Pilots Conclude Homestand Against BYU Saturday at 7:30 PM
Live Video I Live Audio I Live Stats I Complete Release (PDF) I BYU Hoops
Portland Pilots (8-13, 1-5) vs. BYU Cougars (15-6, 5-2)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013
Tip-off: 7:30 p.m. (PST)
Location: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center (4,852)
Television: ESPNU
Radio: 800 AM
Overall Series: 0-7
At UP: 0-3
At BYU: 0-4
At Neutral: 0-0
Last: BYU 76, POR 66 (Feb. 25, 2012 at BYU)
GAME INFORMATION
• Portland concludes its four-game West Coast Conference homestand against BYU on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
• The game will be televised live on ESPNU with Roxy Bernstein and Steve Cleveland calling the action.
• A live video simulcast will be available on WatchESPN.com
• 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 starting at $20 for upper level bleachers and $30 for lower reserved seats.
• Tickets are available through all Ticketmaster outlets, online at Ticketmaster.com or through the Pilot Box Office at (503) 943-7525.
COMING UP
• Portland visits Santa Clara on Jan. 31 and Saint Mary’s on Feb. 2.
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland (8-13, 1-5 WCC) dropped their third straight home game on a buzzer-beating three-pointer in Thursday’s 75-72 heartbreaker to San Francisco.
• The Pilots led all of the second half until USF tied the game with a three-point with 1:02 remaining and then won with another three-pointer with 0.1 seconds remaining.
• Junior F Ryan Nicholas scored a season-high 23 points in the loss, while sophomore G Kevin Bailey added 15 points for the Pilots.
• USF shot 53 percent from the field, a season-high for UP opponents this year.
• The Pilots previously lost at home to Saint Mary’s and No. 8 Gonzaga.
• 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 (9.5) and double-doubles (6).
• Bailey missed three games with a broken nose, but returned to the lineup against LMU on Jan. 12.
• 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 has moved into the starting role, while freshman walk-on PG David Ahern made his first four appearances of the season in the last four 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 BYU
• The Cougars (15-6, 5-2 WCC) dropped an 83-63 decision at No. 10 Gonzaga on Thursday.
• Leading scorer Tyler Haws, who averages 20.6 ppg, was held to one point on 0-for-9 shooting from the field against the Bulldogs.
• BYU also lost a home heartbreaker to Saint Mary’s last week, 70-69, on a 35-foot buzzer-beater by Matthew Dellevadova.
• The Cougars’ non-conference losses came to Florida State (88-70), at Notre Dame (78-68) and at Baylor (79-64).
• Senior Brandon Davies averages 17.8 points and 7.2 rebounds, while sophomore guard Matt Carlino adds 9.9 points per game.
• Head coach Dave Rose is in his eighth season with the Cougars and posts a 200-60 overall record.
• BYU is coming off of a 26-9 season and advanced to the second round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament. The Cougars were picked to finish second in the WCC Preseason Coaches Poll.
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, who started his first career game on Thursday, scored a season-high 12 points against Gonzaga and has reached double figures in three of the last seven games.
• Reinfelds also scored all 10 of his points in a second half 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, had five points, six rebounds and three assists on Thursday. He played the backup point guard position for the first time this season and was effective in that role.
D’ING UP
• Portland ranks second in the WCC in points allowed per game during conference play (64.2), trailing only Saint Mary’s (61.8).
• Overall, Portland is allowing team’s to score 65.5 points per game.
• This year’s points allowed average is the lowest at Portland since the 1985-86 season (60.7).
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 Jan. 12 at LMU.
• Freshman Bryce Pressley played the point for the first time on Thursday against USF and had his best game in 20 total minutes.
• Walk-on freshman David Ahern has played the last four games off the bench.
• Ahern, who was planning on redshirting the season until the injury to Carr, had 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 and most recently scored 15 points against USF.
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 26 blocked shots this year.
• He has three or more blocked shots in five of the last 12 games.
• Barker received a medical redshirt after missing all but seven games last year with a knee injury.
HOME SWEET HOME
• The Pilots have rattled off a 47-20 record at the Chiles Center 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 6-5 at home this season, but 1-7 on the road.
• At the Chiles Center the Pilots are scoring 65.4 points and allowing 62.9, while on the road UP is averaging 55.1 and surrendering 69.8 points.
• The Pilots have a +8.9 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. Ehlers played eight solid minutes and drained a three-pointer on Thursday vs. USF.
• David Ahern made his season debut with six minutes at LMU and has appeared in the last four games.
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 four games this year.
• Nicknamed ‘Rhino’, he is averaging team-highs of 13.1 points and 9.5 rebounds, which is second in the WCC and 27th 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 FLOURISHES OFF THE BENCH
• Junior G Korey Thieleke came off the bench on Thursday for the first time since early in the season.
• He had his best game of the WCC season finishing with six points, two rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot in 14 minutes.
• Thieleke 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.
