Portland Pilots (15-12, 5-6 WCC) vs. Pepperdine Waves (7-21, 1-12 WCC)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022
Time: 5 p.m.
Place: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center
Video: WCC Network
Radio: 910 ESPN Portland (Stream Only)
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats
Tickets: PortlandPilots.com/Tickets

THIS WEEK
• Portland hosts the Pepperdine Waves on Saturday at 5 p.m. for Senior Night. The program will recognize Jack Perry, Miles Turner, Wyatt Watson and manager Andrew Bitrous prior to tip-off. Halftime will feature a paper airplane toss with the winner receiving a travel voucher courtesy of AAA of Oregon.
• Tickets are available by visiting PortlandPilots.com/Tickets and lower level tickets are available for just $5.
• The game will be aired on the WCC network with Ann Schatz and Jen Mountain on the call.
• All 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.
• Follow @PortlandMBB on Twitter for in-game updates.

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland has won four straight after a dominant 92-60 win against San Diego on Thursday. The Pilots shot a season-high 63 percent from the field as all five starters reached double figures led by 26 points from Chris Austin.
• The 32-point win margin is the largest over a WCC opponent since a 79-39 decision against LMU on Jan. 21, 2010. • Portland's five league victories are the program's most since the 2015-16 squad picked up six wins and the 15 overall wins are the most since the 2014-15 Pilots won 17.
• Tyler Robertson 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 earlier this season against Willamette University. Only 17 players in the nation this season have triple-doubles.
• Robertson is 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). No other player has achieved all of those marks in an entire career, let alone all in one game.
• Kristian Sjolund went for career highs of 23 points and 18 rebounds in a Feb. 8 win at San Francisco and is averaging 17.0 points and 7.8 rebounds over the last four games.
• Chika Nduka is averaging 10.0 points and 6.5 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.
• Moses Wood logged his fourth double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds against San Diego.
• Robertson ranks top 10 in the WCC in scoring (6th), rebounds (9th) and assists (4th). Eli Scott (LMU) is the only other player to rank Top 10 in all three categories.
• Portland ranks second in the nation in free throw percentage (.804) and lead the country in free throws made (452). Robertson leads the league and ranks fifth in the nation in free throw percentage (.925) and has made 31 consecutive free throws entering tonight's contest.
• 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 PEPPERDINE
• The Waves played No. 1 Gonzaga tough on Wednesday, trailing by single digits midway through the second half before the Bulldogs pulled away for an 86-66 win.
• Pepperdine posted notable non-conference wins over UC Davis, San Jose State and SEMO and logged their lone conference win against Pacific.
• Three of the top four scorers for the Waves are true freshmen.
• Head coach Lorenzo Romar returned for his second head coaching stint at Pepperdine prior to the 2018-19 season after a 15-year run at the helm of Washington.
 
SCHEDULE SHUFFLE
• Portland's rescheduled game against Santa Clara set for Monday, Feb. 14 was called a non-contest by the WCC office and was not be played.
• The team's home game versus BYU which was postponed has also been called a non-contest and will not be rescheduled.
• 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.

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.
 
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.
 
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, Delaware 41).
 
WCC PROJECTED TO GET FOUR NCAA BIDS
• Four WCC teams are ranked in the Top 55 of the latest NCAA Net Rankings: No. 1 Gonzaga, No. 19 Saint Mary's, No. 33 San Francisco and No. 51 BYU.
• KenPom.com has those four teams all in the top 53, while ESPN's Joe Lunardi projects the WCC to have three NCAA Tournament representatives, with BYU one of the first teams out.
 
PILOTS TO CO-HOST & COMPETE IN PHIL KNIGHT INVITATIONAL NEXT YEAR
• Portland will co-host and participate in one of college basketball's biggest events when the Phil Knight Invitational (PKI) and Phil Knight Legacy come to the Rose City over the 2022 Thanksgiving weekend. Born out of the success of the PK80 events five years ago, the weekend will feature 24 total teams competing in four different brackets.
• Portland will be in the PKI bracket along with Alabama, Iowa State, Michigan State, North Carolina, Oregon, UConn and Villanova.
• The Chiles Center at University of Portland, Rose Quarter's Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum will host the games with the ESPN family of networks airin all games.

VACCINATION & TESTING INFORMATION FOR HOME GAMES
We are thrilled to welcome fans back to the Chiles Center for Portland Pilots basketball games. 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.