 points… Portland gained a 35-32 edge in rebounding, but the Golden Flashes (2-1) attempted 14 more shots for the game and finished at 48 percent from the field compared to just 41 percent for the Pilots.
• Portland bounced back with a 64-51 win at Air Force on Thursday… The Pilots forced 17 turnovers and held the Falcons to just 15 made field goals… Robertson scored a team-high 15 points, while Wood added 12 points and seven rebounds… Bench production was big for the Pilots with 22 points, highlighted by Juanse Gorosito’s season-high eight points and three assists.
RECORD-BREAKING ROBERTSON
• 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 a matchup with Seattle U on Feb. 12, 1956.
• He is Portland’s career leader in free throw percentage (.876) 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, the Melbourne, Australia native 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 University. Only 26 players in the nation last season had triple-doubles and Portland and Western Kentucky were the only programs with multiple players recording triple-doubles.
• 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.
• He was one of only five players in the nation last year to average at least 15.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. The others were Alondes Williams (Wake Forest), Tosan Evbuomwan (Princeton), Ahsan Asadullah (Lipscomb) and Baylor Scheierman (South Dakota State).
• The Melbourne, Australia native was also the only player to rank top 10 in the WCC in points (7th), rebounds (10th) and assists (4th) last season.
• He is stuffing the stat sheet again this season by averaging 16.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game.
SCORING SURGE
• Portland is off to a high-scoring start to the season averaging 81.4 points per contest.
• 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. The team’s 264 three-pointers made marked the second most in single-season history (289 in 2015-16).
• 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.
PRESEASON RECOGNITION
• Portland was picked fifth in the WCC Preseason Coaches Poll, trailing only Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s, San Francisco and BYU.
• Tyler Robertson was also named to the 10-player WCC Preseason Team.
• Andy Katz recognized Shantay Legans as on the his Top 10 Rising Coaches nationally and the Pilots as one of the Top 11 most improved teams in college basketball.
• Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated also named Legans as one of his 10 Coaches on the Rise, nationally.
• ESPN.com identified Portland as the surprise ‘sleeper team’ of the West Coast Conference.
PILOTS SIGN TWO DURING EARLY NLI PERIOD
• Portland announced the signings of G Vince Delano and F Cyprian Hyde to National Letters of Intent this week.
• 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.
BALANCED ATTACK
• Four Pilots are averaging double figures this season.
• Last year, the Pilots also had four players finish the season averaging double figures.
• This year’s team has much more depth as the Pilots were playing a primarily seven-man rotation by season’s end.
• Nine players are averaging 8.8 or more minutes per game this season thus far.
A SEASON TO BUILD ON
• The Pilots are coming off one of the most successful seasons in program history under first-year head coach Shantay Legans. The team was 19-15 overall and finished sixth in the WCC, recording their highest win total since 2010 and their fourth-highest total since joining Division I in 1958. Their 7-7 record in WCC play was also the best since 2015.
• Portland won the program’s first postseason game in program history with a rout of New Orleans in The Basketball Classic.
• The Pilots return the top seven scorers and all major contributors to the roster for this season. Tyler Robertson (15.3 ppg) earned All-WCC Second Team honors last season, while Moses Wood (14.2 ppg) garnered honorable mention recognition. Chris Austin (14.3 ppg), Mike Meadows (10.2 ppg), Chika Nduka and Kristian Sjolund also were primary starters, while the team welcomes back graduate student Jack Perry from a medical redshirt and sophomore big man Vasilije Vucinic.
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.
ROSTER NOTES
• Chris Austin (leg) and Bol Dengdit are redshirting the 2022-23 season.
• Mike Meadows missed the Air Force game with a strained groin.
• Vukasin Masic is sitting out awaiting an NCAA immediate eligibility request.
• Sixth-year senior Jack Perry returns after suffering a season-ending knee injury last season against Portland State after the Pilots started 5-1.
THE SCHEDULE
• The team will play a challenging non-league schedule highlighted by co-hosting the Phil Knight Invitational and opening the tournament on Thanksgiving Day against North Carolina.
• Other notable non-league opponents include home games against Portland State, Seattle U and North Dakota State, as well as road contests at Oregon, Kent State, Air Force and UC Riverside.
• 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 scheduled to play Gonzaga and North Carolina, the preseason No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country.
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 47-18 (.723) record in games played after Feb. 1 in five years 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.
WE’RE RIVERBOAT PILOTS, NOT AIRPLANE PILOTS!
• Portland’s nickname of the Pilots is often misinterpreted as an airline Pilot, when in actuality it is named in honor of local Riverboat Pilots.
• Though the original nickname chosen by students in 1935 was “Chinooks” (after the local Native American tribe, and the largest of the salmon species in the Willamette River), “Pilots” was chosen by presidential fiat. From that day forward, The Bluff had a new mascot, and he was Wally Pilot.
• When the University changed its name from Columbia University (its earliest sports teams were known as the Cliff dwellers or the Columbias), to the University of Portland in 1935, the name and University had already begun to adapt a more “nautical motif,” suitable for a campus site overlooking the Willamette River. At the same time, the Pilot athletic teams became associated with Wally (a stylized riverboat pilot), and the pilot’s wheel became the logical logo.
ABOUT SEATTLE U
• The Redhawks (3-0) have defeated UC San Diego (85-71), Puget Sound (106-55) and Portland State (83-71) to start the season.
• Seattle U finished last year 23-9 overall and as co-champions of the Western Athletic Conference with a 14-4 league record.
• Head coach Chris Victor returns for his second season and brings back four starters and nine total lettermen.
• Cameron Tyson and Riley Grigsby were named to the WAC Preseason Team.
PORTLAND-SEATTLE U SERIES DETAILS
Series Information: Seattle U leads 76-30
H / A / N: 17-34 / 5-37 / 8-5
Streak: Seattle U W5
Last 10 / 5: 4-6 / 0-5
Last Meeting: Redhawks 84, Pilots 68 (Dec. 30, 2020 at Seattle U)
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