Complete Release (PDF) I Live Audio

Portland Pilots (3-10) at Gonzaga Bulldogs (9-2)
Date: Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011
Tip-off: 6:00 p.m. (PST)
Location: Spokane, Wash.
Arena: McCarthey Athletic Center
Television: ROOT Sports
Radio: 800 AM
Overall Series: GON leads 88-65
At UP: Tied 34-34
At GU: GON leads 42-22
At Neutral/Unknown: GU leads 12-9
Last: GON 67, POR 64 (Feb. 3, 2011 at Portland)

COMING UP
• Portland (3-10) opens West Coast Conference play at Gonzaga (9-2) on Wednesday, Dec. 28 at 6 p.m.
• The Pilots are looking to snap a six-game losing streak, while the Bulldogs are seeking their fifth consecutive win.
• Portland will return home for a Thursday, Jan. 5 matchup with Santa Clara (8 p.m.) and Saturday, Jan. 7 meeting with Pepperdine (5 p.m.) at the Chiles Center.

GAME COVERAGE
• Wednesday’s game will be televised live on ROOT Sports.
• All Portland basketball games will be broadcast live on True Talk 800 AM, with a 30-minute pregame show. Bill Johnson will call the action courtside and an audio simulcast will also be available on www.PilotsVideo.com. 

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• The Pilots lost their sixth straight game with a 78-60 road loss to Nevada last Thursday. Freshman G Kevin Bailey scored a season-high 15 points to lead the Pilots.
• Sophomore F Ryan Nicholas is leading the Pilots in scoring (11.3) and rebounding (7.2)
• UP underclassmen are accounting for 76 percent of the minutes played and 78 percent of the team’s scoring thus far.
• Portland has outrebounded nine of 13 opponents this year.
• The Pilots played one of the most difficult non-conference schedules in the nation, including nine of 13 games away from the Chiles Center. Portland’s strength of schedule entering Tuesday is No. 7 nationally, according to KenPom.com.
• Sophomore C Riley Barker (knee) has missed the last six games due to injury and will not be available on Wednesday.
• Portland is 0-7 on the road this year, with two of those losses coming against ranked opponents (#2 Kentucky, #23 Saint Louis).
• Head coach Eric Reveno and all three assistant coaches return for their sixth year together on The Bluff. No other current Division I coaching staff in the nation has retained the same four-member coaching staff longer than Reveno and his staff.
• 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 GONZAGA
• The Bulldogs (9-2) have won four games in a row after dropping back-to-back games at Illinois (82-75) and at home to Michigan State (74-67).
• Gonzaga most recently defeated Air Force (70-60) and posts a 6-1 home record this year.
• Signature wins for the Bulldogs have come at home against Washington State (89-81), Notre Dame (73-53), Arizona (71-60) and Butler (71-55).
• Freshman G Kevin Pangos leads Gonzaga in scoring (14.5 ppg) and assists (3.3), while junior Elias Harris is second in scoring (13.8) and tops in rebounding (8.1).
• Senior C Robert Sacre (12.4 ppg) joined Harris on the WCC Preseason All-Conference Team.
• Gonzaga has won or shared 11 consecutive WCC regular season titles and was the preseason favorite to win again in 2012 according to the league’s head coaches.
• Mark Few is in his 13th season as the head coach and 23rd year overall at Gonzaga.

LAST OUTING
• Nevada 78, Portland 60 (Reno, Nev.): The Portland Pilots concluded their rigorous non-conference schedule with a 78-60 loss to the Nevada Wolf Pack on Thursday at the Lawlor Events Center before 3,651 fans. Freshman Kevin Bailey scored a season-high 15 points to lead the Pilots, while Tim Douglas added 12 points. Nevada won its sixth straight game and improved to 9-3 overall. Nevada appeared to put the game away early with a 22-0 run midway through the first period to take a 28-point following a three-pointer by Malik Story with 5:58 left. The Pilots closed the half on a 14-6 run and trailed 46-26 at the break, but came out of the locker room with great energy to start the second half. Portland scored the first seven points of the period and would manage to cut the deficit to single digits at 53-44 on a three-point play by Bailey with 10:28 remaining. Nevada promptly responded with a 10-0 run to secure the victory. Portland forced a season-high 19 turnovers by the Wolf Pack, but also committed a season-high 24 which led to a 28-19 Nevada edge in points off of turnovers. The Pilots shot 41 percent from the field and were 3-of-14 on three-pointers. Nevada shot 50 percent from the floor and converted 8-of-19 threes. Seniors Dario Hunt and Olek Czyz led the Wolf Pack with 15 points each.
 
LINEUP NOTES
• Sophomore C Riley Barker has missed the last six games (knee) and will not be available on Wednesday.
• Head coach Eric Reveno has used six different starting lineups this year.
• Sophomore Ryan Nicholas is the only Pilot to start all 13 games this year, while 10 different Pilots have started at least one game.
• Three different freshmen have started at least four games.

FRESHMEN FIRSTS
• Portland’s highly-touted four true freshmen have each appeared in all 13 games and are all averaging more than 14.1 minutes per game.
• Thomas van der Mars (Gouda, Netherlands) has started the last eight games and is averaging a freshman-best 7.8 points and 4.8 rebounds.
• Kevin Bailey (Clovis, Calif./East Clovis HS) has started the last five games and has reached double figures four times this season.
• Dorian Cason (Fontana, Calif./Summit HS) averages 17.2 minutes per game and matched his season-high with seven points against Utah.
• David Carr (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic HS) started the first four games at guard and is averaging 14.1 minutes per game. He came off the bench at Utah to score six points, grab five rebounds and swipe three steals.
• Redshirt freshman F John Bailey (Mesa, Ariz./Dobson HS) has appeared in eight games.

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 13 career starts, Nicholas is averaging team-highs of 11.3 points and 7.2 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.

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 is leading the Pilots in assists (41) and second on the team in scoring (10.6).

NOT AN EASY ROAD
• The Pilots have one of the most challenging non-conference schedules in the nation.
• Stats guru Ken Pomeroy lists Portland’s strength of schedule No. 7 nationally entering Tuesday (www.kenpom.com).
• UP 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 #23 Saint 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 Tuesday, UP’s non-conference Division I opponents are a combined 90-49 (.647).

HOME SWEET HOME
• Portland has rattled off a 39-9 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.

RODGER’S ROLE
• Junior G Derrick Rodgers has moved into the starting lineup the last six games after providing a big spark off the bench earlier this season.
• He made big plays late in both Pilot wins to open the season and is averaging 5.2 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.

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.
 
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.
• No other current Division I coaching staff in the nation has retained the same four-member coaching staff longer than Reveno and his staff.
• 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 this season far from beyond the arc (.307, 67-218).

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 percent of the minutes played and 77 percent of the team’s scoring 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 while averaging 22 points per game.