Portland Visits Portland State for Crosstown Matchup
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Portland Pilots (3-3) vs. Portland State Vikings (4-2)
Date: Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013
Tip-off: 7:05 p.m.
Location: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Stott Center (1,500)
Live Video: WatchBigSky.com
Radio: 910 AM
Overall Series: 33-17
At UP: 22-9
At PSU: 9-7
At Neutral: 2-1
Last: POR 81, PSU 60 (at Chiles Center – Nov. 21, 2012)
GAME INFORMATION
• The Portland Pilots (5-3) face the Portland State Vikings (4-2) on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at the Stott Center in downtown Portland.
• UP will host a pregame function for Pilot fans at Rogue Hall (1717 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR 97201) starting at 5 p.m. For $20, fans will receive food and beverage options as well as a ticket to the game. To RSVP,
please contact Dave Taylor at (503) 943-8619 or at taylord@up.edu.
GAME COVERAGE
• Sports 910 AM (KMTT) is the new home of University of Portland Basketball. All Pilot games will be aired live on 910 AM with a 30-minute pregame show and a complete postgame show with player and coach interviews.
• David Endres and Jason Brough will fill in for veteran play-by-play broadcaster Bill Johnson for Saturday's game. The audio simulcast will also be available on PortlandPilots.com.
• Get in-game updates live on Twitter @PortlandPilots.
• Live statistics will be provided by www.GoViks.com.
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland (5-3) won a pair of home games over San Jose State (86-67) and Southern Utah (86-57) last week and has now won four of the last five games.
• The Pilots are 5-1 at home this season with the lone loss in double overtime to North Texas. Portland has road losses at Oregon State and Michigan State.
• Junior C Thomas van der Mars has averaged 15.6 points and 7.8 rebounds over the last five games.
• Junior G Kevin Bailey leads the Pilots and ranks 10th in the WCC in scoring (15.9). He has reached double figures in all but one game this year.
• Senior F Ryan Nicholas leads the WCC in rebounding (9.8) and is second on the team in scoring (13.5). He recently moved in the Top 10 on Portland's career rebounding list and is also 53 points shy of 1,000 for his career.
• Offensive balance has been the key for the Pilots as seven players are averaging more than 5.3 points per game.
• Portland returns all five starters and nine lettermen from last year's team that finished 11-21 overall.
• Head coach Eric Reveno returns for his eighth year on The Bluff and recorded his 100th career win on Nov. 27 vs. San Jose State.
• Assistant coaches Eric Jackson and Mike Wolf also return for their eighth year, while Colin Pfaff returns for his second year as an assistant coach after two years as Director of Basketball Operations.
• Portland looks to return to its 2008-11 success, a stretch that included back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in school history and 60 wins over three seasons.
• The Pilots were invited to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) for three consecutive seasons from 2008-2011.
• The Pilots were picked to finish ninth in the 10-team West Coast Conference in the pre-season coaches poll.
• Coach Reveno posts a 100 percent graduation rate and the men's basketball program has one of the top APR scores in the nation (995), receiving a Public Recognition Award from the NCAA last spring.
ABOUT PORTLAND STATE
• The Vikings (4-2) are 4-0 at the Stott Center this season and their only two losses have come at UNLV (67-48) and Boise State (76-60).
• PSU is led in scoring by former Pilot Tim Douglas at 14.8 ppg. Douglas played two years on The Bluff before transferring and sitting out last season with the Vikings. His career high was 27 points in a UP win at PSU on Dec. 18, 2010.
• Three other Vikings average double figures, including Aaron Moore at 12.0 points and a team-high 6.4 rebounds per game.
• Head coach Tyler Geving is in his fifth year on the Park Blocks with a 56-72 record.
• PSU was picked to finish eighth by the coaches and ninth by the media in the Big Sky Conference Preseason Polls.
VAN DER MARS ON FIRE
• Junior C Thomas van der Mars has been a beast the last five games averaging 15.6 points and 7.8 rebounds while reaching double figures each outing.
• The Gouda, Netherlands native scored a career-high 21 points with 12 rebounds against North Texas. He also had 15 points and 12 rebounds against Idaho.
• Van der Mars needed just eight games to reach 100 total points this season, a feat which required 16 games a year ago.
• He ranks sixth in the WCC in field goal percentage (.607).
• Van der Mars has started 66 career games and his 56 career blocked shots are ninth in school history.
SCORING PUNCH
• Scoring is up significantly this season for the Pilots as the team is averaging 80.1 points per game, the highest for a UP squad since the 1991-92 season. That year, current Miami HEAT head coach Erik Spoelstra was a senior point guard for the Pilots and the team averaged 80.9 points per game.
• Portland ranks fourth in the WCC in team scoring, while Kevin Bailey (10th, 15.9 ppg), Ryan Nicholas (17th, 13.5 ppg) and Thomas van Der Mars (24th, 12.5) are among the league's top individual scorers.
• Last year the Pilots averaged 61.0 points and the team averaged 65.1 points during the 2011-12 season.
WINTERING GIVEN THE KEYS
• Freshman PG Alec Wintering dished out a season high 10 assists against Southern Utah on Sunday and also had four steals.
• He leads the WCC with 17 steals on the season and is 11th in the league in assists (3.5).
• Wintering has started all eight games for the Pilots and had a season high 14 points versus Idaho on Nov. 21.
• Portland secured a commitment from Wintering out of United Faith Christian Acad. in North Carolina, where he was coached by former NBA point guard Muggsy Bogues.
• Wintering's ties to Portland go back to when he lived in Arizona and looked up to former Pilot PG T.J. Campbell, a two-time All-WCC selection for the Pilots in 2008-10.
BAILEY BREAKS OUT
• Junior G Kevin Bailey has had a breakout season leading the team and ranking 10th in the WCC in scoring at 15.9 points per game.
• He has reached double figures all eight games, including a career-high 29 points in season opener over UC Davis.
• Bailey is shooting 47 percent from the field, 41 percent from three-point range and 72 percent at the free throw line.
• A three-year starter, the Clovis, Calif. native averaged 11.4 points last season and 9.5 points per game as a freshman.
NICHOLAS CLIMBING CHARTS
• Senior F Ryan Nicholas leads the WCC in rebounding (9.8) and recently cracked the top 10 in school rebounding history after his 16-rebound effort against North Texas on Nov. 23.
• Nicholas has 637 career rebounds and moved past Portland Hall of Famer Quentin Braxton (612, 1973-76) into the top 10. He is eight shy of Art Easterly for ninth place.
• The Spokane, Wash. native has 947 career points and is in line to become the 35th player in school history to score 1,000 points.
• Nicholas is a three-year starter and led the Pilots in scoring and rebounding each of the past two seasons.
• Nicknamed 'Rhino', he sat behind All-WCC forward Luke Sikma and four-year starting center Kramer Knutson as a freshman but followed with a breakout sophomore year (11.5 ppg, 7.6 rpg). He averaged 13.0 points and 8.7 rebounds last season.
SHARP SHOOTER
• Junior transfer Bobby Sharp has jumped right into the rotation and is fourth in scoring on the team at 9.0 points per game.
• Sharp, the MVP of the Big 8 Conference at Santa Rosa JC last season, was recruited as a shooter and he has lived up to the hype thus far.
• He leads the team with 16 three-pointers made, including at least one every game, and is shooting 38.1 percent from three-point range.
IM-PRESSLEY
• Sophomore G Bryce Pressley started the final seven games of the 2012-13 season and also took over backup point guard duties late in the year.
• Pressley, the son of former NBA standout and NCAA Champion Harold Pressley (Villanova, '86), has started the first eight games on the wing and also has been the backup point guard.
• He has a team high 29 assists and his 3.2 assist/turnover ratio ranks fifth in the WCC.
• An all-around versatile talent, Pressley has impressed his shot this season and leads the team in three-point percentage having made 6-of-13 (.462) from beyond the arc.
GERUN GETS GOING
• West Virginia transfer Volodymyr Gerun, more commonly called 'Voldy' by teammates, scored a season-high 12 points versus Southern Utah.
• Gerun also scored nine second half points at Oregon State and had seven points and seven rebounds at No. 1 Michigan State earlier this season.
• The 6-10, 250 pound junior joined the Pilots this summer and is expected to make a big contribution as he gets more comfortable with Portland's system.
BLOCK PARTY
• Junior C Riley Barker ranks fourth in the WCC in blocked shots (12) and has moved into eighth place on the UP career blocked shots charts with 58.
• Barker is two blocks ahead of fellow junior Thomas van der Mars all-time.
• Tim Frost (2000-02) owns the all-time Pilots record with 103 blocked shots.
CARR RETURNS
• Junior PG David Carr (concussion) missed the first three games of the season, but has appeared in the last five games off the bench.
• Carr, who suffered a season-ending knee injury with a torn ACL after starting 17 games last year, battled back and was cleared to play prior to the start of training camp.
DOMINATING THE BOARDS
• After being outrebounded in the first three games of the season, Portland has been dominant on the boards and had a positive rebounding margin the last six games.
• For the season the Pilots have a +4.4 rebounding margin and rank second in the WCC in defensive rebound percentage (.727).
• During Coach Reveno's eight year tenure, the Pilots have had a positive rebounding margin in all but one season (2011-12, -0.4).
HOME SWEET HOME
• The Pilots have a 53-24 record at the Chiles Center since the 2008-09 season.
• Portland 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.
CENTURY CLUB!
• The 100 points scored in Portland's season opener marked the first time the Pilots hit the century mark since defeating Evergreen State College 101-77 on Dec. 31, 2009.
• It is the first time UP reached 100 against a Division I opponent since the opener of the 1993 season versus Hawaii at the Great Alaska Shootout.
IT'S ALL ACADEMIC
• Ryan Nicholas (3.47 GPA, Psychology) and Thomas van der Mars (3.94, Operations Technology Management) were named to the 2013 WCC All-Academic Team, while Riley Barker (3.46, Marketing) earned honorable mention honors.
• Nicholas picks up his second award in as many years.
• Coach Reveno has had a total of 13 WCC All-Academic selections in his seven years.
• Reveno also posts a 100 percent graduation rate (17 players) and the men's basketball program has one of the top APR scores in the nation (995), receiving a Public Recognition Award from the NCAA last spring.
SPAIN FOREIGN TOUR
• Portland benefitted from a 10-day Foreign Tour to Spain and the Canary Islands back in August.
• On the court, Portland went down to the final possession against both Angola (No. 15 ranked team in the world) and Venezuela (No. 24) while in Madrid.
• The Pilots then routed three select teams in the Canary Islands to finish the tour 3-2.
• Check out photos, video highlights and other information from the trip at www.PortlandPilots.com/Spain2013.
SPORTS 910 AM PORTLAND'S NEW HOME FOR RADIO & COACHES SHOW
• Sports 910 (KMTT) is the new home for University of Portland men's basketball this season.
• In addition to airing every Pilot game live, the station will host a weekly show with Coach Eric Reveno every Monday night between 7-8 p.m.
• Game broadcasts will have a 30-minute pregame and 30-minute postgame show.
• Veteran Pilot play-by-play broadcaster Bill Johnson returns to call the action and host the Coaches Show for the Pilots.
