Portland Pilots (12-12, 3-6 WCC) vs. Loyola Marymount Lions (9-13, 2-8 WCC)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022
Time: 7 p.m.
Place: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center
TV: ROOT Sports NW/Bally West/NBC Sports California
Video: WCC Network (out of region)
Radio: 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT)
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats
Tickets: PortlandPilots.com/Tickets

THIS WEEK
• Portland carries some momentum into a four-game homestand beginning on Saturday against the Loyola Marymount Lions at 7 p.m. in a game televised live on ROOT Sports Northwest. Ann Schatz and Jennifer Mountain will be on the broadcast call.
• The Pilots will then host Bushnell U. on Tuesday at 5 p.m., before closing out the home schedule next Thursday vs. San Diego and Saturday vs. Pepperdine.
• Tickets are available by visiting PortlandPilots.com/Tickets and are reduced to as low as $5 per ticket for each of the remaining home games.
• All Pilot men's basketball games are on the radio on 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT) with Jason Swygard calling the action. The program begins 30 minutes prior to tip-off and the concludes with a full post-game show.
• Follow @PortlandMBB on Twitter for in-game updates.

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland picked up a marquee road win at San Francisco on Tuesday (69-68). Kristian Sjolund went for career highs of 23 points and 18 rebounds as the Pilots were without starting PG Mike Meadows and key reserve Matija Svetozarovic. Moses Wood added 18 points and eight rebounds, while Tyler Robertson finished with 10 points.
• The win took the sting out of a close home loss to the Dons three nights earlier. In a game that featured nine ties and 13 lead changes, Portland led for nearly 27 minutes before dropping a 74-71 heartbreaker. Chris Austin scored a game-high 25 points and Tyler Robertson filled the stat sheet with 19 points, five rebounds and five assists. Portland two chances to tie in the final 10 seconds, but came up short as USF made plays late to secure the win.
• Portland's 12 overall wins match the program's most since 2016, while the nine non-league wins are the most since the 2010-11 team went 13-3 out of conference.
• Portland picked up an 82-63 win at Pepperdine on Jan. 15 which marked the program's first WCC road win since Jan. 20, 2018 and the 19-point margin was also the largest league road win since Feb. 7, 2015 vs. Santa Clara (74-54).
• Chika Nduka is averaging 10.2 points and 6.6 rebounds during WCC play. Among all true freshmen during league games, he trails only Gonzaga's Chet Holmgren and BYU's Fousseyni Traore in scoring and rebounds.
• Tyler Robertson ranks top 10 in the WCC in scoring (9th), rebounds (10th) and assists (9th). Eli Scott (LMU) is the only other player to rank Top 10 in all three categories.
• Portland and Gonzaga are the only WCC programs with five players averaging double figures during league play.
• Portland ranks third in the nation in free throw percentage (.803) and are eighth in free throws made (395). Meadows leads the league and ranks 14th in the nation in FT percentage (.908), while Robertson is second in the conference and 16th nationally (.906). Meadows also leads the WCC in minutes per game (36.4) and Robertson is second (36.0) as both rank Top 30 nationally.
• Meadows leads the WCC in minutes per game (36.4) and Robertson is second (35.8). They both rank Top 30 nationally for minutes per game as well.
• Meadows recorded the first triple-double in program history with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists against Willamette on Nov. 11. 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.
• The Pilots broke the program's single game three-pointers made record with 18 against VMI on Dec. 3.
• 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 school's best overall (.605) and conference (.726) win percentages.
• Portland returns two 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 returners accounted for less than one percent of the scoring production last season, which is second lowest nationally.
• Portland has a total of seven international players on the roster.
• The Pilots signed NBA Academy and Australian National Teamer Bol Dengdit to a NLI and he will join the program for the 2021-22 season.
• 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 12 Pilot games will be aired on either Portland's CW, ROOT Sports Northwest or Stadium.
 
ABOUT LOYOLA MARYMOUNT
• The Lions were picked fourth in the WCC Preseason Poll, but have lost six straight games entering tonight's contest.
• LMU logged notable non-conference wins against SMU, Long Beach State and Tulsa.
• All-WCC First Team F Eli Scott ranks in the top 10 in the WCC in points, rebounds and assists.
• The Lions defeated the Pilots by a 70-58 margin on Jan. 17 as Portland was missing Moses Wood for the game with an injury.
• Head coach Stan Johnson took over LMU prior to the 2020-21 season after a stint as an assistant at Marquette.
 
SCHEDULE SHUFFLE
• Portland's rescheduled game against Santa Clara set for Monday, Feb. 14 was called a no-contest by the WCC office on Thursday and will not be played. Portland other outstanding game was another home game vs. BYU which was also called a no-contest. The Pilots have added a Tuesday game vs. Bushnell University to the schedule with a 5 p.m. tip.
• Portland moved its home game against San Francisco from Jan. 21 to Saturday, Feb. 5. The Pilots were previously scheduled to play at USF on that night, but the Dons agreed to move that game to Tuesday, Feb. 8 in San Francisco.
 
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 was off for 22 more days due to the Holiday Break and the first three games of the league season being postponed due to COVID issues.
• The 41 days between home games (Dec. 22 - Jan. 27) matches the third largest gap this season among all teams in the nation (Cal Poly 59 days, Manhattan 42, Deleware 41).
• Portland will close the season with five games in 12 days beginning Tuesday vs. Bushnell University.

EXPERIENCED 'YOUTH'
• Portland's roster features just one upperclassman in terms of eligibility remaining: graduate transfer Jack Perry, who suffered a season ending injury vs. Portland State on Nov. 23.
• 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 PROJECTED TO GET FOUR NCAA BIDS
• The WCC has four teams ranked in the Top 50 of the latest NCAA Net Rankings: No. 1 Gonzaga, No. 21 Saint Mary's, No. 38 San Francisco and No. 50 BYU.
• KenPom.com has those four teams all in the top 50, while ESPN's Joe Lunardi projects the WCC to have four NCAA Tournament representatives, which would be a league record.
 
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.