Portland Pilots (7-14, 2-6 WCC) vs. Gonzaga Bulldogs (14-6, 5-2 WCC)
Date:Â Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025
Time:Â 5 p.m. (PT)
Place:Â Portland, Ore.
Arena:Â Chiles Center
TV:Â Portland's CW/ESPN+
Radio:Â 910 ESPN Portland
Live Coverage Links: Video IÂ
Audio IÂ
Stats
Tickets:Â PortlandPilots.com
THIS WEEK
• The Pilots (7-14, 2-6 WCC) defeated San Diego on Thursday and will look to continue their winning ways when they host the Gonzaga Bulldogs (14-6, 5-2) Saturday at 5 p.m. to 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.
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GAME COVERAGE
• Saturday's game is televised live on Portland's CW (KRCW) and simulcast on ESPN+ with Ann Schatz 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 call the action. 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: Pilots 92, San Diego 82 (Jan. 23, 2025 @Portland)
• Max Mackinnon tied a school record with 43 points as the Pilots cruised to a 92-82 win over the Toreros. Chris Austin chipped in 20 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Austin Rapp added 17 points and eight rebounds.
• Portland shot 45 percent overall and made 13-of-28 three-pointers compared to 40 percent shooting and 9-of-18 from downtown for the Toreros. The Pilots had 21 assists in the game compared to just 11 for San Diego.
• The Pilots led from start-to-finish as Mackinnon caught fire and buried three early triples and then made three straight free throws to give the Pilots their largest lead of the period at 17-5. The Toreros cut the deficit to one before Portland took a 42-37 lead into the break on the back of Mackinnon's 23 first half points.
• The margin extended in the second half after a dunk by Bol Dengdit and three-pointer from Austin made it 67-50 midway through the half. Mackinnon went on a run with back-to-back threes for an 82-61 lead with 3:02 left and then scored eight more points in the closing minutes to match the program record.
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MACKINNON TO THE MAX
• Elon junior transfer Max Mackinnon's performance against San Diego Thursday will go down as one of the best individual efforts in program history. He matched the previous school record set by UP Hall of Famer Matt Houle, who had 43 points against San Francisco on Feb. 13, 1992. Mackinnon finished 9-for-17 from the field, drilled a career-best 7-of-9 three-pointers, and converted 18-of-22 free throws in the contest. He also passed the 1,000-point mark for his career, needing 32 points entering the game.
• The Brisbane, Australia native made his first 11 free throws to extend his streak of consecutive makes to 40 before having the streak broken late in regulation.
• Mackinnon has delivered during WCC play averaging 19.5 points during conference games, good for third in the league. His 51.6 percent from the field is seventh in WCC contests, while he is second in free throw percentage (.918).
• Mackinnon erupted for a then-career high 28 points at San Francisco on Jan. 9. He was 11-for-15 from the field and made all four of his free throw attempts. He also went for 22 points, five rebounds and three assists at home vs. Washington State.
• Mackinnon was 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.
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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 13.9 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, both tops among all freshmen in the WCC. He also leads the entire WCC in three-point percentage (.354) and three-pointers made per game (2.6), is third in FT percentage (.890) 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 (51), 13th in blocked shots (25), 14th in rebounding and 19th 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.
•The Melbourne, Australia native is No. 3 on the UP Freshman charts for threes made (51) trailing only Juanse Gorosito (61, 2022-23) and Jared Stohl (58, 2007-08).
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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 Washington State and followed with 20 points, five rebounds and five assists against San Diego Thursday. Austin has scored 20 or more points three times in the last eight games.
• He recorded a game-high 20 points in the 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.
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DENGDIT DOING WORK
• RS sophomore F Bol Dengdit erupted for a career high 21 points and matched his career best with 13 rebounds in Portland win against Pacific on Jan. 16.
• 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. He reached double figures in scoring in nine of the team's last 11 games and added four double-doubles.
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DELANO DELIVERING
• Redshirt freshman PG Vincent Delano has started the team's last 11 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 6.9 points per game and is leading the team with 26 steals.
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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 42 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 6.9 and 5.9 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 11 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 2.9 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 nine games.
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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.
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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 three 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.
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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).
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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), UCLA (65-62), Oregon State (97-89) and Santa Clara (103-99).
• 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.
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PORTLAND-GONZAGA SERIES DETAILS
Series: Gonzaga leads 110-66; H / A / N: 35-45 / 22-52 / 9-13
Streak: L19
Last Meeting: #19 Gonzaga 81, Pilots 50 (Jan. 2, 2025 at Gonzaga)
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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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