Complete Release I Game Central

Portland Pilots (3-11, 0-1) vs. Santa Clara Broncos (8-5, 0-0)
Date: Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012
Tip-off: 8:00 p.m.
Location: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center (4,852)
Television: CSN Northwest
Radio: 800 AM
Overall Series: 27-55
At UP: 19-20
At SCU: 7-31
At Neutral/Unknown: 1-4
Last: POR 78, SCU 68 (Feb. 19, 2011 at Portland)


COMING UP
• Portland (3-11, 0-1 WCC) returns to the Chiles Center for a pair of West Coast Conference home games this week.
• The Pilots are looking to snap a seven-game losing streak as they host the Santa Clara Broncos (8-5, 0-0) on Thursday at 8 p.m.
• Portland will then welcome the Pepperdine Waves (7-6, 1-1) on Saturday at 5 p.m.
• Both games will be televised live on Comcast SportsNet Northwest with Scott Lynn, Bob Weiss, and Abby Chin calling the action.
• 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.
 
TICKETS AND PROMOTIONS
• One lucky fan will win a trip for two to the 2012 Zappos.com WCC Basketball Championships on Thursday. Fans will compete in Basketball Bingo throughout the game for their chance to win (must be 21 years of age or older).
• Saturday is Military Appreciation Night and all active and retired military will receive free admission to the game. The 204th Army Band, based in Vancouver, Wash., will perform the national anthem and a halftime medley.
• Tickets are still available for all Portland home games are still available through all Ticketmaster outlets, online at ticketmaster.com, or through the Pilot Box Office (M-F, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.). Tickets may also be purchased at the door 90 minutes prior to tipoff each game. Call the Pilot Box Office at (503) 943-7525 with any questions. 

LAST OUTING
• Gonzaga 90, Portland 51 (Spokane, Wash.): Sophomore Tim Douglas and senior Nemanja Mitrovic scored 10 points each for the Pilots, while sophomore Ryan Nicholas grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds in the loss. The Bulldogs (10-2) opened the league season with their fifth consecutive win. Gonzaga jumped on Portland early with a 7-0 lead and would carry a 49-25 lead into the half behind 60 percent shooting from the field in the first period. The Pilots shot just 29 percent in the half and were 1-for-13 from three-point range. The Bulldogs also made 13-of-17 first half free throws compared to 2-for-5 for Portland. The Pilots made an early second half surge and consecutive layups by Douglas and freshman David Carr cut the deficit to 59-41. Gonzaga would answer with a 10-0 run and hold the Pilots scoreless for the next 4:01. The Bulldogs would extend the lead down the stretch as Portland struggled with turnovers. After committing only four turnovers in the first period, the Pilots finished with 17 in the game which led to a 27-2 margin in points off of turnovers. Gonzaga also garnered a 47-16 edge in bench scoring. Portland shot a season low 30 percent from the field for the game, while the Bulldogs finished at 55 percent. Portland was 9-for-15 from the free throw line, while Gonzaga finished 23-for-36 at the charity stripe.
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• The Pilots dropped their seventh straight game with a 90-51 road loss to Gonzaga last Wednesday. Sophomore G Tim Douglas and senior G Nemanja Mitrovic scored 10 points each, while sophomore F Ryan Nicholas grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds.
• Nicholas is leading the Pilots in scoring (10.8) and rebounding (7.6).
• UP underclassmen are accounting for 77 percent of the minutes played and 78 percent of the team’s scoring thus far.
• Portland has outrebounded nine of 14 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 Thursday is No. 4 nationally, according to KenPom.com.
• Sophomore C Riley Barker (knee) has missed the last seven games due to injury and will not be available on Thursday.
• Portland is 0-8 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, the longest current stretch of any Division I coaching staff in the nation.
• 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 SANTA CLARA
• The Broncos (8-5, 0-0) will open league play against the Pilots after dropping a heartbreaker at the buzzer to Wagner (64-62) on Saturday.
• Santa Clara has posted impressive wins over New Mexico (79-76, OT) and Villanova (65-64), but is 0-3 on the road with losses at UC Santa Barbara (89-56), Washington State (93-55) and Houston Baptist (72-71).
• The Broncos only other loss came versus Oklahoma (85-73).
• Junior G Kevin Foster leads the WCC in scoring at 18.6 points per game and has drilled a league-best 50 three-pointers this season. Sophomore G Evan Roquemore adds 14.5 ppg and is second in the WCC in assists per game (5.9).
• Santa Clara won the 2011 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) and was picked to finish fifth in the WCC. SCU suffered a big blow when senior Marc Trasolini was lost for the season with a knee injury during a foreign tour in the summer.
• Kerry Keating is in his fifth season as the head coach and posts a 74-72 overall record.

LINEUP NOTES
• Sophomore C Riley Barker has missed the last seven games (knee) and will not be available on Thursday.
• Head coach Eric Reveno has used six different starting lineups this year.
• Sophomore Ryan Nicholas is the only Pilot to start all 14 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 14 games and are all averaging more than 14.3 minutes per game.
• Thomas van der Mars (Gouda, Netherlands) has started the last nine games and is averaging a freshman-best 7.9 points and 4.7 rebounds. He also is second in the WCC in field goal percentage (.550).
• Kevin Bailey (Clovis, Calif./East Clovis HS) has started the last six games and has reached double figures four times this season.
• Dorian Cason (Fontana, Calif./Summit HS) averages 17.0 minutes per game and is the team’s third leading rebounder (4.4).
• David Carr (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic HS) started the first four games at guard and is averaging 14.3 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 nine 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 14 career starts, Nicholas is averaging team-highs of 10.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.
• He recorded career-highs of 13 points and 11 rebounds in the season-opener against FAU for his first career double-double. He topped those career highs with 16 points at UCSB and 13 rebounds at Gonzaga.

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 (43) and second on the team in scoring (10.6).


NOT AN EASY ROAD
• The Pilots have played one of the most challenging schedules in the nation.
• Stats guru Ken Pomeroy lists Portland’s strength of schedule No. 4 nationally entering Thursday (www.kenpom.com).
• UP faces eight teams that made the post-season last year, while nine of the team’s 13 non-league games were away from the Chiles Center.
• Road games included: at Washington, at #2 Kentucky, at #23 Saint Louis, at Nevada, at UC Santa Barbara, at Utah and at Boise State.
• Entering Tuesday, UP’s non-conference Division I opponents are a combined 105-57 (.648).


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.

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 (.298, 71-238).

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 77 percent of the minutes played and 78 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.