#8 Portland Pilots (13-18, 5-11 WCC) vs. #9 San Diego Toreros (11-19, 4-12 WCC)
Date: Thursday, March 2, 2023
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Place: Las Vegas, Nev.
Arena: Orleans Arena
TV: ROOT Sports/BYUtv
Radio: 910 ESPN Portland
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland enters the 2023 University Credit Union WCC Basketball Tournament as the No. 8 seed and faces No. 9 San Diego on Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The winner advances to Friday's second round against No. 5 BYU at 6 p.m.
• Thursday's game will be televised on ROOT Sports NW, BYUtv and several other Regional Sports Networks. Radio coverage will be 910 ESPN Portland with Jason Swygard and Jennifer Mountain calling the action.
• Friday's game will also air on ROOT Sports NW, BYUtv and 910 ESPN Portland.
• Friday's winner moves on to Saturday's quarterfinals against No. 4 LMU at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
• The tournament semifinals are on Monday and championship game is set for Tuesday.
• Live coverage links for Portland games can be found at PortlandPilots.com.
• Follow @PortlandMBB on Twitter for in-game updates.
• Single session tournament tickets are still available by visiting WCCsports.com.

PILOTS AT THE WCC TOURNAMENT
• Portland is 13-34 all-time at the WCC
Championships and 6-14 in Las Vegas.
• Portland won the 1996 WCC Tournament to earn the automatic NCAA bid and were defeated in the finals of the 1995 tournament by Gonzaga, the only two finals appearances in school history.
• UP has reached the semifinals five times, most recently in 2015.
• Last season the Pilots knocked off San Diego in the second round before falling to Santa Clara in the quarterfinals.

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland enters the tournament on a three-game losing streak including a pair of close road defeats to San Francisco (92-89) and Pacific (81-77) last week.
• Moses Wood scored 28 points on 10-of-15 shooting and Tyler Robertson added 22 at USF, but the Dons drilled 16 three-pointers and won the back-and-forth affair in the closing seconds.
• Wood then went for 26 points and nine rebounds against the Tigers, but Pacific used a 16-2 edge in points off of turnovers to hold on for the win.
• Wood ranks fifth in UP history in three-point percentage (.422) and sixth free throw percentage (.828).
• Robertson ranks 20th nationally in total assists (157), 16th in the country in free throws made (147) and is one of just 26 players with a triple-double this season. He leads the WCC in assists, assists per game and free throws made.
• Robertson and Penn State's Jalen Pickett are the only players in the nation averaging at least 14.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game.
• Robertson broke the Pilot record for both free throws made and attempted in a game on Nov. 11 against Portland State. He made 22-of-24 overall to break the previous marks held by Jim Winters (20-of-23) which dated back to 1956.
• Kristian Sjolund ranks 45th nationally in effective FG percentage (.620) and 33rd in true shooting percentage (.648) according to KenPom.com (DI games only).
• Juanse Gorosito's 57 three-pointers made ranks second all-time among Portland freshmen trailing only Jared Stohl's 58 (2007-08).
• Portland leads the WCC and ranks fourth nationally free throws made (17.5) and seventh in free throws attempted (236) per game.
• The team matched a school record with 18 three-pointers made in a 100-61 victory over New Orleans on Dec. 10. Robertson eclipsed the 1,000-point mark and also broke the Pilot single-game record for assists with 15 that same game.
• Moses Wood also joined the 1,000-point club on Jan. 19 against San Diego.
• Head coach Shantay Legans was hired last March after he led Eastern Washington to the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
• The 289 three-pointers made this season matches the single-season program record (2015-16).
• The Pilots finished last season 19-15 overall and sixth in the WCC, recording their highest win total since 2010 and their fourth-highest win total since joining Division I in 1958. The 7-7 record in WCC play was also their best since 2015 and the team recorded its first ever postseason victory at the Division I level.
• Portland returns all five starters and the top seven scorers from last year's team. The Pilots return 91.1 percent of the scoring production from last year, second nationally to Virginia (91.4).
• The Pilots signed G Vince Delano and F Cyprian Hyde to National Letters of Intent in November. Delano (6-2, 170) currently attends Arizona Compass Prep, one of the top basketball prep schools in the country. Hyde (6-10, 220) finished last season averaging 16.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.
• A total of 13 former Pilots 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 2021 title as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks coaching staff and is now an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics.

WOOD, ROBERTSON, GOROSITO HONORED
• Moses Wood was named to the All-WCC Second Team as the WCC awards were announced on Wednesday. Wood was honorable mention last season.
• Tyler Robertson, a second team pick in 2022, was named honorable mention.
• Juanse Gorosito was named to the All-Freshman Team, becoming just the second Pilot in the last 15 years to do so (Marcus Shaver Jr., 2018). He is the fifth Pilot to earn the honor since the WCC began recognizing freshman in 2004 (Taishi Ito, 2007; Marcus Lewis, 2005; Dreshawn Vance, 2004).

FOUR PILOTS GARNER ACADEMIC HONORS
• Tyler Robertson (3.35, Psychology) and Chika Nduka (3.63, Business) were named to the 10-player WCC All-Academic Team, while Kristian Sjolund (3.48, Marketing) and Jack Perry (3.20, Post-Baccalaureate Business) were honorable mention honorees, the league office announced on Tuesday.
• Portland's four representatives on the WCC All-Academic Teams were the most of any team in the league, while the two first team members matches the program's most since 2010.

INJURY BUG & ROSTER NOTES
• Mike Meadows (groin) has missed 12 games this year due to injury.
• Moses Wood (foot) missed the first three WCC games and Tyler Robertson went down with an ankle injury in the first half of the league opener vs. LMU and missed the next game at BYU.
• Chris Austin started all 34 games last year and was second on the team in scoring (14.4), but broke his leg in the season finale at Southern Utah and will redshirt this season.
• Freshman F Bol Dengdit is also redshirting, while Maine transfer G Vukasin Masic had an NCAA immediate eligibility waiver denied and will sit out the 2022-23 season.
• The Pilots have had 10 different players start a game this year and used 13 different starting lineups.

WITH OR WITHOUT YOU?
• The Pilots were one of the top offensive teams in the country during non-league play averaging 79.3 points, making 10.0 three-pointers per game at a 39 percent rate and dishing out 17.1 assists per game... all top 30 nationally. With key players missing early in WCC play, those numbers dropped.
• In Division I games with Moses Wood the Pilots are averaging 80.2 points, making 9.7 threes per game and shooting 46 percent from the field and 38 percent from three-point range. In the three WCC losses without Wood Portland scored just 57.3 points, made only 4.3 three-pointers per game and shot 35.9 percent from the floor and 22.0 percent from three-point range.

BALANCED ATTACK
• Six different Pilots are averaging 7.6 or more points this season.
• Six players have scored 20 or more points in a game, while three (Meadows, Robertson, Sjolund) have scored 30 or more. Portland and Missouri are the only teams in the country with six different 20-point scorers. In the win over San Francisco Robertson, Wood and Sjolund all had 20-plus points.
• 11 players are averaging more than eight minutes per game.

SHARING THE BALL
• The Pilots had 28 assists against Multnomah which matched last year's 28 against New Orleans for the most since the Pilots recorded 30 against Texas Southern on Dec. 29, 1995. The team record is 34 versus LMU on March 5, 1988. UP has recorded 20-plus assists in eight different games this year.

RECORD-BREAKING ROBERTSON
• Tyler Robertson broke the UP single-game assists record with 15 against New Orleans on Dec. 10. The previous mark was 14 by Dionn Holton on Dec. 9, 1995 vs. Southern Oregon.
• Against Portland State on Nov. 11, Robertson converted 22-of-24 free throws to break the previous record(s) held by Jim Winters (20-of-23) which dated back to a matchup with Seattle U on Feb. 12, 1956.
• He ranks eighth among Portland's career leader in free throw percentage (.827) and ranked second in the WCC and 22nd in the nation in free throw percentage (.883) last year including a streak of 34 consecutive free throws made.
• Last season, he recorded a 31-point, 11-rebound, 11-assist triple-double in a win over LMU to join teammate Mike Meadows as the only players in program history to record triple-doubles. Only 26 players in the nation last season had triple-doubles with UP and Western Kentucky the only teams with two.
• Robertson became 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) in his remarkable performance against LMU. No other player has achieved all three of those marks throughout an entire career, but Robertson accomplished it a single game.
 
THE NEWCOMERS
• Coach Legans brought in a talented recruiting class including four transfers and five freshmen. The additions of 6-foot-10 grad transfer Joey St. Pierre (Milwaukee), 6-foot-9 former WAC Freshman of the Year Wyatt Lowell (Utah Valley/BYU/Snow JC) gives the Pilots more size this season.
• Mississippi State transfer Alden Applewhite is good sized wing with a versatile skill set, while Maine transfer Vukasin Masic provides scoring and distributing ability as a combo guard.
• Freshman guard Juanse Gorosito is an elite shooter, while freshman Bol Dengdit has good size and skill for a wing at 6-11.

PILOTS VERSUS RANKED OPPONENTS
• The Pilots dropped to 7-78 all-time against opponents ranked in the AP Poll and 0-10 against team's ranked No. 1 after narrow losses to North Carolina and Michigan State at PKI, as well as two losses to Gonzaga and Saint Mary's.
• Portland has lost 22 consecutive games to ranked opposition with the last win an 82-73 defeat of No. 18 Gonzaga on Jan. 9, 2014 at the Chiles Center.
 
PILOTS SIGN TWO DURING EARLY NLI PERIOD
• Portland has announced the signings of G Vince Delano and F Cyprian Hyde.
• Delano (6-2, 170) currently attends Arizona Compass Prep, one of the top basketball prep schools in the country. Last season he competed for Phoenix Prep in the elite prep basketball circuit, The Grind Session. He broke the circuit record for most three-pointers in a game (10) and helped lead Phoenix Prep to the Grind Session Final Four.
• Hyde (6-10, 220) provides versatility from the post position with his size and athleticism. An elite shot blocker with three-point shooting range, Hyde was named the Vista High School Defensive Player of the Year last season. He finished the season averaging 16.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.
 
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 finished third or better in the Big Sky Conference all four seasons, led the Eagles to the 2020 regular season crown and 2021 tournament title.
• His teams improve each year as the season progresses best illustrated by his 49-22 (.690) record in games played after Feb. 1 as a head coach.
• All three assistant coaches are back this year for the Pilots. Bobby Suarez and T.J. Lipold came with Legans from Eastern Washington, while Jeremy Pope came on board after coaching most recently at Arizona Compass Prep.
• His staff is among the nation's youngest as all three assistants are under 35.

ABOUT SAN DIEGO
• The Toreros (11-19, 4-12 WCC) are No. 223 in the latest NCAA Net Rankings and No. 215 on KenPom.com
• USD has notable wins over Florida Gulf Coast, UC Riverside, San Francisco, LMU and Pepperdine.
• Four Toreros average double figures led by Marcellus Earlington (17.3).
• Head coach Steve Lavin is in his first year at the helm.
 
PORTLAND-SAN DIEGO SERIES HISTORY
Overall: USD leads 60-35
H / A / N: 18-27 / 13-30 / 4-3
Streak: W4
Last 10 / 5: 4-6 / 4-1
Last Meeting: Pilots 80, San Diego 61 (Feb. 2, 2023 at USD)
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