Pilots Continue WCC Play at LMU, Pepperdine

Complete Release (pdf)  I  at LMU: Video  Audio Stats  I  at PEP: Video  Audio Stats

PORTLAND PILOTS (11-6, 2-3 WCC) AT LOYOLA MARYMOUNT LIONS (4-13, 0-5 WCC)
Date: Jan. 15, 2015
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Los Angeles, Calif.
Venue: Gersten Pavilion
Video: TheW.tv
Radio: Sports 910 (KMTT)

Portland vs. LMU Series 
Overall Series: 44-48
Home: 27-16
Road: 15-25
Neutral: 2-7
Last 5: 3-2
Last 10: 5-5
Last: LMU 67, POR 64 (3/6/14 at WCC Tournament)

THIS WEEK
• The Pilots continue West Coast Conference play with road games at Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine this week.
• Portland faces LMU on Thursday at 7 p.m. The game will streamed live on TheW.tv with Ari Wolfe and Doug Christie calling the action.
• Saturday's game at Pepperdine is scheduled for 5 p.m. and will be televised live on ROOT Sports NW and Time Warner Cable SportsNet with Chris Fisher and Dave Miller on the call.
• All Portland basketball games will be aired live on Sports 910 (KMTT) with pregame coverage beginning 30 minutes prior to tip-off. Bill Johnson will call the play-by-play all season long.
• Live stats, audio and video links are available at PortlandPilots.com.

ABOUT THE  PILOTS
• Portland (11-6, 2-3 WCC) split a homestand last week with a decisive win over Santa Clara (78-61) and tough loss to San Francisco (89-77).
• Sophomore PG Alec Wintering scored 26 points in the win over the Broncos, but the Pilots lost reserve center Riley Barker to a season-ending knee injury early in the action.
• Senior G Kevin Bailey (foot) returned to the court after missing the previous eight games and finished with four points in 11 minutes.
• Bailey then led the Pilots with 20 points in the loss to USF on Saturday.
• The Pilots were without junior G Bryce Pressley (concussion) for both games, but expect him to return this week.
• Senior C Thomas van der Mars scored his 1,000th career point on Dec. 14 at Sacramento State. He then cracked the UP top 10 in rebounds a game later and is tied for second all-time in blocked shots.
• Wintering ranks top seven in the WCC in assists, free throw percentage, steals, three-point percentage and assist-to-turnover ratio. He is the WCC leader in three-point percentage (.513).
• Two of the Pilots five losses this season have come in overtime: versus Oregon State (65-58) and at UNLV (75-73).
• Portland is 4-1 this season in games decided by five points or less after finishing 1-7 last season.
•  The Pilots rank 21st nationally in free throw percentage (.747), 28th in rebounding margin (+6.9), 31st in three-point percentage (.391), 38th in assists per game (15.4) and 45th in scoring (73.9).
• Portland returns four starters and seven of the top eight scorers from last year's team that finished 15-16 overall.
• Bailey, a four-year starter, averaged 16.5 points per game a year ago before missing the final seven games with a leg injury. He ranks 19th in career points and 10th all-time in blocked shots at Portland.
• Van der Mars is also a four-year starter and he's the 37th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. He was a Preseason All-WCC selection by the league's head coaches and an Academic All-American last year.
• Portland added five newcomers to the roster this season with four freshmen and a junior college transfer. Four of the newcomers have Pacific Northwest ties, while the fifth is 7-footer Philipp Hartwich (Cologne, Germany).
• Freshmen Jason Todd, D'Marques Tyson and Gabe Taylor have grown into key rotation players early in the WCC season.
• Head Coach Eric Reveno added experience to his staff in the offseason with the addition of veteran NBA head coach Herb Brown and former Portland Trail Blazers video coordinator Tim Grass.
• The Pilots have signed three high school seniors to NLI's already: Jazz Johnson (Lake Oswego, Ore/Lake Oswego HS), Colin Russell (Folsom, Calif./Folsom HS) and Chiir Maker (Sydney, Australia/Newington College). Johnson broke the Les Schwab Invitational scoring record by averaging 35.0 points per game against elite national competition earlier this year... Russell is a McDonald's All-America nominee... Maker recently scored 49 points in a loss to Rainier Beach (Wash.) as part of a Pacific Northwest Tour with Newington College.

ABOUT LOYOLA MARYMOUNT
• The Lions (4-13, 0-5 WCC) closed non-conference play with a win over DePaul, but have lost five in a row to open WCC action. Last week LMU lost at San Diego (59-50) and BYU (86-72).
• Sophomore G Evan Payne ranks third in the WCC in scoring (20.0), but did not play on Saturday at BYU (coaches decision).
• First year head coach Mike Dunlap, formerly head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats, returns to his alma mater.
• Portland swept the regular season series with the Lions last season, but LMU came away with a 67-64 win to open the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas.

INJURY UPDATES
• Senior C Riley Barker suffered a season-ending knee injury early Thursday's win against Santa Clara.
• Senior G Kevin Bailey returned to the lineup on Thursday after missing the previous eight games with a foot injury suffered in the first half against Portland State on Dec. 3. He played 11 minutes off the bench and then recorded 20 points in 27 minutes on Saturday.
• Junior G Bryce Pressley suffered a concussion late in a Jan. 3 loss against Gonzaga. He sat out both games last week, but is expected to return to the lineup on Thursday.
• Senior G David Carr is out for the season with a torn ACL suffered in the offseason.

WINTERING CONTINUES BREAKOUT CAMPAIGN
• Sophomore PG Alec Wintering continues to break personal records and climb the Portland single-game and career charts. His 19.6 points per game in WCC play is third in the league.
• He recorded his sixth 20-point game with 26 points, four rebounds and four assists against Santa Clara. He has scored 20 or more points in three of the last four games. Previously he finished with 20 points and eight assists versus Gonzaga  and dropped a career-high 30 points at BYU.|
• Wintering opened WCC play by burying a step-back three-pointer to win the game at San Diego with 0.3 seconds left.
• His effort at BYU was the first 30-point game for a Pilot since Jared Stohl tallied 30 against Idaho on Dec. 22, 2009.
• He also finished 15-of-17 from the free throw line, marking the first 15 makes from the foul line since Darren Cooper versus Oregon on Dec. 22, 2005.
• Wintering dished out a season-high 12 assists at Sacramento State and followed up with 24 points and five assists at UNLV.
• He had 27 points with six assists against Portland State on Dec. 3 after going 7-of-12 from the field and 11-of-13 at the foul line.
• That effort bettered his career-high of 24 points at San Jose State on 7-of-11 from the field, 4-of-4 from three-point range, and 6-of-6 at the foul line.
• The Charlotte, N.C. native is shooting the ball with much more confidence this season. He leads the WCC in three-point percentage (.513, 20-of-39) and is seventh in free throw percentage (.848).
• Wintering also ranks third in the league in assists (5.4), fourth assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2) and seventh in steals (1.4). 
• Wintering had a phenomenal freshman campaign in which he started the first 27 games before a leg injury sidelined him the final four games of the season – Portland went 0-4 without him.
• Wintering ranked third in the WCC in assist/turnover ratio (2.2), fourth in assists (4.5), fifth in steals (1.6) and ninth in FT percentage (.833) last year.
• His 13 assists against San Francisco were the most by a Pilot against a D-I school in program history, and one shy of the school record.

OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY
• The Pilots rank third in the WCC and 45th nationally in points per game (73.9)
• Portland's 39.1 percent from three-point range ranks 31st nationally, while the team's 74.7 from the free throw line is 21st in the nation.
• Portland has shot 71 percent or better from the free throw line in the last 12 of the last 14 games.

REBOUNDS AND BLOCKED SHOTS
• Portland has used its size and experience to become a good rebounding team and the No. 2 shot blocking squad in the WCC.
• The Pilots have outrebounded 13 of the 17 opponents this season and rank 28th nationally with a +6.9 rebounding margin.
• Portland averages 4.1 blocked shots per game, second in the WCC.

VAN DER MARS REACHES MILESTONES
• With 20 points during a win at Sacramento State on Dec. 14, Thomas van der Mars became the 37th player in school history to score 1,000 career points.
• He now has 1,095 career points and also is tied for second in school history in blocked shots (91) and fourth in field goal percentage (.564).
• A native of The Netherlands, van der Mars ranks ninth on the UP career rebounding charts (701).
• Van der mars had a dominating performance against Portland State on Dec. 3 with 19 points and 14 rebounds. He was 9-for-9 from the field.
• A third team Academic All-American and WCC honorable mention pick last year, van der Mars was named to the Preseason All-WCC Team this season.

FRESHMEN BREAK OUT

• Freshman G Jason Todd has played effective minutes since moving into the rotation over the last 13 games.
• He is averaging 22.4 minutes over that span and shooting 58 percent from the field, including 13-of-21 from three-point range. More importantly, Todd has been one of the team's best perimeter defenders and can play multiple positions on the wing or as a stretch four.
• Todd, the two-time Washington Gatorade State Player of the Year at Mill Creek HS, grabbed a season-high eight rebounds versus Montana State and is averaging 9.3 points in the last three games.
• Freshman F Gabe Taylor was pressed into more court time on Thursday following Barker's injury and Gerun's foul trouble. The Portland native responded with a season-high 12 points in 26 minutes of action. He followed with eight points and three rebounds on Saturday. Taylor finished 9-of-10 from the field in the two games.
• Taylor led Valley Catholic School to consecutive Oregon 3A State Titles playing under former Pilot assistant coach, Joel Sobotka.
• Freshman G D'Marques Tyson has also had a great impact already. He scored a season-high 25 points off the bench in Portland's loss to Valparaiso at the Challenge in Music City. Tyson finished the game 9-for-11 from the field and 6-for-8 from three-point range. He also had 13 first half points in the road win at San Diego and 12 points Saturday versus USF.
• Tyson is second on the team with 28 three-pointers made this season and is shooting 42 percent from beyond the arc.
• The Bothell, Wash. native played last season at Quality Education Academy in North Carolina after helping lead Lakeside HS to the Washington 3A title game as a junior.

BARKER'S BREAKOUT SEASON OVER
• Riley Barker stepped up big this season, including a season-high 14 points and seven rebounds versus UNLV in his first start this year.
• He added 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots at BYU.
• One of the top shot blockers in school history, he was on pace to break the school record before a season-ending knee injury versus Santa Clara on Jan. 8.
• The Surrey, British Columbia native concludes his career with 91 blocked shots, 12 shy of the Pilot all-time leader, Tim Frost (2000-02).

CLOSE CALLS
• Portland has played three overtime games this season and are 4-1 in games decided by five points or less.
• Portland opened the season with an overtime win at San Jose State, lost in OT at home to Oregon State and then dropped another extended game at UNLV.
• Games at Sacramento State and versus Murray State in Nashville also came down to the closing seconds with the Pilots pulling out both wins.
• The latest thriller came at San Diego, with Alec Wintering winning the game with a three-pointer with less than one second remaining.
• Last season, the team went 1-7 in games decided by five or less and was 1-1 in overtime games.

BAILEY IS BACK
• Senior G Kevin Bailey got off to a fast start averaging 13.1 points per game, but the Clovis, Calif. native injured his foot against Portland State and missed the next eight games.
• He returned to the lineup off the bench Thursday versus Santa Clara and finished with four points in 11 minutes of action. He followed with 20 points against USF.
• Prior to the injury, Bailey made some big plays early in the season. He hit a clutch jumper and two free throws late against Murray State to clinch the win against the Racers and also ignited Portland's second half rally against San Jose State with 13 points over the final 10:29, including the game-tying three-pointer with 3:14 remaining.
• Bailey has 1,136 career points which ranks 19th in school history.