Portland Pilots (9-16, 3-7 WCC) vs. Saint Mary's Gaels (19-6, 10-0 WCC)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024
Time: 5:30 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
• Portland (9-16, 3-7 WCC) returns home to face the WCC-leading Saint Mary's Gaels (19-6, 10-0) in a Saturday doubleheader at Chiles Center. The Pilot women face Pepperdine at 3 p.m. followed by the men's game at 5:30 p.m.
 
GAME COVERAGE
• Saturday's game and all other WCC games will be aired on ESPN+. Bryan Sleik and Jennifer Mountain will be 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.
• Live coverage links for Portland games can be found at PortlandPilots.com.
• Follow @PortlandMBB on Twitter and Instagram for the latest team content.

LAST GAME: GONZAGA 96, PILOTS 64 (Feb. 7 at Gonzaga)
• The Pilots had four players score in double figures, led by Juanse Gorosito, who had 13 points, but Gonzaga's hot shooting was too much to overcome.
• Vukasin Masic tacked on 12 points and five assists, Bol Dengdit helped out with 12 points and eight rebounds and Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams added 11 points and five rebounds.
• Gonzaga shot an efficient 56 percent from the field and made 15-of-33 three-pointers to pull away.
• The Bulldogs raced out to a 19-1 lead to start the game and closed the half on a 9-0 run to take a 50-23 lead into the break. Portland shot just 9-of-34 from the field in the first period, while Gonzaga shot 58 percent overall including 9-of-17 from three-point range.
• The Pilots used a 9-0 run early in the second, finished off by Dengdit's three, to shrink the deficit to 57-39 with 14:28 to go in the contest, but Gonzaga responded and extended the margin down the stretch.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Redshirt freshman F Bol Dengdit has thrived with an expanded role during league play and earned WCC Freshman of the Week honors after averaging 11.0 points and 9.0 rebounds in wins over Pacific and Pepperdine last week. The Melbourne, Australia native recorded his first career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds at Pacific.
• Senior captain Tyler Robertson, a two-time All-WCC guard, erupted for a season-high 34 points against Santa Clara on Jan. 20, one off of his career-high. The effort matched the single-game high for all WCC players this season. Robertson leads the Pilots and ranks second in the WCC in scoring (16.0), fourth in assists (3.8), fifth in field goal percentage (.457) and leads the league in minutes per game (34.5)
• Freshman G Tyler Harris, who has earned WCC Freshman of the Week honors three times this season, missed the last five of the last seven games with a lingering ankle injury. Harris ranks sixth nationally among freshmen in rebounds (7.3), while his four double-doubles are tied for fifth best in the country for freshmen. He also ranks fifth in the WCC in rebounding and blocked shots per game (0.9).
• 2023 All-WCC Freshman G Juanse Gorosito set a UP freshman record for three-pointers made (63) last year and has found his stroke after a slow start. He is averaging 18.0 points over the last four games while making 19-of-40 three-pointers.
• Redshirt sophomore G Vukasin Masic (Maine transfer) is second on the team in scoring (13.2) and has scored 20 or more points in four of the last eight games.
• The Pilots welcomed the return of Chris Austin to the active roster this season. Austin, who averaged 14.4 points for the Pilots two seasons ago, took a medical redshirt last year after breaking his leg in the final game of the 2021-22 season.
• Sophomore F Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams was pulled off of redshirt and made his Pilot debut with 12 points and 10 rebounds in the league opener vs. Pacific on Jan. 6. Yamanouchi-Williams is averaging 10.6 points and 5.9 rebounds and has reached double figures in five games. A sophomore transfer from Lamar, he made 24 starts last year and averaged 6.9 points and a team-high 7.1 rebounds per game.
• Portland welcomes four freshmen to the 2023-24 roster. G Tyler Harris (Hayward, Calif.) led Granada HS to the 2023 CIF NorCal Division I championship and a runner-up finish at the State Division I Boys Championship with a 17-point and 10-rebound effort in the title game loss to Notre Dame. G Vincent Delano (Phoenix, Ariz.) played for nationally recognized Arizona Compass Prep as a senior. F Cyprian Hyde (Oceanside, Calif.) earned All-North County Coastal First Team honors as a senior after leading the team to the second round of the 2023 CIF San Diego Section Division II Championships. G Jude Harris (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) was First Team All-Camino Real League in 2023 after averaging 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Delano, Hyde and Jude Harris are redshirting the 2023-24 season.
• The Pilots are represented by seven different countries, tied for third in the nation behind Arizona and Hawaii. Portland players hail from the United States (10), Australia (2), Argentina (1), Japan (1), Montenegro (1), Netherlands (1) and Serbia (1).
 
DENGDIT DOIN' WORK
• RS freshman F Bol Dengdit earned WCC Freshman of the Week honors after averaging 11.0 points and 9.0 rebounds in helping Portland to a pair of wins last week.
• After playing limited minutes during non-league play, Dengdit has started six of the last seven games and is averaging 8.2 points and a team-high 6.4 rebounds per game in WCC action. He recorded his first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds at Pacific on Thursday.
• Dengdit became the second Pilot this season to garner WCC Freshman of the Week honors. Tyler Harris has won the award three previous times.

LEMKE MAKES HIS MARK
• Redshirt sophomore walk-on Coleman Lemke has played his most impactful minutes of his career in helping the Pilots to a pair of wins last week.
• Lemke played eight total minutes, including the final 4:52, of Portland's road win at Pacific and provided stellar defense.
• He then played 20 important minutes in the Pilot win against Pepperdine on Saturday, providing defensive energy, hitting a three-pointer and dishing out three assists with no turnovers. He ended the night with a +/- of plus-8, second best on the team.

GOROSITO GETS GOING
• One of the top three-point shooters in the WCC a season ago, Juanse Gorosito struggled to find his stroke early in the year, but came on strong in Portland's appearance at the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii over Christmas weekend drilling 4-of-9 threes against UMass and then 5-of-11 from downtown against Temple. He finished with 16 points, six rebounds and six assists against Temple.
• Gorosito erupted for a career high 21 points on 7 of 11 three-point shooting against San Francisco on Jan. 27 and followed with a 4-for-10, 19-point effort in the win at Pacific on Thursday.
• The Argentina native kept the hot hand going by drilling 5 of 9 triples and scoring 19 points in Saturday's win against Pepperdine.
• Gorosito has started 9-of-the-last-11 games averaging 14.4 points in those starts.

ROBERTSON PILES UP THE STATS
• Tyler Robertson scored in double figures in all but two games this year, including a UP and WCC season-high 34 on Jan. 20 at Santa Clara.
• Robertson had 28 points at Portland St. on Nov. 28, scored his 1,000th point as a Pilot versus Long Beach St., passed the 1,500-point mark for his career Dec. 16 versus Grand Canyon and ranks 57th among all active players in career scoring (1,702).
• Robertson also has 591 career rebounds and 488 assists making him one of four players nationally with totals of 1,500 points, 550 rebounds and 450 assists: Tristen Newton (UConn), Andrew Taylor (Miss. State) and Baylor Scheierman (Creighton)
• Last season, Robertson and Jalen Pickett (Penn State) were the only Division I players to average at least 15 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. Robertson also led the WCC in assists, assists per game and free throws made (163).
• Robertson is Top 15 on the UP career charts in assists per game (4.6, 5th), assists (405, 6th), free throws made (348, t-5th), scoring average (15.6, ninth), free throw percentage (.819, 11th), total points (1,388, 10th) and threes made (148, 9th). 

MASIC MAGIC
• Vukasin Masic has shown flashes of brilliance in his return to action this season after being denied an immediate eligibility waiver last year by the NCAA.
• Masic erupted for a career high 32 points in Portland's Dec. 9 road win at North Dakota and has six, 20-plus point games.
• 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 versus Long Beach State. His 25 points were the most ever scored by a Portland player in their debut.

HARRIS PUTTING UP BIG NUMBERS
• Tyler Harris has been one of the most productive freshmen in the nation this year. He ranks fifth nationally in rebounds per game (7.3), while his four double-doubles are tied for fifth best.
• His double-double of 17 points, 12 rebounds against Long Beach St. made him the first freshman in UP history to debut with a double-double. He also is the first true freshman to start a season-opener in Shantay Legans' seven years as a head coach.
• Harris also recorded double-doubles against UC Riverside (22 pts, 12 rebs), Wyoming (11 pts, 10 rebs) and Grand Canyon (15 pts, 10 rebs) and has three times been named the WCC Freshman of the Week.
• He has missed five of the last seven games with an ankle injury and is day-to-day.

YUTO ACTIVATED AND MAKING AN IMPACT
• Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams came off of redshirt status to join the active roster for the start of WCC play after Alimamy Koroma was deemed academically ineligible.
• He wasted no time in making an impact by recording a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in his debut against Pacific.
• Yamanouchi-Williams has started seven WCC games and is fourth on the team in scoring average (10.6) and second in rebounding (5.9).

SETTING PROGRAM RECORDS
• In his first two seasons leading the Pilots, head coach Shantay Legans has already began rewriting the program record books.
• The Pilots have scored the most single-season points in school history each of the last two years. Portland scored 2,524 points in his inaugural 2021-22 season and then broke that record with 2,566 total points last year.
• The 2021-22 team set a new free throw percentage record (.791), while last year's 317 three-pointers made shattered the previous record of 289 (2016-17).
• The Pilots set a single game scoring record in a 122-78 victory over Willamette on Nov. 11, 2021, eclipsing the 115 scored against St. Martin's in 1978.
• Portland also broke the program's single game three-pointers made twice, most recently with 19 versus San Diego at the 2023 WCC Tournament, which also was a tournament record.
• Individually, Robertson broke the school record for free throws made in a game when he converted 22-of-24 against Portland State on Nov. 11, 2022, eclipsing a record held by Jim Winters (20-of-23) which dated back to a matchup with Seattle U on Feb. 12, 1956. He also set the program single-game assists record with 15 against New Orleans on Dec. 10, 2022.
• Mike Meadows and Robertson also became the first Pilots to ever record triple-doubles. Meadows had one against Willamette, while Robertson posted a 31-point, 11-rebound, 11-assist triple-double in a win over LMU. He added another triple-double last year with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists against Multnomah.
 
ABOUT SAINT MARY'S
• The Gaels (19-6, 10-0) have won 11 in a row and sit atop the WCC standings.
• SMC has notable non-league wins against New Mexico, Colorado St., UNLV and Davidson and losses to Weber St., San Diego St., Xavier, Utah and Boise St.
• Sophomore G Aidan Mahaney averages a team-high 13.8 points per game, while Augustas Marciulionis (11.8) and Mitchell Saxon (11.3) also are in double figures.
• Head coach Randy Bennett is in his 23rd season and has guided the Saint Mary's to nine NCAA Tournaments and seven NIT appearances.
 
PORTLAND-SAINT MARY'S SERIES HISTORY
Overall: SMC leads 73-30
H / A / N: 22-28 / 7-40 / 1-5
Streak: SMC W13
Last 10 / 5: 0-10 / 0-5
Last Meeting: Saint Mary's 95, Pilots 52 (Jan. 11, 2024 at Saint Mary's)
 
WE'RE RIVERBOAT PILOTS, NOT AIRPLANE PILOTS!
• Though the original nickname that students chose in a 1935 contest resulted in "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.
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