Portland Pilots (0-0, 0-0 WCC) vs. Lewis & Clark Pioneers (0-0, 0-0 NWC)
Date: Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024
Time: 7 p.m.
Place: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center
TV: 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 Santa Barbara Gauchos (1-0, 0-0 BWC)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024
Time: 3 p.m.
Place: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center
TV: ESPN+
Radio: 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT)
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats
Tickets: PortlandPilots.com/Tickets

THIS WEEK
• The Pilots open the 2024-25 regular season with a pair of home games at the Chiles Center.
• Portland hosts Lewis & Clark on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. and then welcomes UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 3 p.m.
 
GAME COVERAGE
• Both games will be aired live on ESPN+ with Bryan Sleik and Jennifer Mountain on the call.
• Radio for all Portland men's basketball games is on 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT) with Jason Swygard and Joel Sobotka 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.

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Head Coach Shantay Legans returns two starters, four lettermen and three redshirt players from last year's team that finished 12-21 overall and 5-11 in West Coast Conference play. The team also added eight true freshmen and three Division I transfers.
• The Pilots were picked to finish tied for eighth in the WCC Preseason Coaches Poll alongside San Diego and just ahead of Pacific and Pepperdine.

ABOUT THE RETURNERS
• Redshirt junior G Vukasin Masic is the top returning scorer at 12.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Masic showed flashes of brilliance 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.
• Graduate G Chris Austin is returning for his fourth year with the Pilots and seventh overall season of college basketball — he played three prior years at Fordham which included a medical hardship. Austin took advantage of the COVID year and another hardship waiver was granted at Portland after he suffered a broken leg that took place in the final game of the 2021-22 season and forced him to miss the entire 2022-23 campaign. Austin has received his MBA and is now pursuing a certificate in finance. The Pasadena, Calif. native has 974 career points and is looking to join the 1,000-point club. With 114 total games played, including 83 games started, Austin is by far the most experienced player on the roster.
• Redshirt sophomore F Bol Dengdit will look to build on his stellar 2024 WCC campaign where he averaged 9.3 points and 7.1 rebounds during league play. Forced into a prominent role after some midseason roster adjustments, Dengdit took full advantage of the opportunity. He reached double figures in scoring in nine of the team's last 11 games and added four double-doubles.
• Redshirt junior G Coleman Lemke is the other returning letterman. The walk-on was instrumental in helping the Pilots to three straight wins towards the end the season and appeared in 20 games overall off the bench.

RETURNING REDSHIRTS
• Portland is expecting good things from redshirt freshmen guards Vincent Delano, Kelson Gebbers and Jude Harris. The trio sat out last season, learned the system and focused on development.
• Delano is an explosive point guard that will bring quickness, the ability to get into the paint off the bounce and defensive tenacity.
• Gebbers and Harris are quality shooters with good size and basketball IQ on the perimeter.
 
IMPACT TRANSFERS
• Junior G Max Mackinnon played his first two seasons at Elon University and was named the 2022 Coastal Athletic Conference (CAA) Rookie of the Year. Mackinnon 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 Under-20 Australian Championships.
• Redshirt junior C Mezziah Oakman (7-0) and junior C Jermaine Ballisager Webb (7-1) are pair of 7-foot transfers expected to make an impact inside this season for the Pilots. Oakman 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 two years at American University and averaged 7.4 points and 3.8 rebounds last season.

FRESHMEN PHENOMS
• Portland secured the most highly decorated freshman recruiting class in program history this season. Forward Austin Rapp (6-10) 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. Rapp turned down numerous professional contract offers from the National Basketball League (NBL) in Australia to join the Pilots.
• Forward Todd Jones (6-9) 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.
• Guard Jinup Dobuol (6-8) is another three-star prospect that had multiple Division I offers but chose to come to Portland. An elite scoring wing with good athleticism, Dobuol played last season at Phoenix Prep.
• Guard Mikah Ballew (6-5) is a pure scorer that spent a post-graduate year at SoCal Academy and is expected to battle for a spot in the rotation.
• Guard Carlin Briggs (6-7) is another Australian that brings good size to the backcourt. A member of the esteemed Australia Centre of Excellence, Briggs is coming off of a knee injury that sidelined him much of last season.
• Walk-on guards NaVaughn Long, Preston Lee and Wyatt Miller are expected to redshirt the 2024-25 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. Along with Elon transfer Max Mackinnon, redshirt sophomore Bol Dengdit and freshman Carlin Briggs, the Pilots have four Aussies on the 2024-25 roster.
 
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 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 single game scoring record in a 122-78 win over Willamette (11/11/21), 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 (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).
 
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.
 
ABOUT LEWIS & CLARK
• The Pioneers are a member of the NCAA Division III Northwest Conference.
• Lewis & Clark finished last season 6-19 overall and 2-14 in league.
• The Pioneers return all five starters and the team's top four scorers, led by Mikey Medlock, Jr. (11.8), Sam Henderson (10.2) and Isaac Ticeson (10.0).
• Head coach Tim McCrory is entering his seventh year at the helm.
 
PORTLAND-LEWIS & CLARK SERIES HISTORY
Series: Portland leads 26-1
H / A / N:  15-0 / 4-1 / 6-0
Streak: Portland W17
Last 10 / 5: 10-0 / 5-0
Last: Pilots 89, Pioneers 72 (Nov. 8, 2023 at UP)

ABOUT UC SANTA BARBARA
• The Gauchos have been one of the top mid-major programs in the country under head coach Joe Pasternack. The team has won 20 or more games five of the last seven seasons and won the Big West Conference twice with NCAA Tournament appearances in 2021 and 2023.
• UCSB is picked to finish second in the Big West, while Stetson transfer Stephan Swenson was named to the Preseason All-League Team.
• The Gauchos defeated San Francisco State 96-47 in their season opener.

PORTLAND-UC SANTA BARBARA SERIES HISTORY
Series: UC Santa Barbara leads 6-5
H / A / N: 3-1 / 2-5 / 0-0
Streak: Portland L1
Last 10 / 5: 5-5 / 2-3
Last: UC Santa Barbara 83, Pilots 69 (Nov. 22, 2011 at UCSB)
 
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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