Pilots Look for Road Sweep at Santa Clara on Saturday

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Portland Pilots (13-10, 4-7) at Santa Clara Broncos (11-13, 5-7)
Date: Feb. 7, 2015
Time: 5:00 PM
Location: Santa Clara, Calif.
Venue: Leavey Center
Video: TheW.tv
Radio: Sports 910 (KMTT)

POR vs. SCU Series
Overall Series: 32-58
Home: 21-22
Road: 9-32
Neutral: 2-4
Last 5/10: 2-3/6-4
Last: POR 78, SCU 61 (1/8/15 at Portland)

THIS WEEK
• Portland looks for a Bay Area road sweep when the Pilots take on the Santa Clara Broncos Saturday at 5 p.m.
• The game will be aired live on TheW.tv with JB Long and Dan Belluomini calling the action.
• 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.
• Pilot fans are encouraged to attend watch parties for all Portland road games at Buffalo Wild Wings-Lloyd District.
 
ABOUT THE  PILOTS
• Portland (13-10, 4-7 WCC) picked up a key road win at San Francisco on Thursday, outscoring the Dons 36-21 in the second half for a 69-57 victory.
• Senior G Kevin Bailey and sophomore PG Alec Wintering paced the Pilots with 20 points each, while senior C Thomas van der Mars added 13 rebounds.
• Van der Mars also blocked two shots and with 102 career blocks is now only one shy of tying the Portland school record.
• Wintering has two game-winning three-pointers  this season. He opened WCC play at San Diego with a three with 0.3 seconds left for a three-point win and then beat the buzzer in Portland's 72-69 win versus Pacific.
• Bailey leads the Pilots in scoring at 13.7 per game and is 41 points shy of cracking the all-time top 10 in school history.
• Bailey missed eight games with a foot injury suffered against Portland State on Dec. 3 before returning to the court versus Santa Clara on Jan. 8.
• A four-year starter, Bailey averaged 16.5 points per game a year ago before missing the final seven games with a leg injury. He ranks 13th in career points and ninth 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 also an Academic All-American last year.
• Wintering ranks top five in the WCC in assists, steals, three-point percentage and assist-to-turnover ratio. He is the WCC leader in three-point percentage (.509).
• Senior C Riley Barker suffered a season-ending knee injury vs. Santa Clara.
• Portland is 5-2 this season in games decided by five points or less after finishing 1-7 last season.
• The Pilots rank 34th in three-point percentage (.388), 40th nationally in assists per game (15.1), 41st in rebounding margin (+4.8) and 52nd in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.23).
• Portland returns four starters and seven of the top eight scorers from last year's team that finished 15-16 overall.
• 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 with Todd and Taylor each earning their first career start at Pepperdine.
• 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 SANTA CLARA
• The Broncos (11-13, 5-7 WCC) led No. 2 Gonzaga at the half before falling by a 77-63 margin Thursday night.
• Santa Clara is tied for fifth in the WCC standings with San Diego, half a game ahead of the Pilots.
• Senior G Brandon Clark averages a team-best 15.8 points, while sophomore G Jared Brownridge - the reigning WCC Newcomer of the Year - adds 14.8 points.
• Head coach Kerry Keating is in his eighth season at the helm of the Broncos and posts a 125-133 overall record. He guided Santa Clara to the 2011 CIT Championship and 2013 CBI title.
• Portland defeated Santa Clara by a 78-61 margin at the Chiles Center on Jan. 8... the team's split last year's series with each team picking up road wins... The Broncos took a 76-68 decision in Portland, while the Pilots won 76-64 at Santa Clara.

INJURY UPDATES
• Senior C Riley Barker suffered a season-ending knee injury early in the Jan. 8 win against Santa Clara.
• Senior G Kevin Bailey returned to the lineup on Jan. 8 after missing the previous eight games with a foot injury suffered in the first half against Portland State on Dec. 3.
• Junior G Bryce Pressley suffered a concussion late in a Jan. 3 loss against Gonzaga. He sat out the Jan. 8 and Jan. 10 games, but returned to the lineup the next week.
• Senior G David Carr is out for the season with a torn ACL suffered in the offseason.

VAN DER MARS ONE SHY OF BLOCKS RECORD
• Senior C Thomas van der Mars has already joined the 1,000-point club this season, cracked the top 10 in school history for rebounds and is now only one blocked shot shy of tying Tim Frost for the school record.
• He blocked two shots at San Francisco on Thursday to give him 102, second all-time in Portland history.

PRESSLEY HEATING UP
• Junior G Bryce Pressley has started to heat up from three-point range, hitting at least one triple in nine consecutive games.
• In the the last three games Pressley has hit three in each contest and is 9-for-15 during that span.
• Last season, Pressley finished second in the WCC in three-point percentage (.457).

WINTERING DELIVERS BUZZER BEATER... AGAIN
• Sophomore PG Alec Wintering buried his second game-winning three-pointer this WCC season when he beat the buzzer on Jan. 22 for a 72-69 win over Pacific. The shot made SportsCenter's Top 10 plays for the night at No. 2.
• Wintering opened WCC play by burying a step-back three-pointer to win the game at San Diego on Dec. 27 with 0.3 seconds left.

LINEUP ADJUSTMENTS GO FULL CIRCLE
• Portland opened the season with a starting lineup of Wintering, Pressley, Bailey, Gerun and van der Mars for the first seven games of the season and went 6-1 in those games.
• The Pilots have had to juggle the rotation due to various injuries to key players since, using seven different starting lineups in the last 16 games.
• The original starting five has been back on the court together the last four games.
• Wintering and Gerun are the only players to start all 23 games.

GERUN GRABS 15 BOARDS
• Senior F Volodymyr "Voldy" Gerun recorded a career-high with 15 rebounds last Thursday at Gonzaga.
• Gerun has been a key contributor all season and is one of only two Pilots to start at 23 games.
• He was named to the Challenge in Music City All-Tournament Team and had 13 points and 14 rebounds in the WCC opener at San Diego.
• He erupted for a career high 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting against SIU-Edwardsville. That came six days after recording his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds at San Jose State.
• Gerun joined the Pilots last season after a brief stop at West Virginia, but playing behind a pair of three-year starters averaged just 11.2 minutes per game.
• He dropped 15 pounds over the last offseason and it showed as he logged 41 active minutes against SJSU.
• Gerun earned the starting nod in place of the graduated Ryan Nicholas and is averaging 8.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, and is shooting 50.3 percent from the field.
 
WINTERING CONTINUES BREAKOUT CAMPAIGN
• Alec Wintering's 14.7 points per game in WCC play is ninth in the league.
• He recorded his seventh 20-point game Thursday at USF and also had 26 points, four rebounds and four assists against Santa Clara on Jan. 8. He has scored 20 or more points four times in league play including 20 points and eight assists versus Gonzaga and a career-high 30 points at BYU.
• 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 (.509, 27-of-53).
• Wintering also ranks second in the league in assists (5.7), fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2), sixth in FT percentage (.831) and eighth in steals (1.3). 
• 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.
 
VAN DER MARS REACHING 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 1,153 career points and also is second in school history in blocked shots (102) and fourth in field goal percentage (.555).
• A native of The Netherlands, van der Mars ranks eighth on the UP career rebounding charts (752).
• 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.
• On Jan. 23 he was named as one of 30 candidates for the Senior CLASS Award, presented annually to the top men's basketball senior to have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.

REBOUNDS AND BLOCKED SHOTS
• Portland has used its size and experience to become a good rebounding team and the No. 1 shot blocking squad in the WCC.
• The Pilots have outrebounded 15 of the 23 opponents this season and rank 41st nationally with a +4.8 rebounding margin.
• Portland averages 4.3 blocked shots per game, tops in the WCC.

OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY
• Despite a season-low 46 points at Gonzaga, the Pilots rank third in the WCC and 90th nationally in points per game (71.2)
• Portland's 38.8 percent from three-point range ranks 34th nationally, while the team's 72.1 from the free throw line is 63rd in the nation.
• Portland has shot 71 percent or better from the free throw line in the 14 of the last 20 games.

BARKER'S SEASON, COLLEGIATE CAREER 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).

DEFENSIVE ASSIGNMENTS
• Portland has been focused on defense throughout the preseason and early regular season.
• The coaching staff is tracking how many times per game the Pilots record three consecutive defensive stops... The goal? Seven is the target per game. 
 
CLOSE CALLS
• Portland has played three overtime games this season and are 5-2 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 against Pacific Thursday with Alec Wintering beating the buzzer with a three-pointer for a 72-69 win. Wintering also hit won the game at San Diego 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.

FRESHMEN TAKING ADVANTAGE
• Freshman G Jason Todd has played effective minutes since moving into the regular rotation.
• Todd is averaging 4.7 points and 3.0 rebounds per game while shooting 51 percent from the field and 49 percent 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 scored 12 points versus Santa Clara.
• Freshman F Gabe Taylor was pressed into more court time following Riley Barker's injury. The Portland native responded with a season-high 12 points in 26 minutes of action against Santa Clara. He followed with eight points and three rebounds against USF and 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. 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 against San Francisco.
• Tyson is second on the team with 31 three-pointers made this season and is shooting 41 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.

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 on Jan. 8 versus Santa Clara and finished with four points in 11 minutes of action. He followed with 20 points against USF and a season-high 28 points against Pepperdine on Saturday.
• 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 1,225 career points which ranks 13th in school history.
 
IT'S ALL-ACADEMIC
• Under Coach Reveno the Pilots have thrived academically.
• Last season Thomas van der Mars was named a third team CoSIDA Academic All-American, becoming just the second men's basketball player in program history to earn the honor (Rick Raivio, 1980).
• Ryan Nicholas was also the recipient of the 2014 Division I-AAA Athletic Director's Association Postgraduate Scholarship and joined van der Mars on the 10-player national all-academic team.
• The team boasts a 100% graduation rate, a near-perfect rating in the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate, and 14 WCC All-Academic selections since 2007.

STAFF ADDITIONS
• Head Coach Eric Reveno bolstered his staff with an infusion of NBA-level expertise in the offseason.
• Herb Brown, who has 45 years of coaching experience including four NBA Championship rings, joined the bench as an assistant coach.
• Former Portland Trail Blazers Video Coordinator, Tim Grass, was hired as Portland's Video Technology Coordinator.
 
TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK
• The Pilots committed a season low seven turnovers on Jan. 22 against Pacific and then bettered that with just five giveaways on Jan. 24 versus Saint Mary's.
• Portland ranks 52nd nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.23).

PORTLAND VERSUS RANKED OPPONENTS
• Last season's win versus Gonzaga was the seventh all-time for Portland against an Associated Press Top 25 program and the first since defeating No. 22 Minnesota at the 2009 Anaheim 76 Classic. The victory snapped an 11-game losing streak against ranked opponents.
• Portland is now 7-57 all-time against AP Top 25 ranked opponents and has never defeated a top 10 opponent.

EARLY NLI SIGNINGS
• Jazz Johnson (Lake Oswego, Ore/Lake Oswego HS), Colin Russell (Folsom, Calif./Folsom HS) and Chiir Maker (Sydney, Australia/Newington College) signed NLI's in November and will join the Pilots as freshmen next year.
• Johnson (6-0, 175) is a combo guard that earned Oregon 6A All-State honorable mention honors last season. He was a Three Rivers League First Team selection in his first year with the Lakers after leading the league in scoring. Last week he broke the Les Schwab Invitational scoring record by averaging 35.0 points per game against elite national competition.
• Russell (6-8, 220) is an active post presence and has raised his profile over the last two seasons while playing for highly competitive prep and club teams. He helped Folsom High School win the California Division 2 Northern Region Championship and led the team to a runner-up finish at the state championship.
• Maker (6-7, 190) is a versatile wing with good size and athleticism. Throughout his prep career at Newington College he put up big numbers while displaying a nice shooting stroke with good range. He his prep team recently concluded a 10-game tour through the Pacific Northwest highlighted by Maker scoring 49 points against Rainier Beach (Wash.).
 
SPORTS 910 ONCE AGAIN IS THE HOME OF THE PILOTS
• The Pilots have returned to Sports 910 (KMTT) for all men's basketball games as well as the Monday night Portland Pilots Basketball Show.
• Coverage for all home and road games begins with a 30-minute pregame show and concludes with postgame highlights, stats and interviews.
• Veteran voice of the Pilots Bill Johnson is back to call the action and host the Portland Pilots Basketball Show, which airs each Monday 7-8 p.m. throughout the season and features head coach Eric Reveno in studio.
• Fans are encouraged to call in with questions and comments about the program to (503) 542-0910. The show will be streamed live via both Sports 910 and PortlandPilots.com. Fans can interact and ask questions via Twitter using the hashtag #AskCoachRev.