Pilots Host Defending WCC Champion Saint Mary’s Saturday Night
Live Audio I Live Stats I Complete Release (PDF) I Saint Mary’s Hoops
Portland Pilots (8-11, 1-3) vs. Saint Mary’s Gaels (14-4, 3-1)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013
Tip-off: 7:30 p.m. (PST)
Location: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center (4,852)
Television: ROOT Sports
Radio: 800 AM
Overall Series: 29-54
At UP: 21-20
At SMC: 7-31
At Neutral: 1-3
Last: #23 SMC 70, POR 43 (Feb. 23, 2012 at Portland)
GAME INFORMATION
• Portland continues its four-game West Coast Conference homestand against defending league champion Saint Mary’s on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Chiles Center.
• The game will be carried live on ROOT Sports Northwest with Tom Glasgow, Bill Krueger and Jen Mueller on the call.
• All Portland basketball games will be broadcast live on True Talk 800 AM with Bill Johnson calling the play-by-play and a 30-minute pregame show.
TICKET INFORMATION
• Tickets are still available for Saturday’s game as well as the remaining six WCC home games at the Chiles Center.
• Prices start at $10 for adults and $5 for kids for most games, while a special $25 lower level reserved seat that comes with a free food voucher are available for all games.
• Tickets are available through all Ticketmaster outlets, online at Ticketmaster.com or through the Pilot Box Office at (503) 943-7525.
COMING UP
• Portland stays at home to face San Francisco on Thursday, Jan. 24 and then BYU on Saturday, Jan. 24.
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland (8-11, 1-3 WCC) dropped a 71-49 decision to No. 8 Gonzaga in its WCC home-opener on Thursday.
• Sophomore G Kevin Bailey led the Pilots with 16 points, while freshman G Oskars Reinfelds added a season-high 12 points off the bench.
• Portland was outrebounded 36-22 in the game and allowed 30 points off of 17 turnovers.
• The Pilots previously defeated LMU on the road last Saturday by a 68-64 margin as four players reached double figures.
• Nicholas, who averaged team highs of 11.5 points and 7.6 rebounds last season, is again leading the Pilots in scoring (13.1), rebounding (9.8) and double-doubles (6).
• Bailey missed three games with a broken nose, but returned to the lineup score all 14 of his points in the second half at LMU.
• Sophomore PG David Carr suffered a torn ACL in his right knee in the loss at Pepperdine on Jan. 5 and will be lost for the remainder of the season.
• Senior PG Derrick Rodgers filled in nicely with 10 points, nine assists and three rebounds vs. LMU, while freshman walk-on PG David Ahern made his first two appearances of the season in the last two games.
• Head coach Eric Reveno returns for his seventh year on The Bluff. Assistant coaches Eric Jackson and Mike Wolf also return for their seventh year, while Colin Pfaff returns for his first year as an assistant coach after two years as Director of Basketball Operations. Marshall Cho (Director of Basketball Operations) and Kevin Bruinsma (Director of Basketball Technology) are new to the staff this year.
• Portland is coming off a 7-24 season after winning 60 games from 2008-2011, a stretch that included back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in school history.
• Portland returns three starters and 10 lettermen from last year’s team that finished eighth in the WCC with a 3-13 league record.
• PG Derrick Rodgers is the team’s lone senior.
• The Pilots were picked to finish eighth in the nine-team West Coast Conference in the pre-season coaches poll.
• The Pilots were invited to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) for three consecutive seasons from 2008-2011.
• All 11 UP graduates in the last three years and have gone on to play pro ball.
• Portland announced the signing of PG Alec Wintering (Concord, N.C./United Faith Christian Academy) to a NLI on November 14.
ABOUT SAINT MARY’S
• The Gaels (14-4, 3-1 WCC) won a thriller at BYU on Wednesday as senior PG Matthew Dellavedova drilled a 35-foot buzzer-beater for a 70-69 victory.
• Saint Mary’s trailed 20-4 early before staging the comeback and pulling off the road victory.
• The Gaels lone WCC loss was a narrow 83-78 defeat at Gonzaga last week.
• Dellavedova, the reigning WCC Player of the Year, leads the league in assists (6.5) and is sixth in scoring (17.3).
• Portland native and former Jesuit HS standout Stephen Holt is averaging 17.0 points in WCC games including a team-high 22 points at BYU.
• Head coach Randy Bennett is in his 12th season with the Gaels and posts a 249-122 record. He has guided SMC to four NCAA Tournaments and two NIT appearances.
• The Gaels have won the last three meetings with Portland, but the Pilots have won three of the last four contests played in Portland.
FRESHMEN STEPPING UP
• Freshmen guards Oskars Reinfelds and Bryce Pressley have made the most of their opportunities with playing time during the league season.
• Reinfelds scored a season-high 12 points against Gonzaga on Thursday and has reached double figures in three of the last five games.
• Reinfelds also scored all 10 of his second half points in a comeback win over Bradley on Dec. 23.
• Reinfelds, a teammate of sophomore C Thomas van der Mars at the Canarias Basketball Academy, was a member of the Latvian Under-18 National Team.
• Pressley, the son of former NBA player and Villanova NCAA Champion Harold Pressley, scored seven points versus San Diego and then had four points, four rebounds and three blocked shots against Pepperdine.
CARR INJURY LEAVES PILOTS THIN AT PG
• Sophomore PG David Carr went down with a torn ACL in the second half of the Jan. 5 loss at Pepperdine and will be lost for the season.
• The Portland native from Central Catholic HS averaged 4.6 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists while starting all 17 games for the Pilots.
• Senior Derrick Rodgers stepped up with 10 points and nine assists in his first start of the season on Saturday at LMU.
• Walk-on freshman David Ahern made his first appearance of the season and played six solid minutes off the bench.
• Ahern, who was planning on redshirting the season until the injury to Carr, followed up with four points and an assist in six minutes against Gonzaga.
BAILEY RETURNS IN A BIG WAY
• Sophomore G Kevin Bailey returned to the lineup against LMU after missing the previous two games following surgery on a broken nose suffered against Colorado State on Dec. 22.
• Bailey entered the Colorado State game averaging 22.3 points in his three previous games.
• Those averages took a hit when he suffered a broken nose from an elbow 30 seconds into the game.
• Bailey missed the remainder of the CSU game and sat out the game versus Bradley the following day.
• He returned to the lineup against UTPA on Dec. 29 wearing a protective mask, but struggled to a 3-for-14 shooting day and missed the next two games following surgery.
• After adjusting in the first half at LMU, Bailey erupted for 14 second half points to lead the Pilots to the road win.
• He continued his solid offensively production with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting against Gonzaga.
BARKER BREAKS OUT
• Sophomore C Riley Barker scored a career-high 16 points versus North Florida and had double-doubles against Portland Bible College (10 pts, 10 rebs) and Colorado State (11 pts, 10 rebs).
• The Surrey, B.C. native blocked a career-best four shots against Gonzaga and leads the team with 24 blocked shots this year.
• He has three or more blocked shots in five of the last ten games.
• Barker received a medical redshirt after missing all but seven games last year with a knee injury.
HOME SWEET HOME
• The Pilots are 6-3 at the Chiles Center this season and have rattled off a 47-18 home record since the start of the 2008-09 season.
• The Pilots had a 19-game home winning streak snapped by Gonzaga in 2011.
• 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.
HOME VERSUS ROAD
• Portland is 6-3 at home this season, but 1-7 on the road.
• At the Chiles Center the Pilots are scoring 67.7 points and allowing 61.9, while on the road UP is averaging 55.1 and surrendering 69.8 points.
• The Pilots have a +9.2 rebounding margin at home and -0.6 on the road.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
• Portland once again has one of the youngest rosters in the nation.
• The Pilots have just one senior and three juniors.
• In addition to Pressley and Reinfelds, freshman F Jake Ehlers is the two-time Oregon 5A State Player of the Year after leading Corvallis HS to consecutive state championships.
• David Ahern made his season debut with six minutes at LMU.
NICHOLAS ERUPTS
• Junior F Ryan Nicholas had a career night against then-No. 18 UNLV with 15 points, 19 rebounds and six assists on Dec. 4.
• The 19 rebounds are tied for the second most since Rick Raivio grabbed 20 on Jan. 18, 1979 at Air Force.
• He followed that with his third double-double of the year at No. 19 Kentucky with 15 points and 13 rebounds.
• Nicholas has led the Pilots in rebounds in all but three games this year.
• Nicknamed ‘Rhino’, he is averaging team-highs of 13.1 points and 9.7 rebounds, which is second in the WCC and 23rd nationally.
• After sitting behind All-WCC forward Luke Sikma and four-year starting center Kramer Knutson as a freshman, Nicholas had a breakout sophomore year (11.5 ppg, 7.6 rpg).
• He finished the year strong with a 19-point, 14-rebound effort in the regular season finale at BYU, followed by a 24-point, 11-rebound performance in the WCC Tournament opening round win over Santa Clara.
THIELEKE TAKES OVER
• Junior G Korey Thieleke has started the last 16 games for the Pilots and established career highs in all statistical categories.
• He had totals of 64 minutes and 12 points in his first two full seasons on The Bluff, but has taken advantage of his opportunity this season.
• The Bakersfield, Calif. native made the most of his first start of the season against Portland State on Nov. 21 by finishing with nine points, four assists, three rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals in 23 minutes of action.
• He followed up with 11 points, six rebounds, three assists, four blocked shots and four steals in 37 minutes against New Mexico.
TOUGH SCHEDULE...AGAIN
• For the second straight year, the Pilots will play one of the most challenging schedules in the nation.
• kenpom.com listed UP’s non-conference schedule strength No. 8 nationally last year.
• The 2012-13 schedule features 15 regular season games against teams that reached postseason play last year, including 10 contests against NCAA Tournament squads.
• Road games include at Kentucky (NCAA Champions), Ohio (Sweet 16) and New Mexico (Third Round).
• Portland also hosted UNLV (NCAA First Round) on Dec. 4 and No. 8 Gonzaga (Third Round) and will play BYU (Second Round) and Saint Mary’s (Second Round) twice each during league play.
• ESPN gave Portland a rank of 10-out-of-10 on non-conference schedule strength, highest in the WCC.
CHILES CENTER RENOVATIONS
• The men’s basketball locker room was renovated this summer as part of a $2.5 million investment.
• A new state-of-the-art ‘Pilot Teaching Board’ was installed in the locker room, as well as modern lockers and a more spacious wet area.
• The men’s basketball coaching staff moved into new offices as part of the build-out, while the Chiles Center training and weight rooms were also upgraded.
PILOTS SIGN POINT GUARD ALEC WINTERING
• Portland signed point guard Alec Wintering (Concord, N.C./United Faith Christian Academy) to a National Letter of Intent on Nov. 14.
• Wintering is beginning his senior season at United Faith and is coached by former NBA point guard, Muggsy Bogues.
• Bogues isn’t the only notable point guard with ties to Wintering. Former Pilot great T.J. Campbell attended Sunnyslope HS in Arizona, where Wintering began his prep career.
13 of 16 WCC GAMES TELEVISED
• Portland announced its 2013 WCC television schedule and 13 of the 16 games are expected to be televised live in the Portland market.
• ROOT Sports will air seven games, CSN-NW has aired one, ESPNU one, and BYUtv one. Three other games are being contractually finalized.
• The three non-televised game will be produced in broadcast-quality format and available online at WCCSports.com
