Pilots Face Road Challenges at Santa Clara, Saint Mary's
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Portland Pilots (8-14, 1-6) at Santa Clara Broncos (16-6, 4-3)
Date: Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013
Tip-off: 7:00 p.m. (PST)
Location: Santa Clara, Calif.
Arena: Leavey Center (4,700)
Television: CSN NW/Bay Area
Radio: 800 AM
Overall Series: 30-55
At UP: 20-20
At SCU: 8-31
At Neutral: 2-4
Last: POR 74, SCU 70 (Feb. 29, 2012 in Las Vegas)
GAME INFORMATION
• Portland travels to the Bay Area to face Santa Clara on Thursday at 7 p.m. and then Saint Mary’s on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
• Thursday’s game will be televised live on Comcast SportsNet Northwest and CSN Bay Area with Barry Tompkins and Dan Belluomini calling the action.
• Saturday’s game will be televised live on ROOT Sports Northwest and CSN California as Glen Kuiper and Dan Belluomini provide the commentary.
• All Portland basketball games will be on the radio live on True Talk 800 AM with Bill Johnson calling the play-by-play and a 30-minute pregame show.
COMING UP
• Portland returns home to host Loyola Marymount on Thursday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. and then Pepperdine on Saturday, Feb. 9 at 1 p.m.
• Thursday will feature the popular Halftime Mile promotion as Pilot track runners and other elite distance competitors will do a mile race at halftime on the Chiles Center upper level track.
• Saturday’s game is Military Appreciation Day as the 204th Army Band will be on hand. All active and retired military personnel will receive free admission to the game.
• Tickets are still available by calling the Pilot Box Office at (503) 943-7525.
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland (8-14, 1-6 WCC) enters the road trip on a four-game losing streak after last week’s losses to San Francisco (75-72) and BYU (85-67).
• Despite leading all of the second half, USF hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to steal a win on Thursday.
• BYU led start-to-finish on Saturday, but junior F Ryan Nicholas recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
• Nicholas scored a season-high 23 points in the loss to USF.
• Portland’s defense has allowed the fewest points per game since the 1985-86 season, but allowed both USF and BYU to shoot over 50 percent.
• Only three other teams have shot better than 50 percent against UP this year.
• Nicholas, who averaged team highs of 11.5 points and 7.6 rebounds last season, is again leading the Pilots in scoring (13.3), rebounding (9.5) and double-doubles (7).
• Sophomore G Kevin Bailey missed three games with a broken nose, but returned to the lineup against LMU on Jan. 12. He is the only other Pilot averaging double figures at 12.1 points per game.
• 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 freshmen Bryce Pressley and David Ahern have earned minutes at the point in Carr’s absence.
• 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 SANTA CLARA
• The Broncos (16-6, 4-3 WCC) enter Thursday riding a four-game winning streak including a 64-50 victory at San Diego on Jan. 26.
• Santa Clara is averaging 76.9 points per game, while senior G Kevin Foster ranks third in the WCC at 19.5 per game.
• Foster is the Broncos’ all-time leading scorer with 2,178 career points.
• Senior F Marc Trasolini averages 15.5 points and is third in the WCC at 8.2 rebounds per game.
• Junior PG Evan Roquemore chips in 13.1 points and is second in the WCC at 6.2 assists per game.
• Head coach Kerry Keating is in his sixth year at SCU and posts a 90-95 career record.
• The Broncos are coming off of an 0-16 WCC record a year ago as Trasolini missed the season with a knee injury and Foster was suspended and missed the final 11 games of the season.
• Santa Clara was picked to finish sixth in the WCC Preseason Coaches Poll.
• Portland has won the last four meetings with the Broncos, including an opening round WCC Tournament victory in Las Vegas on Feb. 29 of last year (74-70).
TANNER RILEY TO MISS NEXT TWO GAMES
• Junior G Tanner Riley will serve a two-game suspension after being ejected in the second half of Saturday’s game vs. BYU.
• Riley will miss Thursday’s game at Santa Clara because of an automatic one-game suspension as mandated by NCAA rules. The University extended the suspension to include Saturday’s game at Saint Mary’s.
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 has started the last two games after scoring a season-high 12 points against Gonzaga and has reached double figures in three of the last eight games.
• Reinfelds also scored all 10 of his points in a second half comeback win over Bradley on Dec. 23.
• A teammate of sophomore C Thomas van der Mars at the Canarias Basketball Academy, Reinfelds 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 against USF in his first action as the backup point guard.
• He followed with six points, three rebounds, four assists, three steals and zero turnovers against BYU in 27 minutes.
• Jake Ehlers has also earned more minutes, playing 11 against BYU and eight against USF.
D’ING UP
• Portland is allowing opponents just 66.4 points per game this season.
• Only five opponents have shot better than 50 percent in a game this season.
• 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 last week off the bench.
• Walk-on freshman David Ahern has played in 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 has reached double figures in four of the last five games.
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 13 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 47-21 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 6-6 at home this season, but 1-7 on the road.
• At the Chiles Center the Pilots are scoring 65.6 points and allowing 64.7, while on the road UP is averaging 55.1 and surrendering 69.8 points.
• The Pilots have a +8.5 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 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 13.3 points and 9.5 rebounds, which is second in the WCC and 26th 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 has come off the bench the last two games after starting the previous 17 games..
• He had his best game of the WCC season finishing with six points, two rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot in 14 minutes against USF on Thursday.
• 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.
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.
