Portland Pilots (8-4, 0-0 WCC) vs. San Jose State Spartans (5-4, 0-0 Mountain West)
Date: Dec. 17, 2021
Time: 6 p.m. (PT)
Place: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center
TV: Portland's CW (KRCW-TV)
Video: WCC Network
Radio: 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT)
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats
Tickets: PortlandPilots.com/Tickets
Series: Pilots lead 12-11

THIS WEEK
• The Portland Pilots return to the Chiles Center to host the San Jose State Spartans on Friday at 6 p.m. on Portland's CW (KRCW-TV). The Pilots will then close out the non-conference season with road games at Montana State (Dec. 19) and UC Davis (Dec. 22).
• Tickets for all Pilot home games are available by visiting PortlandPilots.com/Tickets.
• Pilot men's basketball games are on the radio on 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT) with Jason Swygard and Xavier Hallinan calling the action. The program begins 30 minutes prior to tip-off and the concludes with a full post-game show.
• Live coverage links for Portland games can be found at PortlandPilots.com.
• Follow @PortlandMBB on Twitter for in-game updates.

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland is playing its third game in five days after beating Cal Poly 78-77 on Monday and dropping a 96-71 decision at Oregon on Wednesday.
• Kristian Sjolund scored a career-high 20 points and Mike Meadows made a pair of clutch free throws in the closing seconds to defeat Cal Poly in a game that featured 12 ties and 13 lead changes.
• Oregon used its decisive size advantage and hot shooting  to pull away on Wednesday. Sjolund continued his strong play of late with a 14-point, 7-rebound effort, while Meadows and Tyler Robertson added 14 and 10 points, respectively. The Ducks gained a 54-14 edge in points in the paints and shot 54 percent in the victory.
• Robertson, Austin and Wood comprise the second highest scoring trio from one team in the WCC at 45.3 points per game.
• Robertson is the only player in the WCC to rank in the top seven in scoring (6th), rebounds (7th) and assists (5th).
• Mike Meadows recorded the first triple-double in program history with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists against Willamette on Nov. 11. Meadows is one of six D-I players this season with triple doubles. The Pilots also set a new single game scoring record in the 122-78 victory, eclipsing the 115 scored against St. Martin's in 1978.
• Portland leads the nation in free throws made (214) and ranks second nationally in FT percentage (.814).
• The Pilots have found the shooting stroke of late breaking the program's single game three-pointers made record with 18 against VMI on Dec. 3 and have knocked down 40-of-97 (.412) triples in the last three games.
• Head coach Shantay Legans was hired last March after he led Eastern Washington to the NCAA Tournament. In his four years as head coach at EWU, Legans compiled the best overall (.605) and conference (.726) winning percentages in school history.
• Portland returns three players from last year's roster and adds seven transfers and seven true freshmen. The 14 newcomers are tied with UT-Martin for the most in Division I this season.
• The seven incoming transfers are fourth most in the nation, while Portland's 8.5 percent returner scoring production is second lowest nationally.
• Portland, Saint Mary's and Arizona have the most international players (8) among all NCAA Division I schools.
• The Pilots signed NBA Academy and Australian U-19 National Teamer Bol Dengdit to a National Letter of Intent and he will join the program for the 2021-22 season.
• A total of 14 Pilot graduates are currently playing professionally, while alum Erik Spoelstra ('92) has won two NBA Championships as head coach of the Miami HEAT. Ben Sullivan ('07) also won a title last spring as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks coaching staff and is now an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics.
• Portland has partnered with Portland's CW (KRCW-TV) to televise several home events this season while a minimum of 13 Pilot games will be aired on either Portland's CW, ROOT Sports Northwest or Stadium.
 
ABOUT SAN JOSE STATE
• The Spartans (5-4, 0-0 MWC) have won four of their last five games entering tonight's tilt. SJSU has wins over Pacific, North Dakota, South Dakota, Northern Colorado and Cal State Fullerton. Losses have all been road games at Texas, Stanford, Cal Baptist and Pepperdine.
• The Spartans were picked 10th in the Mountain West Preseason Poll.
• Omari Moore averages a team-best 15.5 points per game and SJSU limits opponents to 43.7 percent shooting.
• Head coach Tim Miles is in his first year with the Spartans after previous head coaching stops at North Dakota State, Colorado State and Nebraska. He recently won his 400th career game.
• Assistant Coach Ben Johnson returns to The Bluff after spending the last five years as an assistant and the final seven games of last year as the Interim Head Coach of the Pilots.
• UP owns an 12-11 all-time series record over SJSU with the last meeting a 72-57 Pilot road win on Nov. 10, 2019. The Pilots have won five straight games in the series.
 
GAMES IN BUNCHES
• Portland played nine games in the first 19 days of the season which began on Nov. 9 at Arizona State.
• The Pilots then took a 10-day break after hosting VMI on Dec. 3 for Finals Week on campus.
• After the team's run of five games in ten days ending at UC Davis on Dec. 22, the team will take a nine-day hiatus before opening West Coast Conference play by hosting BYU on Jan. 1.
 
EXPERIENCED 'YOUTH'
• Portland's roster features just two upperclassmen in terms of eligibility remaining: graduate transfer Jack Perry and COVID junior Clythus Griffith Jr.
• Portland's six other transfers all have three years of eligibility remaining including UNLV graduate transfer Moses Wood. The 6-8 forward began his career at Tulane and transferred to the Runnin' Rebels after a coaching change. He redshirted one of his two years at UNLV, which also had a coaching change this offseason, so Wood joins the Pilots with three years left to play.
• Chris Austin, Mike Meadows and Kristian Sjolund also spent three years at their previous schools, but each utilized redshirt seasons and got an extra year due to COVID.
 
COACHING CONTINUITY
• In addition to the three Eastern Washington players that transferred to Portland with Coach Legans, three staff members also made the move. Assistant coaches Bobby Suarez and T.J. Lipold, as well as video coordinator Thomas Moore remained with Legans during his transition to the Rose City.
• Legans' staff is one of the youngest in the nation as all three assistant coaches are 33 or younger.
 
WCC OFF TO HOT START
• The West Coast Conference has gotten off to a strong start to the 2021-22 season as four teams are ranked in the Top 40 of the latest NCAA Net Rankings: No. 9 Gonzaga, No. 26 San Francisco, No. 27 BYU and No. 40 Saint Mary's.
• The WCC is also the No. 8-ranked league according to KenPom.com.
• Here are some notable wins through the first few weeks of the regular season:
Nov. 12: @BYU def. San Diego State, 66-60
Nov. 12: @Santa Clara def. Stanford, 88-72
Nov. 13: @#1 Gonzaga def. #5 Texas, 86-74
Nov. 16: BYU def. @#12 Oregon, 81-49
Nov. 22: Saint Mary's def. Notre Dame, 62-59
Nov. 22: Santa Clara def. TCU, 85-66
Nov. 23: #1 Gonzaga def. #2 UCLA, 83-63
Nov. 23: Saint Mary's def. Oregon, 62-50
Nov. 26: San Francisco def. UAB, 63-61
Nov. 27: #12 BYU def. @Utah, 75-64
Dec. 2: Saint Mary's def. @Utah State, 60-58
 
TICKET, VACCINATION & TESTING INFORMATION FOR HOME GAMES
We are thrilled to welcome fans back to the Chiles Center for Portland Pilots basketball games. Season tickets, flex packs and single-game offerings are available now by visiting PortlandPilots.com/Tickets or calling the Pilot Box Office at (503) 943-GOUP. All guests ages 12 and up must provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or provide proof of either a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours of the event or a negative lab-based rapid test taken within 48 hours of the event. At-home tests will not be accepted. Kids under age 12 can come to events without proof of vaccination or proof of a negative test. Masks are required for all guests attending Portland Athletics events.