Pilots Continue WCC Road Swing at Pepperdine
Live Stats I Live Audio I Live Video I Complete Release (PDF) I Pepperdine Hoops
Portland Pilots (7-9, 0-1) at Pepperdine Waves (8-6, 0-1)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013
Tip-off: 7:00 p.m. (PST)
Location: Malibu, Calif.
Arena: Firestone Fieldhouse
Live Video: WCCSports.com
Radio: 800 AM
Overall Series: 33-54
At PU: 13-26
At UP: 18-23
At Neutral: 2-5
Last: PEP 70, POR 65 (Feb. 18, 2012 at Pepperdine)
GAME INFORMATION
• Portland continues its West Coast Conference road trip at Pepperdine on Saturday.
• Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.
GAME COVERAGE
• The game will have a free online video broadcast accessible through WCCSports.com.
• Jeff Lampe and Jarron Collins will call the action on the WCC Digital Package.
• 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. The audio simulcast will also be available on PortlandPilots.com.
COMING UP
• Portland will get a week break before returning to Southern California on Saturday, Jan. 12 to take on the Loyola Marymount Lions at 7 p.m.
• The Pilots will then return to the Chiles Center for four straight home games beginning with Gonzaga on Thursday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m.
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland (7-9) opened WCC play at San Diego on Thursday with a 61-50 loss.
• The game was tied 43-43, but the Pilots went nearly six minutes without a field goal down the stretch.
• Sophomore C Thomas van der Mars scored a team-high 12 points with eight rebounds, while junior F Ryan Nicholas added 11 points and nine rebounds.
• Second leading scorer Kevin Bailey missed the game while recovering from surgery for a broken nose. Bailey will not play on Saturday against Pepperdine.
• Freshmen Oskars Reinfelds and Bryce Pressley each scored seven points off the bench.
• Nicholas, who averaged team highs of 11.5 points and 7.6 rebounds last season, is again leading the Pilots in scoring (13.5) and is second in the WCC in rebounding (9.6).
• Bailey is the only other Pilot averaging double figures (11.9).
• 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 PEPPERDINE
• The Waves (8-6, 0-1 WCC) battled No. 10 Gonzaga hard before ultimately falling by a 78-62 margin on Thursday in Malibu.
• Pepperdine led midway through the second half, but a late Gonzaga rally created separation
• Senior G Loren Jackson scored 16 points, while sophomore G Jordan Baker added 15 in the loss.
• Pepperdine outrebounded GU 36-30, but made just 2-of-12 three-pointers and committed 14 turnovers.
• The Waves have faced a pair of common opponents with Portland defeating both Washington State (58-56) and Montana State (76-66).
• Jackson, who redshirted last season with a knee injury, leads Pepperdine in scoring at 14.9 points per game, while Stacy Davis (11.1) and Baker (10.1) also are in double figures.
• Marty Wilson is in his second season as head coach after previously serving as an assistant under Tom Asbury .
• Wilson and the Waves were picked to finish last in the WCC by the league’s head coaches in the preseason poll.
FRESHMEN GETTING SOME RUN
• With Kevin Bailey missing two of the last three games with a broken nose, freshmen guards Bryce Pressley and Oskars Reinfelds have made the most of their opportunities.
• Pressley, the son of former NBA player and Villanova NCAA Champion Harold Pressley, grabbed five rebounds against 15 productive minutes off the bench against Bradley and scored seven points at San Diego on Saturday.
• Reinfelds provided a lift off the bench with 10 second half points in the win over Bradley and also added seven points against the Toreros. He missed last Saturday’s game versus Texas-Pan American with a foot injury, but is available against Pepperdine.
• 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.
THE LONE SENIOR
• PG Derrick Rodgers is the team’s lone senior and has come on of late.
• He scored a career-high 13 points in the loss to UTPA and moved into the starting lineup against USD and had a solid all-around game with four points, three rebounds, three assists and four steals in 33 minutes.
• A physical guard, Rodgers is one of Portland’s best perimeter defenders.
BARKER BREAKS OUT
• Sophomore C Riley Barker has recording double figures in both scoring and rebounding in the three of the last seven games.
• He 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).
• Barker received a medical redshirt after missing all but seven games last year with a knee injury.
• He is averaging 7.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks over the last seven games.
HOME SWEET HOME
• The Pilots are 6-2 at the Chiles Center this season and have rattled off a 47-17 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.
BAILEY SIDELINED WITH BROKEN NOSE
• Sophomore G Kevin Bailey entered the Colorado State game on Dec. 22 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 last Saturday wearing a protective mask, but struggled to a 3-for-14 shooting day.
• After having surgery earlier this week to repair the break, Bailey missed Thursday’s game and will not be available against Pepperdine on Saturday.
NICHOLAS ERUPTS
• Junior F Ryan Nicholas had a career night against then-No. 18 UNLV with 15 points, 19 rebounds and six assists.
• 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 two games this year.
• Nicknamed ‘Rhino’, he is averaging team-highs of 13.5 points and 9.6 rebounds, which is second in the WCC.
• 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 12 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.
HOME VERSUS ROAD
• Portland is 6-2 at home this season, but 0-6 on the road.
• At the Chiles Center the Pilots are scoring 70.0 points and allowing 60.8, while on the road UP is averaging 54.8 and surrendering 74.9 points.
• The Pilots have a +12.1 rebounding margin at home and -4.9 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.
• Freshman G David Ahern is redshirting.
SOPHOMORE SURGE?
• UP’s sophomore class proved to be the most productive freshman class in Coach Reveno’s six years on The Bluff.
• The group accounted for at least 40 percent of nearly all key statistical categories this season for the Pilots.
• By the end of last season David Carr, Kevin Bailey and Thomas van der Mars were starting.
• Among the nine WCC programs, the Pilots led the league in freshman rebounding and were second to only San Diego in minutes played and scoring.
TOUGH SCHEDULE...AGAIN
• For the second straight year, the Pilots will play one of the most challenging schedules in the nation.
• Ken Pomeroy listed Portland’s non-conference strength of schedule 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 will play No. 10 Gonzaga (Third Round), 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.
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
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.
