Pilots Close Regular Season at No. 2 Gonzaga
 
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Portland Pilots (11-19, 4-11) at #2 Gonzaga Bulldogs (27-2, 14-0)
Date: Saturday, Mar. 2, 2013
Tip-off: 2:00 p.m.
Location: Spokane, Wash.
Arena: McCarthey Athletic Center
Television: ROOT Sports, TWC SportsNet, CSN California
Radio: 800 AM
Overall Series: 65-91
At UP: 34-36
At GU: 22-43
At Neutral: 9-12
Last: #8 GON 71, POR 49 (Jan. 17, 2013 at Portland)

GAME INFORMATION
• Portland concludes the regular season with a Saturday afternoon game against the No. 2-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs at the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane, Wash.
• Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. and the contest is the featured WCC Game of the Week. The game will be televised on ROOT Sports, Comcast SportsNet California, and Time Warner Cable SportsNet with Andy Masur and Brad Holland providing 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
• The 2013 West Coast Conference Basketball Championships are scheduled for March 6-11 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.
• The opening round game features the No. 8 vs. No. 9 seeds on Wednesday at 6 p.m., while second round action is Thursday, March 7 with No. 5 vs. No. 8/9 at 6 p.m., followed by No. 6 vs. No. 7 at approximately 8:30 p.m.
• Portland needs a win over Gonzaga and a Pepperdine loss at San Diego on Saturday to move into the No. 7 spot. A Pilot loss and/or a Pepperdine victory puts the Pilots as the No. 8 seed.

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland (11-19, 4-11 WCC) has won three of its last six games after a home split last week.
• The Pilots defeated San Diego (70-67) on Thursday, before losing to Santa Clara (75-63) on Saturday.
• Sophomore G Kevin Bailey led four Pilots in double figures with 18 points and sophomore C Thomas van der Mars added 10 points and 10 rebounds vs. USD.
• The Pilots outrebounded San Diego 38-25 and shot 49 percent from the field.
• Santa Clara jumped to a 20-point first half lead before Portland cut the deficit to five late in regulation before falling short.
• Bailey and van der Mars had 11 each to pace the Pilots for the second game in a row.
• Portland is averaging 70.0 points per game over the last six games.
• van der Mars is averaging 13.3 points and 7.9 rebounds over the last seven games, including the first two double-doubles of his career.
• Junior F Ryan Nicholas, who averaged team highs of 11.5 points and 7.6 rebounds last season, is again leading the Pilots in scoring (12.9), rebounding (8.7) and double-doubles (8).
• Bailey is the only other Pilot averaging double figures at 11.4 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.
• Derrick Rodgers, the team’s lone senior, has moved into the starting role and is fifth in the WCC during league play at 4.7 assists per game.
• Freshman G Bryce Pressley has stepped into a starting role and also taken on backup PG duties. He leads all active Pilots with a 1.3 assists-to-turnover ratio.
• Head coach Eric Reveno returns for his seventh year on The Bluff.
• 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.
• 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 #2 GONZAGA
• The Bulldogs (29-2, 14-0 WCC) are ranked No. 2 nationally in both the Associated Press and Coaches Polls this week. With No. 1 Indiana losing earlier in the week, Gonzaga has a chance to take over the No. 1 position in both polls with a pair of wins this week.
• Gonzaga travels to Provo, Utah to face BYU on Thursday at 8 p.m. before returning home to host the Pilots.
• The Bulldogs routed Santa Clara (85-42) and San Diego (81-50) last week to remain undefeated in league play.
• Gonzaga also posted non-conference wins over West Virginia, Clemson, Oklahoma, Kansas State and Oklahoma State, while its two losses came to Illinois (85-74) and then No. 13 Butler (64-63).
• Redshirt junior Kelly Olynyk leads three players averaging double figures at 17.7 points per game. Senior Elias Harris (14.5) and sophomore Kevin Pangos (12.0) also averaged double-digits.
• Harris, Pangos, Gary Bell and Sam Dower were all named to the Preseason All-WCC Team, while Gonzaga was picked to win the league.
• Head coach Mark Few posts a 368-92 overall record in 14 years with Gonzaga. He has led the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament every season.

PORTLAND-GONZAGA SERIES NOTES
• The Bulldogs lead the all-time series by a 91-65 margin.
• The Pilots are 22-43 all-time versus Gonzaga in Spokane.
• Gonzaga has won 19 consecutive games over the Pilots. Portland’s last win was a 72-68 win during the 2002-03 season in Spokane.
• The Bulldogs defeated Portland 71-49 on Jan. 17 at the Chiles Center.
• Junior F Kelly Olynyk scored a game-high 21 points for the Bulldogs, while sophomore G Kevin Bailey finished with 16 points to lead the Pilots.
 
SENIOR MOMENT!
• Portland recognized Derrick Rodgers as part of Senior Day Saturday at Chiles Center.
• The lone senior on the roster and is finishing his third year on The Bluff after transfering from Citrus College.
• Rodgers has blossomed during his senior season as a team captain and leader.

SEEDING SCENARIOS FOR WCC TOURNAMENT
• With only one game remaining on the regular season schedule, the Pilots are currently alone in eighth place in the WCC standings with a chance to move up to seventh.
• Pepperdine (4-11) and Portland (4-11) have the same record, but the Waves own the tiebreaker by virtue a season sweep of the Pilots. 
• The Waves final game is at San Diego on Saturday at noon. Portland needs a Waves loss and a victory over Gonzaga to move into the No. 7 seed for the WCC Tournament.
• The opening round game features the No. 8 vs. No. 9 seeds on Wednesday at 6 p.m., while second round action is Thursday, March 7 with No. 5 vs. No. 8/9 at 6 p.m., followed by No. 6 vs. No. 7 at approximately 8:30 p.m.
 
OFFENSIVE OUTBURSTS
• The Pilots have broken out offensively over the last six games averaging 70.0 points during that stretch.
• Portland ranks last in the WCC overall this year at 61.5 points per game and averaged just 53.2 points over the first nine league games.
• After adjusting to the loss of starting PG David Carr to a season-ending knee injury vs. Pepperdine on Jan. 5, the Pilots have now started to get more contributions from the bench and freshmen.

BENCH BOOST FROM THIELEKE
• Junior G Korey Thieleke provided a big boost off the bench last week.
• In Thursday’s win over San Diego he recorded a career-high seven rebounds to go with six points and three steals.
• He added five points, three rebounds, two assists and three blocked shots in 19 minutes Saturday vs. Santa Clara.
• Thieleke, who played a total of 64 minutes in his first two seasons on The Bluff, has established career highs in all statistical categories 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.

VAN DER MARVELOUS
• Sophomore C Thomas van der Mars has scored in double figures in seven straight games and is averaging 13.3 points and 7.9 rebounds over that span.
• He picked up his first career double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds against Pepperdine on Feb. 9 and added his second with 10 points and 10 boards versus San Diego last Thursday.
• He was one rebound shy of another double-double against USF, finishing with 14 points and nine rebounds.
• van der Mars tied his career-high with 19 points at BYU on Feb. 16.
• The Gouda, Netherlands native, a two-year starter for the Pilots, averaged 7.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per game as a freshman.

PRESSLEY IMPRESSES
• Freshman G Bryce Pressley, the son of former NBA player and Villanova NCAA Champion Harold Pressley, has started the last seven games and is filling up the stat sheet.
• He scored a season-high 10 points on Feb. 9 vs. Pepperdine.
• His six steals at Santa Clara on Jan. 31 are a team season high.
• In his first start he grabbed a season-high seven rebounds Feb. 2 at Saint Mary’s.
• The Sacramento native also dished out a season-high eight assists at BYU on Feb. 16.
• Most recently, he hit two clutch free throws in the final 10 seconds to secure the win over USD on Thursday and added nine points vs. Santa Clara on Saturday.
• Pressley has also moved into the backup PG role over the last eight games and has 30 assists and 18 turnovers in WCC action.

HOME SWEET HOME
• The Pilots have rattled off a 48-23 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.
 
EHLERS INCREASING ROLE
• In addition to Pressley, fellow freshmen Jake Ehlers has seen increased minutes in league play.
• Ehlers has played 10 or more minutes in seven-of-the-last-nine outings.
• He recorded season highs of eight points, four rebounds and 18 minutes at BYU on Feb. 16.
• He finished with seven points in 14 minutes Saturday vs. Santa Clara.
• Ehlers guided Corvallis HS to consecutive state championships and was named Oregon’s 5A Player of the Year as both a junior and senior.

RODGERS ROLLING
• Senior PG Derrick Rodgers is averaging 9.1 points and 6.8 assists over the last six games.
• Rodgers dished out eight assists with just one turnover on Feb. 14 at USF.
• He recorded career-highs of 17 points and eight rebounds, and also dished out seven assists, in a Feb. 9 loss to Pepperdine, after handing out a career-high 11 assists in a win over LMU on Feb. 7.
• It marked the first time a Pilot had 10-or-more assists since T.J. Campbell had 10 against Northern Colorado on March 17, 2010.
• Rodgers broke his previous career-high of nine assists, which also came against LMU earlier this season.
• The team’s lone senior has had to log heavy minutes at the point guard position since starter David Carr went down with a season ending knee injury on Jan. 5 at Pepperdine.
• In WCC play, Rodgers ranks fifth in the league in assists per game (4.7).
 
BAILEY LOSES MASK, BREAKS OUT
• Sophomore G Kevin Bailey played without a protective mask at San Francisco on Feb. 14 for the first time since breaking his nose against Colorado State on Dec. 22.
• He is averaging 13.3 points and shooting 44 percent from the field in the four games since removing the mask.
• Bailey averaged 13.2 points and was shooting 46.4 percent from the field without the mask before the injury, but those numbers dipped to 9.6 points and 37.4 percent with the mask.
• He entered the CSU 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. He 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 the protective mask, but struggled to a 3-for-14 shooting day and missed the next two games following surgery.

NICHOLAS NEARLY PERFECT
• Ryan Nicholas was 6-for-8 from the field, 5-for-5 from three-point range and 4-for-4 from the foul line Feb. 7 vs. LMU for a game-high 21 points.
• He 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.
• Nicknamed ‘Rhino’, he is averaging team-highs of 12.9 points and 8.7 rebounds, which is second in the WCC and 58th 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.

PRU PATCH
• The Pilots are wearing a black patch with the word ‘PRU’ on their uniforms in remembrance of longtime supporter, Rev. Chester Prusynski, C.S.C., who passed away on April 22, 2012 at the age of 91.
• Fr. Prusynski, better known as Fr. Pru, served at the University for 46 years. He was part of the board of regents, taught in the school of business, served as a hall director, worked in student accounts, and served as on-site director of the Salzburg program..
• He was perhaps best known as a tireless advocate for the athletics programs, serving for decades as both a team chaplain and ardent fan. He is a member of the UP Hall of Fame, the Fr. Chester Prusynski Award is presented annually to the school’s top student-athletes, and the soccer practice field at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex was named Rev. Chester S. Prusynski Field (affectionately known as “Pru Pitch”) in his honor.