2022 The Basketball Classic presented by ERACISM
Portland Pilots (19-4, 7-7 WCC) at Southern Utah Thunderbirds (22-11, 14-6 Big Sky)
Date: Saturday, March 26, 2022
Time: 3 PM (PT)
City: Cedar City, Utah
Arena: America First Event Center
TV: ESPN+
Radio: 1080 The Fan (KFXX)
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats

THIS WEEK
• Portland visits the Southern Utah University Thunderbirds in the quarterfinals of The Basketball Classic presented by ERACISM. Tip-off is scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. (PT) at the America First Event Center in Cedar City, Utah.
• The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and radio coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. on 1080 The Fan (KFXX) with Jason Swygard on the call.
• The Pilots earned the program's first postseason win in NCAA history after a dominant 94-73 home victory over New Orleans in the tournament's opening round last Saturday. The winner of Portland-Southern Utah will travel to Fresno State for the semifinals on Monday. The other Monday semifinal features South Alabama hosting Coastal Carolina. All games are being held on the campus of one of the participating schools.

PORTLAND POSTSEASON NOTES
• This is Portland's seventh postseason appearance since transitioning to Division I prior to the 1958-59 season and first since 2015.
• Saturday's 94-73 win over New Orleans is the first postseason victory in program history. Portland is 0-2 in the NCAA Tournament and was 0-4 in the former CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT).
• The Basketball Classic is being administered by a seasoned panel of basketball coaches and administrators with deep roots in the sport that previously conducted the CIT from 2009-19.
Portland Men's Basketball Postseason History (NCAA)
1959 NCAA Tournament (1st Round Loss to DePaul – 57-56)
1996 NCAA Tournament (1st Round Loss to Villanova – 92-58)
2009 CIT (1st Round Loss to Pacific – 82-76)
2010 CIT (1st Round Loss to Northern Colorado – 81-73)
2011 CIT (1st Round Loss to Hawaii – 76-64)
2015 CIT (1st Round Loss to Sacramento State – 73-66)
2022 The Basketball Classic (1st Round Win vs. New Orleans – 94-73)

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Kristian Sjolund scored a game-high 21 points to lead four Pilots in double figures in the 94-73 win over New Orleans. Moses Wood added 19 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four blocked shots in a dominating performance. Chris Austin also had 19 points, while Tyler Robertson finished with 14 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Portland led by as much as 42 points in the second half, drilled 16-of-34 three-pointers, shot 50 percent from the field and dished out a season-high 28 assists.
• Under first-year head coach Shantay Legans, Portland's 19 wins are the most since the 2010-11 Pilots won 20 games, while the seven league wins matched the program's combined total from the previous five seasons. Portland finished with a .500 or better WCC record for the first time since the 2010-11 squad also finished 7-7. The Pilots are looking for the program's fourth 20-win season since joining Division I in 1958.
• Portland finished sixth in the WCC standings to earn a first round bye at the WCC Tournament. The Pilots then defeated San Diego 73-55 in the second round before falling to Santa Clara in the tournament quarterfinals.
• The Pilot rotation at the end of the season has consisted of all freshmen and sophomores, highlighted by All-WCC Second Team sophomore G Tyler Robertson who averages 14.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists. All-WCC honorable mention sophomore G Moses Wood finished strong and adds 14.5 points and 6.1 rebounds with a team-best 45.4 percent from three-point range. Sophomore guards Chris Austin and Mike Meadows contribute 14.2 and 10.2 points, respectively, while freshman F Chika Nduka chipped in 9.8 points and 6.6 rebounds during league play.
• Robertson posted a remarkable 31-point, 11-rebound, 11-assist triple-double in a Feb. 12 win over LMU to join teammate Meadows as the only players in program history to record a triple-double – Meadows did so earlier this season against Willamette University. Only 24 players in the nation this year have triple-doubles and Portland and Western Kentucky are the only programs with multiple players accomplishing the feat.
• 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 those marks in an entire career, let alone all in one game. He is also the only player to rank top 10 in the WCC in scoring (7th), rebounds (t-10th) and assists (3rd).
• Kristian Sjolund went for career highs of 23 points and 18 rebounds in a Feb. 8 win at San Francisco to become just the fourth Pilot since 2000 to score at least 20 points and grab 18 or more rebounds in a game. Sjolund is averaging 13.8 points and 6.9 rebounds over the last 10 games.
• Meadows notched the first triple-double in UP history with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists against Willamette 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.
• A 32-point win against San Diego on Feb. 18 was the largest margin over a WCC opponent since a 79-39 decision against LMU on Jan. 21, 2010.
• Portland ranks seventh in the nation in free throw percentage (.790) and 12th in free throws made (530). Robertson is second in the league and ranks 22nd in the nation in free throw percentage (.882). That also is fifth in Portland single-season history.
• 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 Pilots are one of the youngest teams in the nation ranking 351 out of 358 teams in KenPom.com's 'Experience' metrics.
• 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. Dengdit was recently called up to the Boomers to compete in the FIBA Asian Qualifiers in Japan.
• 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.
 
ABOUT SOUTHERN UTAH
• The Thunderbirds (22-11) finished second in the Big Sky Conference with a 14-6 record before bowing out of the league tournament in the quarterfinals to Portland State.
• Southern Utah has defeated Kent State (83-79) and UTEP (82-69) in The Basketball Classic thus far.
• Tevian Jones leads four players averaging double figures at 14.6 points per game, while John Knight III chips in 14.4 per game. Knight garnered All-Big Sky First Team honors, while Jones and Maizen Fausett were third team selections.
• Head coach Todd Simon is in his sixth year at the helm and has put together back-to-back 20-win seasons.
• Portland is 2-1 all-time against SUU, but 0-1 on the road. Shantay Legans is 7-3 as a head coach against the Thunderbirds and 1-3 at the America First Event Center.

20-SOMETHING?
• A victory on Saturday would give Portland its fourth 20-win season since joining Division I ranks for the 1958-59 season.
• The Pilots had back-to-back 20-win seasons in 2009-10 (21-11) and 2010-11 (20-12) under Eric Reveno, while Rob Chavez finished his inaugural 1994-95 season 21-8.

LEGANS' LATE SEASON TRENDS
• In five seasons as a head coach, Shantay Legans has posted a 46-17 (.730) record in games played in February and March.
• His Eastern Washington team closed the 2020 season 10-2 in the final two months before the season was cut short due to COVID.
• He was 11-2 in 2021 and has gone 9-4 in his first season on The Bluff since the beginning of February, which began with consecutive losses to Saint Mary's and San Francisco before winning six straight.

Shantay Legans Records in February & March

Year	School	February	March
2018	EWU	5-2	2-2
2019	EWU	5-4	5-1
2020	EWU	8-2	2-0
2021	EWU	7-0	4-2
2022	POR	6-3	2-1
Totals	5 years	31-11 (.738)	15-6 (.714)

Overall 46-17 (.730)

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: grad transfer Jack Perry who suffered a season ending injury vs. Portland State 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 last 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.
 
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, Rose Quarter's Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum will host the games with the ESPN family of networks airing all games.
 
WCC WELL-REPRESENTED IN POSTSEASON PLAY
• A total of six WCC teams are competing in postseason play, including three in the NCAA Tournament which ties the most in league history. Gonzaga, Saint Mary's and San Francisco are in the NCAA Tourney, while BYU and Santa Clara are in the NIT.
• The six total teams in postseason also matches the most in league history (2014).