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Portland Pilots (2-3) at #2 Kentucky Wildcats (5-0)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011
Tip-off: 4:00 p.m. (PST)
Location: Lexington, Ky.
Arena: Rupp Arena (23,000)
Television: Fox Sports South
Radio: 800 AM
Live Audio: PortlandPilots.com
Overall Series: UK leads 2-0
At UP: UK leads 1-0
At UK: UK leads 1-0
Neutral: 0-0
Last: UK 79, POR 48 (Nov. 19, 2010 at Portland, Ore. - Rose Garden)

THIS WEEK
• Portland will travels to Lexington, Ky. and historic Rupp Arena to face the No. 2 ranked Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday at 4 p.m. (PST).
• This is Portland’s second trip to Rupp Arena. The Pilots previously visited Rupp Arena in 1990 under then-head coach and former Wildcat player, Larry Steele.
• The Pilots will visit Lexington again next season to conclude the contracted series with the Wildcats.

GAME COVERAGE
• Dave Baker and Kyle Macy will call Saturday’s action on Fox Sports South.
• All Portland basketball games will be broadcast live on True Talk 800 AM, with a 30-minute pregame show. Matt Richert and Jason Brough will call the action courtside from Lexington. An audio simulcast will also be available on www.portlandpilots.com. 

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland lost its third straight game as UC Santa Barbara improved to 4-0 with an 83-69 win on Tuesday in Santa Barbara.
• The Pilots led 35-31 at the half, but foul trouble, a 45-28 rebounding deficit and hot second-half shooting by the Gauchos was the difference.
• Sophomore F Ryan Nicholas led three Pilots in double figures with a career-high 16 points and eight rebounds. Nicholas is averaging just shy of a double-double this season (11.8 ppg, 8.4 rpg) and has made his first five career starts.
• Previously, the Pilots dropped their home-opener to Washington State (83-73) on Nov. 20 as freshman G Kevin Bailey led the way with 14 points off the bench.
• The Pilots won two of three games at the World Vision Classic in Seattle to open the season, knocking off Florida Atlantic (70-65) and Georgia State (66-61) before falling to host Washington (93-63).
• All four Pilot true freshmen are averaging more than 12 minutes per game.
• Portland has outrebounded four of five opponents this year.
• Head coach Eric Reveno and all three assistant coaches return for their sixth year together on The Bluff.
• Portland is coming off of back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time ever.
• The Pilots were invited to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) for the third consecutive season in 2011.
• Portland returns two starters and nine lettermen from last year’s team that finished 20-12 overall and 7-7 in the WCC.
• All nine UP graduates in the last two years and have gone on to play pro ball.
• The Pilots were picked to finish seventh in the nine-team West Coast Conference, while senior G Nemanja Mitrovic was named to the preseason all-conference team.
 
ABOUT #2 KENTUCKY
• Kentucky is ranked No. 2 nationally in both the AP and Coaches’ Top 25.
• The closest win for the Wildcats was a 75-65 decision over No. 11 Kansas, while three of their five wins have come by 42 points or more.
• The Wildcats (5-0) have five players averaging double figures led by Doron Lamb’s 15.2 ppg.
• UK has held all five opponents below 34 percent shooting from the field.
• Head coach John Calipari is a perfect 35-0 at Rupp Arena in his third year at the helm.
• Calipari led the Wildcats to the
• Two Wildcat players are from Portland as sophomore Terrence Jones (Jefferson HS) and freshman Kyle Wiltjer (Jesuit HS) hail from the Rose City.

LAST OUTING
• UC Santa Barbara 83, Portland 69 (Goleta, Calif.): The Portland Pilots led by four at halftime on the road, but the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos shot the lights out in the second half to earn the home win. Ryan Nicholas led three Pilots in double figures with a career-high 16 points. The senior-laden Gauchos, coming off of back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, had stellar performances from guards Orlando Johnson and James Nunnally. The senior duo entered the game averaging a combined 38 points, but was held to 11 at the half. They erupted for 37 of the Gauchos’ 52 second half points, mostly from contested perimeter jumpers. Johnson finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds, while Nunnally added 22 points. Senior center Jaime Serna added 15 points and 10 rebounds. Nemanja Mitrovic finished with 12 points for Portland, as did Tanner Riley. All of Riley’s points came in the first half before he picked up his third foul and was forced to the bench. For the second game in a row the Pilots battled significant foul trouble. Riley, Thomas van der Mars and Riley Barker all had three fouls midway through the first period as the Gauchos made 13-of-22 first half free throws. Barker played just five minutes before fouling out. UCSB became the first team to outrebound the Pilots this season, gaining a 45-28 margin on the glass.
 
MITROVIC MAKES ALL-TOURNEY TEAM 
• Senior G Nemanja Mitrovic was named to the World Vision Classic All-Tournament Team after leading the Pilots to a 2-1 record and averaging 12.0 points per game.
• Mitrovic finished last season No. 6 in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (.463) and 20th in three-pointers made per game (2.9).
• One of only two seniors on the roster, Mitrovic was voted a team captain this year along with sophomore PG, Tim Douglas.
• A native of Toronto, Mitrovic played just 43 minutes as a freshman and 312 minutes as a sophomore before averaging 13.5 ppg and earning All-WCC honors last year.
 
RODGER’S ROLE
• Junior G Derrick Rodgers has been a spark off the bench for the Pilots this season. He made big plays late in both Pilot wins to open the season and is averaged 8.4 points per game this year, compared to 2.3 ppg last year.
• Known as a defensive stopper, Rodgers made the biggest basket against Florida Atlantic with a go-ahead runner in the lane with 28 seconds left in regulation.
• Rodgers also grabs 3.6 rebounds per game out of the backcourt.

FRESHMEN FIRSTS
• Portland’s highly-touted four true freshmen have each appeared in all four games and are all averaging more than 12.0 minutes per game.
• David Carr (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic HS) started the last four games at guard and is averaging a freshman high of 22.2 minutes per game.
• Thomas van der Mars (Gouda, Netherlands) averages 19.8 minutes and is averaging 8.3 points and 5.0 rebounds over the last three games.
• Dorian Cason (Fontana, Calif./Summit HS) averages 15.2 minutes per game along with 4.6 ppg and 4.0 rpg.
• Kevin Bailey (Clovis, Calif./East Clovis HS) scored a game-high 14 points with three steals against Washington State and averages 12.0 minutes.
• Redshirt freshman F John Bailey (Mesa, Ariz./Dobson HS) made his first appearance of the year against UW and grabbed two rebounds in three minutes of action.

NICHOLAS’ TIME IS NOW
• After sitting behind All-WCC forward Luke Sikma and four-year starting center Kramer Knutson last season as a freshman, Ryan Nicholas is off to a fast start this year.
• Making his first five career starts, Nicholas is averaging 11.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.
• He recorded career-highs of 13 points and 11 rebounds in the opener against FAU for his first career double-double, and topped his career high with 16 points at UCSB.
• The Spokane, Wash. native is also 20-for-24 at the free throw line.

DOUGLAS GIVEN THE KEYS
• Sophomore PG Tim Douglas moved into the starting lineup during WCC play last season, but missed the team’s final three games due to injury (all losses). He was voted team co-captain by his peers entering this season.
• He was named the WCC Player of the Week twice as a freshman, joining Elias Harris (Gonzaga, 2010), Patrick Mills (Saint Mary’s, 2008), Darrell Tucker (San Francisco, 2000) and Greg Anthony (Portland, 1987) as the only freshmen in league history to do so.
• Douglas scored a game-high 17 points against Washington on Nov. 14 and is leading the Pilots in assists (19) and third on the team in scoring (9.8).

NOT AN EASY ROAD
• The Pilots have one of the most challenging non-conference schedules in the nation.
• Portland faces eight teams that made the post-season last year, while nine of the 13 non-league games will be away from the Chiles Center.
• In addition to the World Vision Classic, road games include: at #2 Kentucky, at St. Louis, at Nevada, at UC Santa Barbara, at Utah and at Boise State
• The home non-league schedule is highlighted by Washington State, Montana and Ohio.
• Entering Friday, UP’s non-conference Division I opponents are a combined 35-18 (.660).

HOME SWEET HOME
• Portland has rattled off a 38-7 home record since the start of the 2008-09 season.
• The Pilots’ 19-game home win streak was snapped by Gonzaga last February.
• Signature home wins have come against Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Saint Mary’s three times.
• Portland finished the 2010-11 regular season with a 13-2 record at the Chiles Center for the second straight season.

STAFF STABILITY
• Eric Reveno was named the 2009 WCC and District 9 Coach of the Year after leading UP to a 10-win improvement during the 2008-09 season.
• Now in his sixth year on The Bluff, Reveno credits the stability of his coaching staff as key to the program’s turnaround. All three assistants that joined Reveno when he was hired in April of 2006 have remained on the Portland bench ever since.
• Reveno is the third longest tenured WCC coach behind Gonzaga’s Mark Few (13) and Saint Mary’s Randy Bennett (11).

THREE-POINT THREATS
• Portland was the No. 1 three-point shooting team in the nation over the previous three seasons combined (.412, 752-1825).
• The Pilots led the nation in three-point percentage in 2009 (.418), were No. 5 in 2010 (.407), and No. 3 in 2011 (.412).
• Portland is struggling thus far from beyond the arc (.279, 24-86).

PILOTS TO THE PROS
• Portland has graduated all nine players over the last two years and all nine have gone on to play professionally.
• All five 2010 graduates played professionally last season, while Portland’s four graduated seniors from the 2011 class are all playing in Europe this season.
• Jared Stohl signed with the Crailsheim Merlins of Germany, Luke Sikma inked with La Palma in Spain. Kramer Knutson and Jasonn Hannibal signed in Switzerland and Slovenia, respectively.

YOUTH MOVEMENT
• Portland’s 2011-12 roster features only three upperclassmen in seniors Nemanja Mitrovic and Eric Waterford, along with junior Derrick Rodgers.
• The six-player sophomore class played significant minutes as freshmen last year.
• Freshman G Kevin Bailey is the first top 100 recruit that the Pilots have landed, while Freshman G David Carr is the first local Portland product to sign with the Pilots since Reveno took over the program.
• Underclassmen have accounted for 76% of the minutes played this year.

OREGON STATE PLAYER OF THE YEAR SIGNS WITH PILOTS
• Portland signed the reigning Oregon ‘5A’ State Player of the Year, Jake Ehlers, to a National Letter of Intent on Nov. 9.
• Ehlers (6-7, 200) led Corvallis High School to a 27-1 record and the Oregon ‘5A’ state championship as a junior last season.
• He averaged 22 points on 58 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent from three-point range. He also carried the Spartans to a 79-73 double overtime win in the state championship game over Benson, finishing with 36 points on 13-of-18 shooting.
• Ehlers was recently named to Oregon’s All-State First Team by ESPN.com and is rated as the No. 68 power forward on the same site.

COACH MICHAEL WOLF TAKING PART IN ‘SHOTS FROM THE HEART’
• CollegeInsider.com announced the creation of ‘Shots from the Heart,’ a project designed to help raise awareness for the growing problem of heart disease.
• College basketball coaches – including UP assistant Michael Wolf – will compete against one another in a free throw shooting tournament, which will benefit the American Heart Association.
• The event will also pay tribute to the late Skip Prosser who passed away on July 26, 2007 of a heart attack.
• Coaches will not have to actually compete against each other on the same court. Each coach will shoot 25 free throws at his convenience. A member of the athletic department will tally the results and the coach with the most makes advances. To avoid ties, 1-20 shots made are worth one point, shots 21-24 are worth two points and shot 25 is worth three points.
• Wolf will be facing Adam Caporn of Saint Mary’s in the first round, which runs through Nov. 30.

NEW-LOOK WCC
• BYU has joined the West Coast Conference for the 2011-12 season.
• Of the eight Division I teams that have won at least 25 games in each of the last four seasons, three are in the WCC (BYU, Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s).
• Six of the nine WCC schools played in the postseason in 2010-11. BYU made the NCAA Sweet 16, and Santa Clara won the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT).

LIVE ON THE AM DIAL
• KPDQ 800 AM will once again be the Pilots’ home on the radio as the True Talk Station and UP enter another year as broadcast partners. All Portland games will be aired live with a 30-minute pre-game show. Bill Johnson returns to call the play-by-play for the second year in a row.

TELEVISION EXPOSURE
• Over the past three seasons Portland has had 43 games televised, including 13 on national ESPN broadcasts.
• Portland will be on the ESPN family of networks at least three times this year. Portland hosts Gonzaga on ESPN2 and will be aired on ESPNU at Santa Clara and at home versus Saint Mary’s.
• The Pilots are expected to be on TV at least 17 times again this season. Stay tuned to portlandpilots.com for the finalized television package.