Portland Pilots (5-4, 0-0 WCC) vs. North Dakota State Bison (5-4, 0-0 Summit League)
Date: Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023
Time: 5 p.m. (PT)
Place: Fargo, N.D.
Arena: Scheels Center
Video: Summit League TV
Radio: 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT)
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats

Portland Pilots (5-4, 0-0 WCC) vs. North Dakota Fighting Hawks (6-3, 0-0 Summit League)
Date: Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023
Time: 11 a.m. (PT)
Place: Grand Forks, N.D.
Arena: Betty Engelstad Sioux Center
Video: Summit League TV
Radio: 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT)
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats

THIS WEEK
• Portland begins a six-game road trip to close the non-conference schedule this week by visiting the North Dakota State Bison and North Dakota Fighting Hawks.
• The Pilots and Bison meet Thursday at 5 p.m. (PT) and then Portland takes on the Fighting Hawks Saturday at 11 a.m. (PT).


GAME COVERAGE
• Both games will be streamed on the Summit League Network.
• Radio for all Portland men's basketball games is on 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT) with Jason Swygard and Joel Sobotka on the call. Pre-game coverage begins 30 minutes prior to tip-off and ends with a 30-minute post-game show.
• Live coverage links for Portland games can be found at PortlandPilots.com.
• Follow @PortlandMBB on Twitter and Instagram for the latest team content.
 
LAST GAME: PORTLAND STATE 75, PILOTS 74 (Nov. 28 at Viking Pavilion)
• Ismail Habib's layup with 0.8 seconds left capped a Portland State comeback victory over the Pilots despite leading for just 36 seconds in the second half.
• Vukasin Masic hit a runner in the lane with 6.6 seconds left to give UP the lead before Habib went coast-to-coast for the win.
• Tyler Robertson led the Pilots with 28 points, five rebounds and four assists, while  Alimamy Koroma tacked on a double-double off the bench with 24 points and 12 rebounds, while Masic chipped in with 12 points.
• Portland out-rebounded Portland State 46-39, including 14 offensive rebounds, but the Vikings had 17 offensive boards and 22 second chance points.

LAST GAME: AIR FORCE 80, PILOTS 58 (Dec. 3 at Chiles Center)
• Air Force used a 19-2 run midway through the second half to pull away in an 80-58 victory over the Portland Pilots Sunday at the Chiles Center. Chris Austin led three Pilots in double figures with 15 points.
• Tyler Robertson added 14 points and five assists, while Vukasin Masic chipped in 11 points for the Pilots. Freshman Tyler Harris added nine points, nine rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.
• The Portland defense forced 13 Air Force turnovers, but the Pilots committed 18 turnovers which led to a 24-14 edge for the Falcons in points off takeaways.
• Portland trailed 37-33 at the half but took a brief lead out of intermission with five straight points. Portland then went scoreless for nearly five minutes before Alimamy Koroma converted at the rim to make it a 58-50 deficit with 6:49 remaining. Air Force drilled three consecutive three pointers to put the game out of reach.

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 Tyler Robertson, a two-time All-West Coast Conference guard. Robertson led the team in scoring (15.6), assists (5.3) and was second in rebounds (5.5) last year.
• 2023 All-WCC Freshman Team guard Juanse Gorosito is back after setting the UP freshman record for three-pointers made (63).
• 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 has integrated 2022-23 redshirts Vukasin Masic (Maine transfer) and freshmen Bol Dengdit to the rotation. Masic averaged 9.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game during the 2021-22 season, while Dengdit competed with the NBA Academy in Australia and the Australian National Team.
• An intriguing group of newcomers includes transfers Alimamy Koroma (Cal Poly), Thomas Oosterbroek (Miami), Noah Jordan (West Virginia State) and Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams (Lamar).
• Koroma  averaged 10.7 points and 4.6 rebounds in four years with the Mustangs, twice garnering All-Big West recognition.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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).
 
ROBERTSON PILES UP THE STATS
• Tyler Robertson has scored at least 12 points in each of the first nine games, including a season-high 28 points at Portland State.
• Robertson leads the WCC in total assists (52), ranks second in assists per game (5.2) and third in scoring (17.0) and assist/turnover ratio (2.0).
• Last season, Robertson 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 entered the 2023-24 season ranked on the UP career charts in assists per game (4.9, 5th), scoring average (15.4, 11th), free throw percentage (.823, 11th), assists (312, 13th) and free throws made (284, t-15th).
• Robertson scored his 1,000th career point as a Pilot in the season opener versus Long Beach State.

HARRIS CONTINUES TORRID START
• Tyler Harris is the national leader among freshmen in rebounds per game (9.0) and ninth in blocked shots (1.5).
• He leads the WCC in blocked shots and ranks third in rebounding.
• Tyler Harris' double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds in 36 minutes of action against LBSU made him the first freshman in UP history to debut with a double-double. He also is the first true freshman to start a season-opener for Shantay Legans in his seven seasons as a head coach.
• Harris also recorded double-doubles against UC Riverside (22 pts, 12 rebs) and Wyoming (11 pts, 10 rebs).
• The red-hot start to the season has already earned him two WCC Freshman of the Week awards, while he is shooting 57 percent from the field and 54 percent from three-point range.

AUSTIN BACK IN ACTION
• Chris Austin made his much-anticipated return to action nearly 19 months after suffering a broken leg in Portland's College Basketball Classic loss to Southern Utah on March 26, 2022. He played 24 minutes against Long Beach and recently went for a season high 17 points versus Air Force.
• The 6-4 guard has found his stride the last two games, finishing with 17 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals in Friday's win vs. Wyoming and then a team-high 15 points against Air Force.

KOROMA HEATS UP
• Alimamy Koroma went for 23 points against Willamette on Nov. 25 before erupting for 24 points and 12 rebounds at Portland State on Nov. 28.
• Koroma followed with 13 points and two blocked shots in a win over Wyoming.
• A grad transfer from Cal Poly, 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.

RECORD DEBUTS FOR MASIC
• Vukasin Masic's 25 points in the season-opening win versus Long Beach State were the most ever scored by a Portland player in their debut.
• Masic, who was denied an immediate eligibility waiver last year by the NCAA after transferring from Maine, made the most of his return by scoring 22 second half points to lift Portland to the win.

GETTING OFFENSIVE
• The Pilots are third in the WCC in scoring offense (79.0), assists per game (16.2) and effective field goal percentage (.547).
• The team also is shooting 72.5 percent from the free throw line, which has been a consistent strength under Legans. His first UP team set a new school single-season record (.791) and last year's squad is No. 4 all-time (.745).

SETTING PROGRAM RECORDS
• In his first two seasons leading the Pilots, head coach Shantay Legans already began 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 set 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, while Robertson posted a 31-point, 11-rebound, 11-assist triple-double in a win over LMU. He added another triple-double last year with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists against Multnomah.
 
ABOUT NORTH DAKOTA STATE
• The Bison (5-4) defeated San Jose State (83-78) in overtime on Monday in Fargo.NDSU also has Division I wins against Western Michigan and at Montana.
• Boden Skunberg (15.2) and Damari Wheeler-Thomas (13.7) lead the Bison in scoring.
• Head coach David Richman is entering his 10th year at the helm and has led NDSU to three NCAA Tournament berths and five consecutive Summit League Tournament championship games.

PORTLAND-NDSU SERIES DETAILS
Series Information: NDSU leads 1-0
H / A / N: 0-1 / 0-0 / 0-0
Last Meeting: NDSU 67, Pilots 62 (Dec. 5, 2022 at Portland)

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.
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