Portland Pilots (7-4, 0-0 WCC) vs. North Dakota State Bison (1-8, 0-0 Summit)
Date: Monday, Dec. 5, 2022
Time: 7 p.m.
Place: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center
Video: WCC Network
Radio: 910 ESPN Portland
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats
Tickets: PortlandPilots.com/Tickets

Portland Pilots (7-4, 0-0 WCC) vs. New Orleans Privateers (2-5, 0-0 Southland)
Date: Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Place: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center
Video: WCC Network
Radio: 910 ESPN Portland
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats
Tickets: PortlandPilots.com/Tickets

THIS WEEK
• The Pilots continue a four-game homestand by hosting the North Dakota State Bison on Monday at 7 p.m. at Chiles Center. Portland then hosts New Orleans on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 5:30 p.m. in the late game of a doubleheader. The UP women host Portland State at 3 p.m. that afternoon.
• Portland defeated Multnomah last Wednesday by a 100-79 margin and then took care of North Dakota 90-69 on Saturday.


GAME COVERAGE
• Monday's and Saturday's games will be aired live on the WCC Network with Ann Schatz and Jennifer Mountain on the call.
• All Pilot games will have radio coverage on 910 ESPN Portland with Jason Swygard and Joel Sobotka providing the commentary.
• Live coverage links for Portland games can be found at PortlandPilots.com.
• Follow @PortlandMBB on Twitter and Instagram for the latest team content.
• Pilot fans are encouraged to gather to watch all road games at Chill n Fill on North Lombard Street near campus.

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland followed a breakout performance at the Phil Knight Invitational with comfortable wins over Multnomah (100-79) and North Dakota (90-69).
• Tyler Robertson recorded a triple-double of 12 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 12 assists in Wednesday's win over Multnomah. Wyatt Lowell added a career-high 20 points off the bench and head coach Shantay Legans earned his 100th career victory.
• Moses Wood flirted with a triple-double against UND on Saturday and finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
• Portland leads the WCC and ranks 14th nationally in threes per game (10.5), 18th in assists per game (17.8) and FT percentage (78.2), 19th in FT's made per game (17.3) and 29th in scoring offense (82.4). 
• Portland was picked fifth in the WCC Preseason Coaches Poll and has the third highest NCAA NET Rankings among league members as of today (97). The Pilots finished 2021-22 with a NET of 181 and finished the 2020-21 season at 321.
• Robertson was one of five players in the nation last year to average at least 15.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game and the only WCC player to be Top 10 in the league in all three categories.
• Robertson leads the nation in FT's made (58) and is third nationally in total assists (67). He enters tonight's game 19 points shy of 1,000 for his collegiate career and is one of just 11 players with a triple-double this season.
• Robertson broke the Pilot record for both free throws made and attempted in a game on Nov. 11 against Portland State. He made 22-of-24 overall to break the previous marks held by Jim Winters (20-of-23) which dated back to a matchup with Seattle U on Feb. 12, 1956.
• Starting PG Mike Meadows has missed the last seven games due to injury and is questionable for Monday… Sophomore transfer G Vukasin Masic had a waiver for immediate eligibility denied by the NCAA and will sit out the 2022-23 season… Freshman F Bol Dengdit and junior G Chris Austin (injury) will also redshirt this year. Austin started all 34 games and was second on the team in scoring (14.4) last season.
• Head coach Shantay Legans was hired last March after he led Eastern Washington to the 2021 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.
• The Pilots finished last season 19-15 overall and sixth in the WCC, recording their highest win total since 2010 and their fourth-highest win total since joining Division I in 1958. The 7-7 record in WCC play was also their best since 2015 and the team recorded its first ever postseason victory at the Division I level (def. New Orleans in The Basketball Classic).
• The Pilots set a single game scoring record a year ago in a 122-78 victory over Willamette, eclipsing the 115 scored against St. Martin's in 1978. Portland also broke the program's single game three-pointers made record with 18 against VMI on Dec. 3, 2021, while the team's 264 three-pointers made marked the second most in single-season school history (289 in 2015-16).
• The Pilots finished last season ranked seventh in the nation in free throw percentage (.791) to establish a new UP single-season record. The team also finished 12th in free throws made (544) nationally last year.
• Portland returns all five starters and the top seven scorers from last year's team. The Pilots return 91.1 percent of the scoring production from last year, second nationally to Virginia (91.4).
• The Pilots signed G Vince Delano and F Cyprian Hyde to National Letters of Intent in November. Delano (6-2, 170) currently attends Arizona Compass Prep, one of the top basketball prep schools in the country. Hyde (6-10, 220) finished last season averaging 16.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.
• A total of 13 former Pilots 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 2021 title as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks coaching staff and is now an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics.
• A total of 17 Pilot games are currently scheduled for television, including a minimum of seven on national TV between the ESPN family of networks and CBS Sports Network.
 
PRESEASON RECOGNITION
• Portland was picked fifth in the WCC Preseason Coaches Poll, trailing only Gonzaga, Saint Mary's, San Francisco and BYU.
• Tyler Robertson was also named to the 10-player WCC Preseason Team.
• Andy Katz recognized Shantay Legans as on his Top 10 Rising Coaches nationally and the Pilots as one of the Top 11 most improved teams in college basketball.
• Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated also named Legans as one of his 10 Coaches on the Rise, nationally.
• ESPN.com identified Portland as the surprise 'sleeper team' of the West Coast Conference.
 
BALANCED ATTACK
• Four Pilots are averaging double figures this season. Last year, the Pilots also had four players finish the season averaging double figures.
• This year's team has much more depth as the Pilots were playing a primarily seven-man rotation by season's end.
• Ten players are averaging double-digit minutes per game this season thus far.

ROSTER NOTES
• Chris Austin (leg) and Bol Dengdit are redshirting the 2022-23 season.
• Mike Meadows has missed the last six games due to injury.
• Vukasin Masic had an NCAA immediate eligibility waiver denied and will sit out the 2022-23 season.
• Sixth-year senior Jack Perry returns after suffering a season-ending knee injury last season against Portland State after the Pilots started 5-1.

 THE NEWCOMERS
• Coach Legans brought in a talented recruiting class including four transfers and five freshmen. The additions of 6-foot-10 grad transfer Joey St. Pierre (Milwaukee), 6-foot-9 former WAC Freshman of the Year Wyatt Lowell (Utah Valley/BYU/Snow JC) gives the Pilots more size this season.
• Mississippi State transfer Alden Applewhite is good sized wing with a versatile skill set, while Maine transfer Vukasin Masic provides scoring and distributing ability as a combo guard.
• Freshman guard Juanse Gorosito is an elite shooter, while freshman Bol Dengdit has good size and skill for a wing at 6-11.

RECORD-BREAKING ROBERTSON
• Robertson broke the Pilot record for both free throws made and attempted in a game on Nov. 11 against Portland State. He made 22-of-24 overall to break the previous marks held by Jim Winters (20-of-23) which dated back to a matchup with Seattle U on Feb. 12, 1956.
• He ranks third among Portland's career leader in free throw percentage (.873) and ranked second in the WCC and 22nd in the nation in free throw percentage (.883) last year including a streak of 34 consecutive free throws made.
• Robertson has been clutch in the second half this year for UP, scoring 111 of his 179 total points (62 percent) after the break, including 30 of his career-high 32 points against PSU on Nov. 11.
• The Melbourne, Australia native is also just 19 points shy of 1,000 for his career.
• Last season, he posted a remarkable 31-point, 11-rebound, 11-assist triple-double in a Feb. 12 win over LMU to join teammate Mike Meadows as the only players in program history to record a triple-double – Meadows did so against Willamette. Only 26 players in the nation last season had triple-doubles with UP and Western Kentucky the only teams with more than one player on the list.
• Robertson became the only NCAA Division I player in the last 25 years to log a 30-point triple-double, make 5-plus threes without a miss (5-for-5) and drill 10-plus free throws without a miss (10-for-10) in his remarkable performance against LMU. No other player has achieved all three of those marks throughout an entire career, but Robertson accomplished it a single game.
• He was one of only five players in the nation last year to average at least 15.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. The others were Alondes Williams (Wake Forest), Tosan Evbuomwan (Princeton), Ahsan Asadullah (Lipscomb) and Baylor Scheierman (South Dakota State).
• Robertson was also the only player to rank top 10 in the WCC in points (7th), rebounds (10th) and assists (4th) last season.
 
THE SCHEDULE
• The team continues a challenging non-league schedule with road contests at Oregon and UC Riverside following the homestand before beginning WCC play.
• Portland will not host BYU or visit Santa Clara as part of the WCC's unbalanced league schedule.
• The Pilots are the only team nationally that played Gonzaga and North Carolina, the preseason No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country.
 
PILOTS VERSUS RANKED OPPONENTS
• The Pilots dropped to 7-75 all-time against opponents ranked in the AP Poll and 0-10 against team's ranked No. 1 after narrow losses to North Carolina and Michigan State at PKI.
• Portland has lost 19 consecutive games to ranked opposition with the last win an 82-73 defeat of No. 18 Gonzaga on Jan. 9, 2014 at the Chiles Center.
 
PILOTS SIGN TWO DURING EARLY NLI PERIOD
• Portland announced the signings of G Vince Delano and F Cyprian Hyde to National Letters of Intent this week.
• Delano (6-2, 170) currently attends Arizona Compass Prep, one of the top basketball prep schools in the country. Last season he competed for Phoenix Prep in the elite prep basketball circuit, The Grind Session. He broke the circuit record for most three-pointers in a game (10) and helped lead Phoenix Prep to the Grind Session Final Four.
• Hyde (6-10, 220) provides versatility from the post position with his size and athleticism. An elite shot blocker with three-point shooting range, Hyde was named the Vista High School Defensive Player of the Year last season. He finished the season averaging 16.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.
 
HEAD COACH SHANTAY LEGANS
• Legans was hired in March of 2021 after he led Eastern Washington to the 2021 NCAA Tournament. In his four years as head coach at EWU, Legans compiled the school's best overall (.605) and conference (.726) win percentages.
• Legans finished third or better in the Big Sky Conference all four seasons, led the Eagles to the 2020 regular season crown and 2021 tournament title.
• His teams improve each year as the season progresses best illustrated by his 47-18 (.723) record in games played after Feb. 1 in five years as a head coach.
• All three assistant coaches are back this year for the Pilots. Bobby Suarez and T.J. Lipold came with Legans from Eastern Washington, while Jeremy Pope came on board after coaching most recently at Arizona Compass Prep.
• His staff is among the nation's youngest as all three assistants are under 35.
 
ABOUT NORTH DAKOTA STATE
• The Bison are a member of the Summit League and have played a challenging non-league schedule that includes road losses to Arkansas, Kansas, Indiana State, New Mexico and Eastern Washington. Other defeats have come against Pacific, Northern Colorado and Jacksonville State.
• NDSU has three players averaging double figures led by Grant Nelson (13.6) and Andrew Morgan (12.2).
• Head coach David Richman is in his ninth season and guided the Bison to the 2019 NCAA Tournament and qualified for the 2020 tournament before it was cancelled due to COVID. NDSU finished last season 23-10 and returns five lettermen from that squad.
• This is the first meeting between the Pilots and the Bison.

ABOUT NEW ORLEANS
• The Privateers (2-5) are a member of the Southland Conference and have recorded wins over St. Francis (Ill.) and IUPUI. UNO dropped back-to-back heartbreakers in the closing seconds to both Denver (77-76) and Louisiana (78-77) last week.
• New Orleans also has losses to Butler, LSU and the Citadel.
• Jordan Johnson leads three Privateers averaging double figures at 15.8 per game, while Pacific transfer Khaleb Wilson-Rouse adds 13.1.
• Head coach Mark Slessinger is in his 12th year at the helm and guided UNO to an 18-14 record last year.
• Portland won the lone meeting between the two schools last season in the opening round of The Basketball Classic by a 94-73 margin at Chiles Center.
  Get Your Tickets Now!
Secure your spot now for any upcoming Portland Pilots ticketed home event by visiting PortlandPilots.com/Tickets. For group and fan experience package information, email pilotsboxoffice@up.edu.

Donate Today
Fans interested in making a contribution to the Pilot Athletic Fund can do so by clicking here. Your gift directly helps our nearly 300 student-athletes as they strive to make a difference in our community and achieve academic and athletic excellence. Thank you for support of Pilot Athletics!

Follow Along With the Action
Get the latest news and information about your favorite University of Portland athletic programs by visiting PortlandPilots.com. You can also follow along for the most dynamic coverage and team-centric content by following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook, and following us on Instagram.