SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – The West Coast Conference has unveiled its 2023-24 men's basketball conference schedule and the University of Portland will host the Pacific Tigers on Saturday, Jan. 6 to tip-off the league slate.
Portland will host Pacific Northwest rival Gonzaga on Thursday, Feb. 22, while two home games will feature doubleheaders with the Pilot women. On Jan. 18, the women host Saint Mary's and the men welcome San Diego, while on Feb. 10 it is the women versus Pepperdine and men hosting perennial NCAA Tournament contender Saint Mary's.
The full selection of games from the WCC's national television partners, ESPN and CBS Sports Network, will be announced at a later date, along with game times.
The race for the WCC regular season crown will stretch over a nine-week span, featuring 16 conference games. Conference play is slated to begin on Thursday, Jan. 4, and will conclude on Saturday, March 2. WCC men's basketball will return to a complete round robin conference schedule, with all nine teams playing each other twice (home and home) over the course of the nine-week conference schedule. The 2024 WCC Men's Basketball Championship will be held from March 7-12 at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
The WCC is coming off another highly successful men's basketball season in 2022-23 that featured two teams in the NCAA Tournament. Gonzaga advanced to the Elite Eight, while Saint Mary's advanced to the second round for the second straight year. The WCC has been a multi-bid league in the NCAA Tournament every year since 2019, excluding 2020 when the NCAA was not conducted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the WCC has been a multi-bid league 10 times since 2010.
Portland head coach Shantay Legans will bring back several key players including two-time All-West Coast Conference guard, Tyler Robertson. Robertson averaged 15.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and a WCC-best 5.2 assists per game last season.
Chris Austin, who averaged 14.2 points for the Pilots during the 2021-22 season, will return to the active roster next year after redshirting this past season with a broken leg. Juanse Gorosito earned All-WCC Freshman Team honors, broke the Pilot freshman record for three-pointers made (63) and started 12 games, while center Vasilije Vucinic started 10 games. Portland is also eager to integrate Vukasin Masic (Maine transfer) and freshman Bol Dengdit who are coming off redshirt seasons and expected to be key contributors.
An intriguing group of newcomers includes transfers Alimamy Koroma, Thomas Oosterbroek, Noah Jordan and Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams, as well as freshmen Tyler Harris, Vincent Delano, Cyprian Hyde, Kelson Gebbers and Jude Harris.
Season tickets can be reserved by visiting PortlandPilots.com/mbbtickets or contacting the Pilot Box Office at (503) 943-7525 or emailing taylord@up.edu.
2023-24 UP MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
Nov. 6 vs. Long Beach State^, 7:30 PM
Nov. 8 vs. Lewis & Clark, 6 PM
Nov. 12 vs. UC Riverside, 2 PM
Nov. 15 vs. Tennessee State, 6 PM
Nov. 18 at Nevada, TBA
Nov. 25 vs. Willamette, 5 PM
Nov. 28 at Portland State, TBA
Dec. 1 vs. Wyoming, 6 PM
Dec. 3 vs. Air Force, 2 PM
Dec. 7 at North Dakota State, TBA
Dec. 9 at North Dakota, TBA
Dec. 16 vs. Grand Canyon#, TBA
Dec. 21 at Hawai'i+, 8 PM
Dec. 22 vs. Georgia Tech/UMass+, 8/10:00 PM
Dec. 24 vs. TCU/Nevada/Temple/Old Dominion+, TBA
Jan. 6 vs. Pacific*
Jan. 11 at Saint Mary's*
Jan. 13 at San Francisco*
Jan. 18 vs. San Diego*^
Jan. 20 at Santa Clara*
Jan. 25 at Loyola Marymount*
Jan. 27 vs. San Francisco*
Feb. 1 at Pacific*
Feb. 3 vs. Pepperdine*
Feb. 7 at Gonzaga*
Feb. 10 vs. Saint Mary's*^
Feb. 15 at San Diego*
Feb. 17 at Pepperdine*
Feb. 22 vs. Gonzaga*
Feb. 29 vs. Santa Clara*
Mar. 2 vs. Loyola Marymount*
Mar. 7-12 WCC Tournament (Las Vegas, Nev.)
Home games in bold
*WCC game
^Doubleheader with the women
+Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu, Hawai'i)
# Jerry Colangelo Classic (Phoenix, Ariz.)
