Portland Pilots (6-14, 1-6 WCC) vs. San Diego Toreros (4-16, 1-6 WCC)
Date: Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025
Time: 7 p.m. (PT)
Place: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center
TV: ESPN+
Radio: 910 ESPN Portland
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats
Tickets: PortlandPilots.com

Portland Pilots (6-14, 1-6 WCC) vs. Gonzaga Bulldogs (14-6, 5-2 WCC)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025
Time: 5 p.m. (PT)
Place: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center
TV: Portland's CW/ESPN+
Radio: 910 ESPN Portland
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats
Tickets: PortlandPilots.com

THIS WEEK
• The Pilots (6-14, 1-6 WCC) look to move up the West Coast Conference standings with a pair of home games.
• Portland hosts the San Diego Toreros (4-16, 1-6) on Thursday at 7 p.m. and then welcomes the Gonzaga Bulldogs (14-6, 5-2) on Saturday at 5 p.m. to the Chiles Center.
• A limited number of tickets remain for Saturday's game, which will also feature the annual Halftime Mile race on the Chiles Center track at halftime

GAME COVERAGE
• Both games will be aired on ESPN+ while Saturday's contest is also televised live on Portland's CW (KRCW).
• 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.
• Live coverage links for Portland games can be found at PortlandPilots.com.

LAST TIME OUT: Washington State 92, Pilots 70 (Jan. 18, 2025 @Washington State)
• Chris Austin erupted for 23 points but the Pilots dropped a 92-70 contest to the Cougars on the road. Austin Rapp added 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Max Mackinnon finished with 12 points.
• The Pilots shot 39 percent overall, while the Cougars finished at 53 percent from the field.
• WSU capitalized on a 40-33 rebounding margin with a 48-18 edge in points in the paint. The Cougars also racked up a 25-9 margin in points off turnovers.
• The Pilots started strong and raced out to a 25-16 lead midway through the first half following an Austin three-pointer, but the Cougars capitalized on early turnovers and dominated the glass to rack up 25 combined second chance and points off turnovers in the period and took a 44-35 lead into halftime.
• WSU extended the margin to 12 early in the second half, but Austin's consecutive layups brought it back to 55-47. Vincent Delano's triple made it 57-50 before the Cougars created separation with a 9-0 run and extended the margin down the stretch.

AUSTIN BREAKS OUT
• Graduate G Chris Austin has come up big recently for the Pilots. He scored a season high 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including 4-for-5 from three-point range, Saturday at WSU.  
• He also scored 12 points with six rebounds at San Francisco and the previous week and followed with nine points and four rebounds in the win over Pacific.
• Austin came off the bench to score a game-high 20 points in the team's win over Lafayette on Dec. 21. It was his first 20-point game since the final game of the 2022 season against Southern Utah when he scored 21 points before going down with a broken leg in the game. Austin was sidelined for the entire 2022-23 season while doing rehab on his knee and leg.
• 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.

MACKINNON FILLING THE STAT SHEET
• Elon junior transfer Max Mackinnon has delivered during WCC play. He is averaging 16.1 points during conference games, good for seventh in the league. His 51 percent from the field is eighth in WCC contests, while he is has made all 27 of his free throw attempts and 29 consecutive overall.
• Mackinnon erupted for a career high 28 points in the game at San Francisco on Jan. 9. He was 11-for-15 from the field and made all four of his free throw attempts.
• Mackinnon also had a stellar line of 22 points, five rebounds and three assists in the WCC opener against Washington State.
• The Brisbane, Australia native 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.
• Mackinnon is approaching the 1,000-point mark for his career as he enters Thursday with 968 total points.

DENGDIT DELIVERS
• Redshirt sophomore F Bol Dengdit erupted for a career high 21 points and matched his career best with 13 rebounds in Portland win against Pacific last Thursday.
• Dengdit was an efficient 8-for-11 from the field and grabbed six offensive rebounds. He also had three assists a steal and blocked shot. He followed with nine points and seven boards at Washington State Saturday.
• The Melbourne, Australia native missed some early season games due to injury but is building 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.

RAPP RACKING UP THE NUMBERS
• Freshman F Austin Rapp picked up his second WCC Freshman of the Week honor on Dec. 31 after averaging 19.5 points and 6.0 rebounds in games against Washington State and Oregon State.
• Rapp is averaging team-highs of 13.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, both tops among all freshmen in the WCC. He also leads the entire WCC in three-point percentage (.361) and three-pointers made per game (2.5), is second in FT percentage (.887) and fourth in blocks per game (1.3).
• Among freshmen nationally, Rapp leads the nation in free throw percentage and three-point percentage, is second in three's made (48), 10th in blocked shots (24), 16th in rebounding and 20th in scoring.
• Rapp recorded his first career double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds against Kansas City on Dec. 10 and added another with 10 points and 10 boards at Washington State. He has scored 20-plus points three times this year.

TOUGH SCHEDULE TO START LEAGUE PLAY
• Portland's first five WCC games were against the top five teams in the NCAA Net Rankings entering league play.
• The Pilots lost to Washington State, Oregon State, Gonzaga, Saint Mary's and San Francisco, who all still rank in the Top 80 of the NET.

DELANO DELIVERING
• Redshirt freshman PG Vincent Delano has started the team's last 10 games and led the Pilots with 12 points at Gonzaga.
• Delano has scored in double figures six times this season, including season highs of 18 points, six rebounds and five assists in a win against Denver on Dec. 1.
• The speedy guard also was good at Oregon with 12 points and five rebounds as the Pilots pushed Oregon to overtime on the road.
• Delano is averaging 7.1 points per game and is leading the team with 24 steals.

GEBBERS GARNERS CRUNCH TIME MINUTES
• Redshirt freshman G Kelson Gebbers missed the first five games of the season coming off a back injury, but has made an significant impact recently.
• After seeing the court sparsely in four prior games, he played a season-high 22 minutes in the team's win against Lafayette on Dec. 21 and scored a career best 10 points. He drilled 2 of 3 three-pointers, including a clutch once to ice the game in the final two minutes, and made four key free throws midway through the second half. He also grabbed four rebounds with two assists a steal and no turnovers against the Leopards
• Gebbers followed with six points, two rebounds and two steals in the WCC opener against Washington State on Dec. 28 and has played solid minutes off the bench in the last six contests.

FRESHMEN PHENOMS
• The Pilots regularly have had four freshmen on the court at the same time often throughout 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 44 percent of Portland's total scoring this year. Austin Rapp is Portland's leading scorer (13.9), while redshirt freshman PG Vincent Delano and freshman G Mikah Ballew add 7.1 and 6.2 points per game, respectively.
• Rapp has been a regular among Australian Youth National Teams and led 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 moved into the starting lineup for the last 10 games, while Ballew has played quality crunch time minutes all season.
• Todd Jones has started eight games and battled foul trouble, but is still contributing 3.2 points and 2.8 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.
• RS freshman Kelson Gebbers also moved into the rotation the last eight games.

BALLISAGER WEBB BALLING OUT
• Junior C Jermaine Ballisager Webb has made the most of his opportunities and has started seven of the team's last eight games. The 7-1 transfer from American University was instrumental in Portland's 101-90 overtime win against Denver on Dec. 1. 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 65 percent from the field this year including 7-of-10 from three-point range.

AUSSIE CONNECTIONS
• Head Coach Shantay 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 8.7 points per game this year, but missed the last two games (back) and is day-to-day.
• He scored 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting against UC Santa Barbara in his season debut. Masic then scored a season high 27 points in the win against Denver on Dec. 1.
• Masic sat out the 2022-23 season following the denial of an immediate eligibility waiver by the NCAA. In his Pilot debut last year, 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 added a career high 32 points in a road win at North Dakota.

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 SAN DIEGO
• The Toreros (4-16, 1-6 WCC) have Division I wins against Boston U (74-60), Idaho (68-61) and Pacific (75-65). The lone common non-league opponent with the Pilots was Long Beach State, which beat USD 76-70.  
• Kjay Bradley Jr. is the only Torero averaging double figures at 14.5 points per game.
• Head coach Steve Lavin is in his third year with the Toreros.

PORTLAND-SAN DIEGO SERIES HISTORY
Overall: USD leads 62-36
H / A / N: 18-28 / 13-31 / 5-3
Streak: L2
Last 10 / 5: 4-6 / 4-1
Last Meeting: San Diego 71, Pilots 66 (Feb. 15, 2024 at San Diego)

ABOUT GONZAGA
• The Bulldogs (14-6, 5-2 WCC) are ranked No. 19 in the latest NCAA Net Rankings and receiving votes in both the AP and Coaches Top 25.
• Gonzaga has notable wins against Arizona State (88-80), San Diego State (80-67) and Indiana (89-73). GU has losses to West Virginia (86-78, ot), Kentucky (90-89, ot), UConn (77-71) and UCLA (65-62). WCC losses came at Oregon State (97-89) and at home vs. Santa Clara (103-99) last week.
• Graham Ike leads six Zags in double figures at 17.2 points per game, while Ryan Nembhard leads the WCC and is second nationally in assists per game (9.7).
• Head coach Mark Few has led Gonzaga to the NCAA Tournament in each of his 25 seasons at the helm.

PORTLAND-GONZAGA SERIES DETAILS
Series: Gonzaga leads 110-66; H / A / N: 35-45 / 22-52 / 9-13
Streak: L18
Last Meeting: #19 Gonzaga 81, Pilots 50 (Jan. 2, 2025 at Gonzaga)

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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