Portland Pilots (11-20, 5-11 WCC) vs. LMU Lions (12-18, 5-11 WCC)
Date: Friday, March 8, 2024
Time: 8:30 p.m.
Place: Las Vegas, Nev.
Arena: Orleans Arena
TV: ESPN+
Radio: 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT)
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats

THIS WEEK
• Portland enters the 2024 Credit 1 WCC Basketball Championshps as the No. 6 seed and faces No. 7 LMU on Friday at 8:30 p.m. at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The winner advances to Saturday's quarterfinals against No. 3 San Francisco at 9:30 p.m.
• Friday's game will be aired on ESPN+. Radio coverage will be 1080 The Fan with Jason Swygard and Jennifer Mountain calling the action.
• Saturday's game will air on ESPN2 and 1080 The Fan.
• Saturday's winner moves on to Monday's semifinals against No. 2 Gonzaga at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
• The tournament championship game is set for Tuesday at 6 p.m. on ESPN.
• Live coverage links for Portland games can be found at PortlandPilots.com.
• Follow @PortlandMBB on Twitter for in-game updates.
• Single session tournament tickets are still available by visiting WCCsports.com.

PILOTS AT THE WCC TOURNAMENT
• Portland is 14-35 all-time at the WCC Championships and 7-15 in Las Vegas.
• Portland won the 1996 WCC Tournament to earn the automatic NCAA bid and were defeated in the finals of the 1995 tournament by Gonzaga, the only two finals appearances in school history.
• UP has reached the semifinals five times, most recently in 2015.
• Last season the Pilots knocked off San Diego in the opening round before falling to BYU in the second round.

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland finished the regular season on a high note with home wins against Santa Clara (80-75, overtime) and LMU (70-60) to move into a tie for sixth-place in the league standings.
• Redshirt freshman F Bol Dengdit has thrived with an expanded role during league play. The Melbourne, Australia native recorded double-doubles in each of the last two games and had four total double-doubles in WCC play. He averaged 9.3 points and 7.1 rebounds in league.
• Senior captain Tyler Robertson earned his third straight All-WCC honor picking up a second team award this year. Robertson scored 32 points in the win against SCU and followed with 12 points, 11 assits and six rebounds in the win over LMU on Senior Night. Robertson leads the Pilots and ranks third in the WCC in scoring (16.5), second in minutes per game (35.3), fifth in assists (3.7) and seventh in field goal percentage (.451).
• Freshman G Tyler Harris, was named to the WCC All-Freshman Team, but missed eight WCC games with an ankle injury. Harris ranks sixth nationally among freshmen in rebounds (7.3), while his five double-doubles are tied for fifth best in the country for freshmen.
• 2023 All-WCC Freshman G Juanse Gorosito set a UP freshman record for threes made (63) last season. In WCC games he tied for third with 43 three-pointers made.
• Redshirt sophomore G Vukasin Masic (Maine transfer) is second on the team in scoring (12.4) and has scored 20 or more points in six 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 8.6 points and 5.2 rebounds and has reached double figures in five games. He has missed the last three games (hip). 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).
 
ROBERTSON RECOGNIZED
• Tyler Robertson became the sixth Pilot ever to earn three separate All-WCC awards after garnering All-WCC Second Team honors this year. He joins an exclusive list of top players in program history:
Three-Time All-WCC Honorees in Portland History
• Rick Raivio: 1978 (1st), 1979 (1st), 1980 (1st)
• Dionn Holton: 1996 (HM), 1997 (HM), 1998 (1st)
• Pooh Jeter: 2004 (1st), 2005 (HM), 2006 (1st)
• Jared Stohl: 2009 (HM), 2010 (HM), 2011 (HM)
• Alec Wintering: 2015 (2nd), 2016 (1st), 2017 (HM)
• Tyler Robertson: 2022 (2nd), 2023 (HM), 2024 (2nd)
 
ROBERTSON IN RARE COMPANY NATIONALLY
• Tyler Robertson has 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 55th among all active players in career scoring (1,814).
• Robertson also has 634 career rebounds and 511 assists making him one of three players nationally with totals of 1,800 points, 600 rebounds and 500 assists: Tristen Newton (UConn) 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 (4.5, 7th), assists (428, 6th), free throws made (368, 5th), scoring average (15.7, 9th), free throw percentage (.820, 11th), total points (1,500, 6th) and threes made (158, 6th). 

DENGDIT DOIN' WORK
• Freshman F Bol Dengdit recorded his fourht double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds against LMU after logging 10 points and 13 rebounds in Thursday's win against Santa Clara. He was the Feb. 5 WCC Freshman of the Week after averaging 11.0 points and 9.0 rebounds in a pair of Portland wins.
• After playing limited minutes during non-league play, Dengdit is averaging 9.3 points and a team-high 7.1 rebounds per game in WCC action. He is second among WCC freshmen in rebounds during league play.
• He recorded his first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds at Pacific on Feb. 1 and has reached double figures eight of the last nine games, including a season-high 15 points at San Diego.

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 26 points in Saturday's win over LMU.
• Gorosito has started 15-of-the-last-17 games averaging 12.2 points in those starts.

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.

LEMKE MAKES HIS MARK
• Redshirt sophomore walk-on Coleman Lemke played his most impactful minutes of his career in helping the Pilots to a pair of wins against Pacific and Pepperdine.
• Lemke played eight total minutes, including the final 4:52, of Portland's road win at Pacific on Feb. 1 and provided stellar defense.
• He played 20 minutes in the Pilot win against Pepperdine on Feb. 3 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.

HARRIS PUTTING UP BIG NUMBERS
• Tyler Harris has been one of the most productive freshmen in the nation this year. He ranks sixth nationally in rebounds per game (7.3), while his five 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.
• He has missed nine of the last 13 games due to injury/illness 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 10 WCC games and is fourth on the team in scoring average (8.6) and second in rebounding (5.2). He missed the last three games due to a hip injury and is day-to-day.

ABOUT LMU
• The Lions (12-18, 5-11 WCC) battled injuries at the end of the season and were missing three of their top six scorers in the season-ending loss at Chiles Center.
• The Lions have notable non-league wins over UNLV, UTEP and Jackson State.
• Dominick Harris leads five Lions averaging double figures at 14.3 per game.
• Head coach Stan Johnson is in his fourth year at the helm.

PORTLAND-LMU SERIES DETAILS
Series Information: LMU leads 60-52
H / A / N: 33-21 / 17-32 / 2-7
Streak: W1
Last 5 /10: 3-2/ 4-6
Last Meeting: Pilots 70, LMU 65 (March 2, 2024 at Portland)
 
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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