The Pilots and the Beach meet in the late game of a doubleheader at Chiles Center that begins with the Pilot women versus San Diego State at 5 p.m.
PORTLAND, Ore. – Basketball season is back on The Bluff with a thrilling Portland women's and men's doubleheader to tip things off on Monday night. The Pilot women host San Diego State at 5 p.m., followed by the men versus Long Beach State at 7:30 p.m. It is the first of three home games for the men's hoops team next week at Chiles Center. Here are all of the details.
Portland Pilots (0-0, 0-0 WCC) vs. Long Beach State 'The Beach' (0-0, 0-0 Big West)
Date: Monday, Nov. 6, 2023
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Place: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center
Video: ESPN+
Radio: 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT)
Live Coverage Links: Video I
Audio I
Stats
Tickets: PortlandPilots.com/Tickets
Portland Pilots (0-0, 0-0 WCC) vs. Lewis & Clark Pioneers (0-0, 0-0 NWC)
Date: Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023
Time: 6:00 PM
Place: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center
Video: ESPN+
Radio: 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT)
Live Coverage Links: Video I
Audio I
Stats
Tickets: PortlandPilots.com/Tickets
Portland Pilots (0-0, 0-0 WCC) vs. UC Riverside Highlanders (0-0, 0-0 Big West)
Date: Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023
Time: 2 p.m.
Place: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center
TV: Portland's CW (KRCW)
Radio: 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT)
Live Coverage Links: Video I
Audio I
Stats
Tickets: PortlandPilots.com/Tickets
THIS WEEK
• The Pilots open the 2023-24 regular season with a Chiles Center doubleheader on Monday, Nov. 6. The Portland women host San Diego State at 5 p.m. followed by the men versus Long Beach State at 7:30 p.m. Action continues for the men on Wednesday against Lewis & Clark at 6 p.m., before the week concludes on Sunday, Nov. 12 against UC Riverside at 2 p.m.
• Season tickets, mini packages and single-game tickets can be found online at
PortlandPilots.com/Tickets.
GAME COVERAGE
• All three games will be aired live on ESPN+, with Sunday's game against Riverside also televised locally on Portland's CW (KRCW). Ann Schatz will be on play-by-play for Long Beach State and Riverside, while Bryan Sleik has the call against Lewis & Clark. Jennifer Mountain will provide analysis for all Portland men's and women's broadcasts this season.
• Radio coverage for all Portland men's basketball games is on 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT) with Jason Swygard and Joel Sobotka on the call. The pre-game show begins 30 minutes prior to tip-off and coverage concludes with a post-game featuring stats, highlights and interviews.
• Live coverage links for Portland games can be found at
PortlandPilots.com.
• Follow @PortlandMBB on Twitter and Instagram for the latest team content.
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Head Coach Shantay Legans and the Pilots bring back several key players from last year's team that finished 14-19 overall, including two-time All-West Coast Conference guard,
Tyler Robertson. Robertson led the team in scoring (15.6), assists (5.3) and was second in rebounds (5.5) last year. He and Jalen Pickett (Penn State) were the only Division I players to average at least 15 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. Robertson also led the WCC in assists, assists per game and free throws made (163). He enters the 2023-24 season ranked on the UP career charts in assists per game (4.9, 5th), scoring (15.4, 11th), free throw percentage (.823, 11th), assists (312, 13th) and free throws made (284, t-15th).
• 2023 All-WCC Freshman Team guard
Juanse Gorosito is back after setting the UP freshman record for three-pointers made (63).
• Junior F
Vasilijie Vucinic has started 17 games over the last two seasons for the Pilots and averaged 5.0 points and 2.8 rebounds last year.
• The Pilots will also welcome back
Chris Austin, who averaged 14.4 points for the Pilots two seasons ago Austin took a medical redshirt this past year after breaking his leg in the final game of the 2021-22 season.
• Portland will also integrate 2022-23 redshirts
Vukasin Masic (Maine transfer) and freshmen
Bol Dengdit, Drew Stack and
Andrew Younan to the active roster. Masic averaged 9.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game during the 2021-22 season. Dengdit competed at the NBA Academy in Australia and has been a member of the Australian National Team system.
• An intriguing group of newcomers includes transfers Alimamy Koroma (Cal Poly), Thomas Oosterbroek (Miami), Noah Jordan (West Virginia State) and Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams (Lamar), as well as freshmen Tyler Harris, Vincent Delano, Cyprian Hyde, Kelson Gebbers and Jude Harris.
•
Alimamy Koroma started 75 games in his four years with the Mustangs and averaged 10.7 points and 4.6 rebounds throughout this career. He joins a short list of 17 players entering the 2023-24 season with career totals of at least 1,100 points, 500 rebounds and 90 blocked shots. Koroma scored 1,157 total points and grabbed 501 rebounds, while shooting 50 percent from the field and 71 percent at the free throw line. He twice garnered All-Big West honorable mention recognition.
•
Thomas Oosterbroek went to the Elite Eight and the Final Four with Miami in his first two years of college hoops. He redshirted last season and has three years of eligibility remaining.
•
Noah Jordan is a grad transfer that helped Division II WVSU win 44 total games and advance to the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament. He averaged 11.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, while shooting 52 percent overall and 40 percent from three-point range.
•
Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams was an impact player as a true freshman for Lamar last season. He made 24 starts and averaged 6.9 points and a team-high 7.1 rebounds per game. Yamanouchi-Williams was second on the roster with 22 blocked shots, shot 41 percent from the field, 75 percent at the free throw line and recorded six double-doubles.
• Portland also welcomes four freshmen to the 2023-24 roster. G
Tyler Harris (Hayward, Calif.) led Granada HS to the 2023 CIF NorCal Division I championship and a runner-up finish at the State Division I Boys Championship with a 17-point and 10-rebound effort in the title game loss to Notre Dame. G
Vincent Delano (Phoenix, Ariz.) played for nationally recognized Arizona Compass Prep as a senior. F
Cyprian Hyde (Oceanside, Calif.) Earned All-North County Coastal First Team honors as a senior after leading the team to the second round of the 2023 CIF San Diego Section Division II Championships. G
Jude Harris (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) was a First Team All-Camino Real League in 2023 after averaging 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists per game.
• The Pilots are represented by eight different countries, tied for the most in the nation with Arizona and Hawaii. Portland players hail from the United States (10), Australia (2), Argentina (1), Japan (1), Montenegro (1), Netherlands (1), Serbia (1) and Sierra Leone (1).
• Portland was picked sixth in the
WCC Preseason Coaches' Poll, while Tyler Robertson was named to the 10-player WCC Preseason Team.
SETTING PROGRAM RECORDS
• In his two seasons leading the Pilots, head coach Shantay Legans is already rewriting the program record books.
• The Pilots have scored the most single-season points in school history each of the last two years. Portland scored 2,524 points in his inaugural 2021-22 season and then broke that record with 2,566 total points last year.
• The 2021-22 team also established a new free throw percentage record (.791), while last year's 317 three-pointers made shattered the previous record of 289 (2016-17).
• The Pilots set a single game scoring record in a 122-78 victory over Willamette on Nov. 11, 2021, 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.
• Individually, Robertson broke the school record for free throws made when he converted 22-of-24 against Portland State on Nov. 11, 2022, eclipsing a record held by Jim Winters (20-of-23) which dated back to a matchup with Seattle U on Feb. 12, 1956. He also set the program single-game assists record with 15 against New Orleans on Dec. 10, 2022.
• Mike Meadows and Robertson also became the first Pilots to ever record triple-doubles. Meadows had one against Willamette on Nov. 11, 2021, while Robertson posted a remarkable 31-point, 11-rebound, 11-assist triple-double in a Feb. 12, 2022 win over LMU. He added another triple-double last season with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists against Multnomah on Nov. 30.
THE SCHEDULE
• The team will play a challenging non-league schedule highlighted by the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii on Dec. 21-24. The Pilots take on host Hawai'i to open the tournament and then will face either Georgia Tech or UMass next. The opposite side of the bracket features TCU, Nevada, Temple and Old Dominion.
• Other notable non-league opponents include 2023 NCAA Tournament participant Grand Canyon on Saturday, Dec. 16 in Phoenix, home games against Wyoming and Air Force, and road contests against Nevada, Portland State and the North Dakota schools.
• The WCC returns to full round robin schedule this season as all teams will play each other home and home. The Pilots open league play at the Chiles Center against Pacific on Jan. 6.
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 had a stellar first year on The Bluff leading the Pilots to 19 wins, the most for a first-year coach in program history.
• Portland gained national acclaim early last year by defeating Villanova and taking North Carolina and Michigan State down to the wire in games at the Phil Knight Invitational, but some mid-year injuries had an impact as the team finished 14-19 overall.
WE'RE RIVERBOAT PILOTS, NOT AIRPLANE PILOTS!
• Though the original nickname that students chose in a 1935 contest resulted in "Chinooks" (after the Native American tribe that inhabited the area, and the largest of the salmon species in the Willamette River), the "Pilots" was chosen by presidential fiat. From that day forward, The Bluff had a new mascot, and he was Wally Pilot.
• When the University changed its name from Columbia University (its earliest sports teams were known as the Cliff dwellers or the Columbias), to the University of Portland in 1935, the name and University had already begun to adapt a more "nautical motif," suitable for a campus site overlooking the Willamette River. At the same time, the Pilot athletic teams became associated with Wally (a stylized riverboat pilot), and the pilot's wheel became the logical logo.
TV SCHEDULE
• Portland is scheduled to have a minimum of five nationally-televised games and a total of 10 regular season games on TV this season.
• The Diamond Head Classic will be aired on the ESPN family of networks, Portland's game at Gonzaga is set for CBS Sports Network, while the game versus Grand Canyon is TBA. Portland's game at home versus Gonzaga will be on ROOT Sports Northwest, while home games against UC Riverside (Nov. 12), Air Force (Dec. 3), Pacific (Jan. 6) and Santa Clara (Feb. 29) will air locally on Portland's CW (KRCW).
ABOUT LONG BEACH STATE
• The Beach is a member of the Big West Conference and was picked to finish second the league's Preseason Coaches Poll.
• The squad returns all five starters from last year, as AJ George, Jadon Jones, Aboubacar Traore, Lassina Traore and Marcus Tsohonis are all back. LBSU is one of the nation's most experienced teams with over 75 percent of their scoring and rebounding returning from a season ago.
• Lassina Traore was selected as First Team All-Big West and the league's Newcomer of the Year after
finishing the season with 17 double-doubles and averaging 12.9 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. Tsohonis, a Portland native from Jefferson High School, led the team at 14.1 points per game.
• LBSU finished the 2022-23 season with a 17-16 overall record and 11-9 mark in league play.
• Head coach Dan Monson, who started his head coaching career at Gonzaga, is entering his 17th season at The Beach and is the program's winningest coach.
PORTLAND-RIVERSIDE SERIES HISTORY
Series: Portland leads 5-0
H / A / N: 3-0 / 2-0 / 0-0
Streak: Portland W5
Last 10 / 5: NA / 5-0
Last: Pilots 99, Beach 95 (Dec. 3, 2005 at UP)
ABOUT LEWIS & CLARK
• The Pioneers are a member of the NCAA Division III Northwest Conference.
• Lewis & Clark adds two freshmen and six transfers to the 10 returning Pioneers from last year's 13-12 team.
• Head coach Tim McCrory is entering his sixth year at the helm.
PORTLAND-LEWIS & CLARK SERIES HISTORY
Series: Portland leads 24-1
H / A / N: 14-0 / 4-1 / 6-0
Streak: Portland W16
Last 10 / 5: 10-0 / 5-0
Last: Pilots 89, Pioneers 62 (Nov. 7, 2022 at UP)
ABOUT UC RIVERSIDE
• The Highlanders open the season Tuesday hosting UC Merced before traveling to Utah on Friday.
• UC Riverside was picked seventh in the Big Sky Conference Preseason Coaches Poll.
• The team finished the 2022-23 season with a 22-12 overall record and 14-6 mark in league play.
• The Highlanders return seven lettermen from last year's team including starters Kyle Owens (10 ppg) and Wil Tattersall (4.7 ppg).
• Head coach Mike Magpayo is the reigning Big West Conference Coach of the Year and enters his fourth full season at the helm.
PORTLAND-UC RIVERSIDE SERIES HISTORY
Overall: Portland leads 5-1
H / A / N: 3-0 / 2-1 / 0-0
Streak: UC Riverside W1
Last 10 / 5: NA / 4-1
Last: Highlanders 76, Pilots 65 (Dec. 22, 2022 at Riverside)
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