Portland Pilots (4-7, 0-0 WCC) vs. Cal State Bakersfield (5-6, 0-0 Big West)
Date: Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024
Time: 7 p.m. (PT)
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 continue a five-game homestand by hosting Cal State Bakersfield on Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. It's a halftime Teddy Bear Toss game where all teddy bears will be donated to Doernbecher Children's Hospital.
• Portland concludes non-league action against Lafayette College on Saturday, Dec. 21 in the early game of a doubleheader followed by the UP women versus Pacific at 3:30 p.m.

GAME COVERAGE
• All Portland home games will be aired on ESPN+. Ann Schatz and Jennifer Mountain will be on the call for Wednesday's game.
• 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.

LAST TIME OUT: @Pilots 100, Willamette 69 (Dec. 16, 2024)
• Portland shot 57 percent from field and 50 percent from beyond the arc on the way to a 100-69 win against the Willamette Bearcats at Chiles Center Monday.
• Bol Dengdit and Mezziah Oakman set career highs with 19 points each, while Jermaine Ballisager Webb helped out with 14 points.
• The Portland offense was very productive from deep, making 10 threes on 20 attempts. Portland was also dominant on the interior racking up 50 points in the paint.
• The Portland bench made an impact by scoring 54 points and the team gained a 45-34 edge on the boards.
• The Pilots forced 15 turnovers, tallied seven blocked shots and committed just 13 turnovers while dishing out 26 assists.

BALLISAGER WEBB BALLING OUT
• Junior C Jermaine Ballisager Webb has made the most of his opportunities by scoring season highs of 14 points in three of the last four games. He moved into the starting lineup for the first time Monday against Willamette.
• The 7-1 transfer from American University was instrumental in Portland's 101-90 overtime win against Denver. He was difference maker off the bench with 14 points and five rebounds and played crucial minutes late in regulation and overtime.
• He bounced back with a solid eight points, three rebounds and three assists in the team's next game at Kent State.
• Ballisager Webb matched his season high with 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting on Dec. 10 vs. Kansas City. For the season, he is shooting 63 percent from the field this year including 5-of-7 from three-point range.

RAPP RACKING UP THE NUMBERS
• Freshman F Austin Rapp was named the Dec. 2 WCC Freshman of the Week after dropping 20 points, six rebounds and a pair of blocked shots in 41 minutes against Denver on Dec. 1.
• Rapp then recorded his first career double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds against Kansas City on Dec. 10.
• The Melbourne, Australia native started the first 10 games of the season for the Pilots and is averaging team-highs of 12.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, both tops among all freshmen in the WCC. He leads the WCC in three-point percentage (.385) and his 25 three-pointers made are No. 2 in the league.
• Rapp missed the Willamette game with a sprained ankle.

AUSTIN REACHES 1,000 POINTS
• Graduate G Chris Austin eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career on Nov. 12 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 124 total games played, including 92 games started, Austin is by far the most experienced player on the roster and has become a vocal leader this year.

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.
 
MASIC MAKING WAVES
• Vukasin Masic is Portland's top returning scorer after averaging 12.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game last season and is adding 12.6 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 UC Santa Barbara.
• The Belgrade, Serbia native scored a season high 27 points in the win against Denver on Dec. 1 for his second 20-point game of the year.
• 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.

INJURY UPDATES
• Freshman F Austin Rapp (ankle) missed Monday's game and is day-to-day.
• RS sophomore F Bol Dengdit (knee) has eased back into the lineup after missing early season games against UC Santa Barbara and Oregon. He moved back into the starting rotation the last four games. 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 (back) made his official Pilot debut against Ohio at the Myrtle Beach Invitational and appeared against as well Princeton after missing the first two weeks of the season. He drilled his first shot attempt, a corner three, late against Ohio and then grabbed a rebound, dished out an assist and collected a steal in 16 minutes versus Princeton.
• Freshman G Carlin Briggs (knee) is going to miss the 2024-25 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.

FRESHMEN PHENOMS
• The Pilots regularly have had four freshmen on the court at the same time throughout the first few weeks of the season and gotten consistent production from the group.
• Between the four active true freshmen and three redshirt freshmen on the roster, the group has accounted for 43 percent of Portland's total scoring this year. Austin Rapp is Portland's leading scorer (12.7), while redshirt freshman PG Vincent Delano and freshman G Mikah Ballew add 7.6 and 6.0 points per game, respectively.
• 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.
• Delano erupted for season highs of 18 points, six rebounds and five assists against Denver on Dec. 1 and already has reached double figures five times this season.
• Ballew has played quality crunch time minutes all season.
• Todd Jones has started eight games and battled foul trouble, but is still contributing 4.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per outing. 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.
• Freshman G Jinup Dobuol impressed with 10 points in nine minutes off the bench against Princeton at the Myrtle Beach Invitational.

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 making 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 the season opener. He added career-highs of 19 points and eight rebounds vs. Willamette on Dec. 16. 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.

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 CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD
• The Roadrunners (5-6) have notable wins against Fresno State (74-56) and North Dakota State (86-81) with losses coming to California (86-73), Florida Gulf Coast (74-54), Southern Utah (74-64), Florida International (76-73, OT), UC Irvine (82-66) and UC San Diego (81-60). 
• Jemel Jones (15.8) and Corey Stephenson (15.0) lead three Bakersfield players averaging double figures.
• Head coach Rod Barnes is in his 14th season at the helm of the Roadrunners.
• Portland has won all three previous meetings between the two schools, most recently a 69-51 decision at Chiles Center on Dec. 17, 2012.

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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