Pilots Close Regular Season at BYU

Complete Release (PDF) I Live Video I Live Audio

Portland Pilots (6-22, 3-12) at BYU Cougars (23-7, 11-4)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012
Tip-off: 3:00 p.m. (PST)
Location: Provo, Utah
Arena: Marriott Center (22,700)
Television: BYUtv
Radio: 800 AM
Overall Series: 0-6
At UP: 0-3
At BYU: 0-3
At Neutral: 0-0
Last: BYU 79, POR 60 (Feb. 4, 2012 at Portland)

COMING UP
• The Portland Pilots (6-22, 3-12 WCC) will play their final regular season game when they visit the BYU Cougars (23-7, 11-4) on Saturday in Provo, Utah.
• Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. (PST) at the Marriott Center and the game will be televised live on BYUtv.
• The game will determine seeds for both teams in preparation for the 2012 Zappos.com WCC Basketball Championships. A Portland win would secure the No. 7 seed and avoid the 8/9 Wednesday night first round game. BYU is currently alone in third place in the WCC standings, trailing Gonzaga by one game and ahead of LMU by one game. A win by the Cougars, or a LMU loss, would secure the No. 3 seed.
• All Portland basketball games will be broadcast live on True Talk 800 AM, with a 30-minute pregame show. Bill Johnson will provide the play-by-play and an audio simulcast will also be available on www.PilotsVideo.com.

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• The Pilots dropped their fifth straight game on Thursday when the No. 23 Saint Mary’s Gaels came away with a 70-43 win at the Chiles Center.
• Senior G Nemanja Mitrovic scored a team-high 14 points on Senior Night for the Pilots. Fellow senior PG Eric Waterford returned to the lineup as well, after missing the previous eight games with a knee injury. 
• The senior duo has accumulated a total of 66 wins on The Bluff, the fourth most in school history.
• Sophomore F Ryan Nicholas leads the Pilots in scoring (10.9) and rebounding (7.3), while collecting four double-doubles this season.
• Portland underclassmen are accounting for 77 percent of the minutes played and 80 percent of the team’s scoring thus far.
• UP’s five freshmen have been the most productive freshman class in Coach Reveno’s six years on The Bluff.  The group has accounted for at least 40 percent of nearly all key statistical categories this season.
• In five of the Pilots six wins this year, the team has held opponents under 40 percent shooting from the field.
• 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 non-conference strength of schedule is No. 11 nationally, while the Pilots’ overall SOS entering Friday was No. 53 nationally, the eighth highest among non-BCS schools and tops in the WCC according to KenPom.com.
• The Pilots have been without sophomore C Riley Barker (knee) since Dec. 3 and he will not play on Saturday.
• 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.
 
LAST OUTING
• #23 Saint Mary’s 70, Portland 43 (Portland, Ore.): The No. 23 Saint Mary’s Gaels clinched at least a share of their second straight West Coast Conference regular season title with a 70-43 victory over the Portland Pilots on Thursday night. Portland senior Nemanja Mitrovic scored a team-high 14 points on Senior Night, while fellow senior Eric Waterford returned from injury to make the start before 2,829 fans the Chiles Center. Thursday saw the Pilots jump out to a 14-11 lead as Mitrovic scored nine quick points, including a pair of three-pointers in the opening five minutes. The Gaels (24-5, 13-2) responded by going on a 20-2 run over the next 9:24 and carried a 35-18 lead into halftime. It marked the second lowest first half output this season for the Pilots (16 at St. Louis). Portland opened the second period with a 7-2 run to pull within 38-25, but Saint Mary’s would grow the margin to as much as 31 points down the stretch. Portland struggled to 32 percent shooting from the field en route to a season low 43 points. Mitrovic was a bright spot as he found his shooting stroke and knocked down 3-of-4 three-pointers. Waterford, who missed the previous eight games with a knee injury, made his first appearance since Jan. 21. Five Gaels reached double figures led by Clint Steindl with 15 points. Senior forward Rob Jones added 12 points and 13 rebounds, while junior guard Matthew Dellavedova finished with 12 points and nine assists. Saint Mary’s held a 34-24 rebounding edge and 38-16 margin in points in the paint.
 
ABOUT BRIGHAM YOUNG
• The Cougars (23-7, 11-4) dropped a 74-63 decision at Gonzaga on Thursday and are now alone in third place in the WCC standings.
• Junior F Brandon Davies had 23 points, 10 rebounds and six steals in the loss to Gonzaga, while senior G Charles Abouo finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
• The Cougars struggled to 31 percent shooting in the game as senior F Noah Hartsock was limited to just seven minutes due to a knee injury.
• BYU was No. 46 in the official NCAA RPI released on Feb. 20. The Cougars posted impressive non-conference wins over Nevada (76-55), Oregon (79-65) and UC Santa Barbara (89-75). Losses came to Baylor, Wisconsin and Utah State.
• Two of BYU’s four league losses came to Saint Mary’s and the other was at home against Loyola Marymount.
• BYU knocked off the Pilots by a 79-60 margin on Feb. 4 in Portland. The Cougars set a school record with 53 free throw attempts in the game.
• Hartsock leads four players averaging double figures at 16.8 ppg, while Davies adds 14.6 ppg and 7.8 rebounds.
• The Cougars lead the WCC in scoring (79.1) and field goal percentage defense (.405).
• BYU, in its first year as a member of the WCC, was picked to finish third in the WCC Preseason Poll.
• Dave Rose is in his seventh season as head coach and posts a 182-52 overall record.
 
SENIOR NIGHT
• Three members of the Portland basketball team were honored on Thursday for Senior Night: guards Nemanja Mitrovic and Eric Waterford, and team manager Derek Duman.
• This senior class has accumulated the fourth most wins (66) of any class since UP joined the Division I ranks for the 1958-59 season.
• Mitrovic was an All-WCC First Team selection last year and ranks on Portland’s all-time Top 10 list in three-pointers made (6th, 153) and three-point percentage (7th, .387).
• Waterford has battled injuries as a senior, but has appeared in 79 career games with 25 starts. He returned to the lineup Thursday and played 13 minutes after missing the previous eight games with a knee injury.
• Derek Duman has been a team manager with the Pilots since his freshman season.

WCC TOURNAMENT SEEDING SCENARIOS
• Five of the nine seeds for the 2012 Zappos.com WCC Basketball Championships are already set entering Saturday’s games.
• Saint Mary’s (No. 1) and Gonzaga (No. 2) have secured the top two seeds and will receive byes to the Saturday semifinals. 
• BYU and LMU are battling for the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds and will both have byes to Friday’s quarterfinals.
• San Francisco (No. 5) and San Diego (No. 6) will open the tournament on Thursday night against opponents to be determined.
• Portland will secure the No. 7 seed with a win at BYU. A loss will put the Pilots in eighth place and Pepperdine would be the No. 7 seed.
• Santa Clara is the No. 9 seed and will play the No. 8 seed in Wednesday’s 8/9 game. That game’s winner will move on to face No. 5 San Francisco on Thursday, while No. 6 San Diego will play the No. 7 seed.

LINEUP NOTES
• Eric Waterford (knee) returned to the lineup on Thursday after missing eight games.
• Sophomore C Riley Barker has missed the last 21 games (knee) and is out Saturday.
• Head coach Eric Reveno has used nine different starting lineups this year.
• Sophomore Ryan Nicholas is the only Pilot to start all 28 games this year, while 11 different Pilots have started at least one game.
• Three different freshmen have started at least four games.
 
GETTING DEFENSIVE?
• In home wins over Santa Clara and Pepperdine, both teams shot under 40 percent shooting from the field.
• In five of the Pilots six wins, opponents have shot under 40 percent from the field. Opponents are shooting a combined 37.4 percent. In UP’s 22 losses, opponents have shot 49.1 percent from the floor.
• Portland is allowing 64.2 points in wins and 79.0 points in losses.
 
BAILEY BREAKING THROUGH
• Freshman G Kevin Bailey is averaging 11.7 points in WCC games and has scored a season-high 22 points twice.
• Bailey scored all of his 18 points after halftime, including the game-tying three-pointer at the regulation buzzer to force overtime, on Feb. 16 at San Diego.
• He has reached double figures in seven of the last 10 games and is averaging 13.9 ppg over the last seven games.
• The Clovis, Calif. ranks 17th in scoring in WCC games and fourth among freshmen.

FRESHMEN PHENOMS
• UP’s 2011-12 freshman class is accounting for the most production of any freshman class in Reveno’s tenure as head coach.
• This year’s five freshman are logging 42 percent of the team’s minutes played, 41 percent of the scoring and 40 percent of the rebounds.
• Among the nine WCC programs, the Pilots lead the league in freshman rebounding and are second to only San Diego in minutes played and scoring.
• Thomas van der Mars is leading all WCC Freshman in rebounds per game (5.4) and is second in both FG percentage (.544, fifth overall) and blocked shots (24).
• In WCC games, van der Mars is also the top rebounding freshman (6.0) and tied for first in blocked shots (18).

YOUTH MOVEMENT
• Portland’s highly-touted four true freshmen have each appeared in all 28 games and are all averaging more than 16 minutes per game.
• Thomas van der Mars (Gouda, Netherlands) has started the last 23 games.
• Kevin Bailey (Clovis, Calif./East Clovis HS) has started the last 20 games.
• Dorian Cason (Fontana, Calif./Summit HS) is the team’s third leading rebounder (4.3).
• David Carr (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic HS) has transitioned to point guard and has a team-best 2.1 assist/turnover ratio in WCC games.
• Redshirt freshman F John Bailey (Mesa, Ariz./Dobson HS) played a season-high 10 minutes against SCU on Jan. 5 and responded with seven points, five rebounds.
 
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).
 
NOT AN EASY ROAD
• The Pilots have played one of the most challenging schedules in the nation.
• Ken Pomeroy listed Portland’s non-conference strength of schedule No. 11 nationally and the Pilots’ overall SOS No. 53 nationally entering Friday, eighth highest among non-BCS schools and tops in the WCC.
• 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 Friday, UP’s non-conference D-I opponents are a combined 206-117 (.638).
 
YOUTH MOVEMENT
• Portland’s 2011-12 roster features only three upperclassmen in seniors Nemanja Mitrovic and Eric Waterford, along with junior Derrick Rodgers.
• 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 80 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.