Portland Pilots (1-2, 0-0 WCC) at Long Beach State The Beach (1-2, 0-0 Big West)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024
Time: 2 p.m.
Place: Long Beach, Calif.
Arena: Walter Pyramid
TV: ESPN+
Radio: 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT)
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats

THIS WEEK
• The Pilots continue a five-game road trip against Long Beach State on Saturday with a 2 p.m. tip-off at the Walter Pyramid.
• Portland dropped an 80-70 overtime heartbreaker at Oregon on Tuesday.
 
GAME COVERAGE
• Saturday's game will be aired on ESPN+.
• Radio for all Portland men's basketball games is on 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT) with Jason Swygard calling the action. Pre-game coverage begins 30 minutes prior to tip-off and ends with a 30-minute post-game show.
featuring stats, highlights and interviews.
• Live coverage links for Portland games can be found at PortlandPilots.com.
• Follow @PortlandMBB on X and Instagram for the latest team content.

LAST TIME OUT: @Oregon 80, Pilots 70 (OT), Nov. 12
• Portland led by double digits late in regulation before the Oregon Ducks sent the game to overtime with a late basket and took control in the extra period for an 80-70 win Tuesday night at Matthew Knight Arena.
• Vukasin Masic and Vincent Delano scored 12 points each to lead the Pilots, while freshman Todd Jones recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Graduate guard Chris Austin finished with 11 points.
• Baskets by Austin and Masic gave Portland its largest lead of the game at 54-41 with 8:11 remaining and the Pilots were up 67-62 lead with 36 seconds remaining, but Oregon drilled a three, UP missed two free throws and the Ducks tied it off a turnover and layup to force OT before cruising in the extra period.

AUSTIN REACHES 1,000 POINTS
• Graduate G Chris Austin eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career on Tuesday at Oregon. He entered the game needing 10 points and finished with 11.
• The Pasadena, Calif. native has navigated injuries throughout his seven total years of college athletics, three at Fordham and the last four at UP. A thumb injury ended his freshman season early and then a broken leg at the end of the 2021-22 campaign at Portland sidelined him for the entire 2022-23 season.
• With 117 total games played, including 86 games started, Austin is by far the most experienced player on the roster and has become a vocal leader this year.

MASIC MAKING WAVES
• Redshirt junior G Vukasin Masic is Portland's top returning scorer after averaging 12.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game last season and is leading the way at 18.5 points per game this year. He missed the Lewis & Clark season opener (ankle), but returned to lead the team with an efficient 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting against UCSB. Masic showed flashes of brilliance last year in his return to action after sitting out the 2022-23 season following the denial of an immediate eligibility waiver by the NCAA. In his Pilot debut, Masic scored 22 of his 25 points in second half to lead the team to a 78-73 season-opening win ever eventual NCAA Tournament participant Long Beach State. His 25 points were the most ever scored by a Portland player in their debut. Masic also erupted for a career high 32 points in a road win at North Dakota and had six 20-point games.

FRESHMEN PHENOMS
• The Pilots regularly had four freshmen on the court in the second half against Oregon on Tuesday.
• Austin Rapp (10.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg) and Todd Jones (7.3 ppg, 8.0 rpg) have started all three games and are putting up impressive numbers.
• Rapp has been a regular among Australian Youth National Teams and led his regional team (Victoria) to the Under-20 Australian National Championship with 32 points and 13 rebounds in the title game, including the buzzer-beating game-winning shot. Jones is a three-star prospect that helped Isidore Newman High School win three consecutive Louisiana State Championships. The high-flying Jones was the 2024 District MVP and four-time District Defensive Player of the Year.
• Redshirt freshman PG Vincent Delano spurred the Pilots off the bench at Oregon with 12 points and five rebounds in 35 minutes, while Mikah Ballew played crunch time minutes and added eight points.
• Jinup Dobuol and RS freshman Kelson Gebbers are also expected to compete for playing time this season.

AUSSIE CONNECTIONS
• Coach Legans and Portland basketball has had great success with players from Australia and that trend continues this season. Recent graduate Tyler Robertson, a three-time All-WCC selection, is close family friends with Austin Rapp. Rapp, Max Mackinnon, Bol Dengdit and Carlin Briggs make four Aussies on the 2024-25 roster.
 
INJURY UPDATES
• RS sophomore F Bol Dengdit (knee) missed the last two games and is day-to-day. Dengdit is looking to build on his stellar 2024 WCC campaign where he averaged 9.3 points and 7.1 rebounds during league play.
• Redshirt freshman G Kelson Gebbers has missed the first three games and is also day-to-day. A quality shooting wing, Gebbers is expected to compete for a spot in the rotation.
• Freshman G Carlin Briggs (knee) is going to miss the 2024-25 season.


IMPACT TRANSFERS
• Elon junior transfer Max Mackinnon had a stellar line of 20 points, six rebounds and five assists in his Pilot debut against Lewis & Clark. Mackinnon was named the 2022 Coastal Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year at Elon where he averaged 11.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists as a freshman and followed with 12.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists last season. Prior to college, Mackinnon helped Queensland win back-to-back Gold Medals at the U-20 Australian Championships.
• Redshirt junior C Mezziah Oakman (7-0) and junior C Jermaine Ballisager Webb (7-1) are expected to make an impact inside this year for the Pilots. Oakman started the first two games and finished with 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting in Wednesday's opener. He sat out last season at UC Santa Barbara and was previously the MVP of the Coast Conference North Division while at City College of San Francisco. He averaged 11.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and shot 63.6 percent from the field as a sophomore. Ballisager Webb played limited minutes off the bench in the first two games. He previously played two years at American University and averaged 7.4 points and 3.8 rebounds last season.

STAFF CONTINUITY
• Portland returns its entire primary coaching staff from last season. Coach Legans, Associate Head Coach Bobby Suarez and Assistant Coach T.J. Lipold have now been together for eight years dating back to their time at Eastern Washington. Arturo Ormond returns for his second year on The Bluff. Ormond previously coached Legans during his time as a player at Fresno State.

SETTING PROGRAM RECORDS
• In his three years leading UP, Shantay Legans is already rewriting the program record books. The Pilots have the two highest single-season scoring records in school history. Portland scored 2,524 points in his inaugural 2021-22 season and then broke that record with 2,566 total points the following season. The 2021-22 team also established a new free throw percentage record (.791), while the 317 three-pointers made in 2022-23 shattered the previous record of 289 (2016-17).
• The Pilots set the game scoring record in a 122-78 win over Willamette (11/11/21), eclipsing the 115 scored vs St. Martin's in 1978. Portland also broke the program's single game three-pointers made record with 18 against VMI (12/3/21).
• Tyler Robertson broke the school record for free throws made when he converted 22-of-24 against Portland State (11/11/22), eclipsing a record held by Jim Winters (20-of-23) which dated back to a matchup with Seattle U (2/12/56). He also set the program single-game assist record with 15 against New Orleans (12/10/22).
• Mike Meadows and Robertson became the first Pilots to record triple-doubles. Meadows had one against Willamette (11/11/21), while Robertson posted a 31-point, 11-rebound, 11-assist stat line in a win over LMU (2/12/22).
 
ABOUT LONG BEACH STATE
• The Beach (1-2) defeated La Verne (93-48) before dropping road games to South Dakota State (80-79) and San Francisco (84-54) to start the season under first year head coach Chris Acker.
• Long Beach State is led by California transfer Devin Askew at 19.7 points per game, while Robert Morris transfer T.J. Wainwright adds 17.3 per game.
• The Beach, who went to the NCAA Tournament a year ago, is picked to finish eighth in the Big West Preseason Poll.

PORTLAND-LONG BEACH STATE SERIES HISTORY
Series: Portland leads 6-0
H / A / N: 4-0 / 2-0 / 0-0
Streak: Portland W6
Last 10 / 5: NA / 5-0
Last: Pilots 78, Long Beach State 73 (Nov. 6, 2023 at Portland)
 
THE SCHEDULE
• Portland will again play in a high-profile ESPN Multi-Team Event (MTE) as part of the Myrtle Beach Invitational Nov. 21-24. The Pilots open against South Florida.
• Notable non-league games include hosting UC Santa Barbara, road games against NCAA participants Oregon and Long Beach State, and a tough trip to Kent State.
• The WCC schedule features the additions of Washington State and Oregon State. Portland's 18-game league schedule features home-and-homes against all WCC opponents with the exception of San Francisco at home and Santa Clara on the road.
 
WE'RE RIVERBOAT PILOTS, NOT AIRPLANE PILOTS!
• Though a 1935 student contest resulted in the nickame "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.
 
POOH JETER INDUCTED IN UP HALL OF FAME
• University of Portland inducted nine new members to its Athletics Hall of Fame on September 27 including basketball legend Eugene "Pooh" Jeter.
• Jeter is No. 2 on the Portland career scoring charts (1,708) and also ranks in the top five all-time in field goals made (550), three-pointers (200), free throws (408), free throw percentage (.846) and is eighth in total assists (346).
• He garnered All-WCC First Team honors in 2004 and 2006 and was honorable mention all-league in 2005. He also led Portland to a 72-68 road upset against Gonzaga at the Kennel in 2003 with a team-high 18 points as a freshman.
• Following his time on The Bluff, Jeter enjoyed a remarkable professional career that spanned 18 seasons including six different countries and one year with the NBA's Sacramento Kings. Following his retirement from pro basketball in 2023, Jeter joined the Portland Trail Blazers where he still serves as a player development coach and Assistant General Manager for the Rip City Remix.
 
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