THIS WEEK
Jan. 13: vs. Santa Clara, 7 p.m.
Jan. 15: vs. San Francisco, 7 p.m.

THIS WEEK’S OPPONENTS
Santa Clara (9-6/0-0): The Broncos won 73-70 at Nevada for their fourth straight win. Nathan Fast had a game-high 23 points in the win, leading four players in double figures. Fast leads the team in scoring (14.3 ppg), and adds 20 assists and 14 steals. Brian Jones adds 13.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists. The Broncos average 65.5 points per game on 40% field goal shooting, 72.7% at the free throw line, and 37 rebounds. Opponents are averaging 67.1 points on 40.3% field goal shooting, 67.6% at the free throw line, and 36.5 rebounds. The Pilots are 19-38 all-time against Santa Clara, 17-30 in West Coast conference games. The Broncos have won eight of the last 10 meetings, including the last four. Last season, SCU beat Portland 69-67 (@SCU) and 64-62 (@UP).

San Francisco (12-1/0-0): Possibly the early surprise of the conference, the Dons defeated Boise State 55-54 for their 12th straight win after a 71-61 season-opening loss at Maryland. Senior center Kenyon Jones is second in the league in scoring (17.1 ppg) and third in rebounding (8.0 rpg). James Lee adds 11.5 points and 5.0 rebounds, while Ali Thomas adds 10.1 points and 3.1 assists. The Dons average 73.7 points per game on 46.7% field goal shooting, 70.8% free throw shooting, and 41.1 rebounds. Opponents are averaging 58.8 points on 36.2% field goal shooting, 68.4% free throws, and 31.5 rebounds. The Pilots are 18-29 all-time against San Francisco, 16-24 in WCC games. The Dons have won four of the last 10 meetings, but the teams have split the last four games. Portland won the last meeting, a 65-61 home win, while USF won 65-60 in San Francisco.

PORTLAND IN WCC OPENERS: Portland is 8-15 in 23 seasons of West Coast Conference openers, and 2-3 under Rob Chavez (Portland lost 64-51 last year at home to Pepperdine and 72-47 to open the 1997-98 season at Pepperdine; they lost 66-61 in 1996-97 vs. Saint Mary’s and won 87-86 at Saint Mary’s in 1995-96; Portland opened the Chavez WCC era with an 81-79 win at San Francisco in 1994-95).
Portland has faced Santa Clara just once as a WCC opening opponent: an 83-60 loss at SCU in the 1987-88 season.

RECENT RESULTS
Portland 83, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 75: Ryan Jones and Tim Frost combined for 44 points, leading Portland to an 83-75 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Jones scored nine of his game-high 24 points in the final 3:18 as his 3-pointer at 3:18 broke a 69-69 tie, and sent Portland (6-7) on a 14-6 run to close the game. Frost added a career-high 20 points with seven rebounds and four blocks, as the Pilots snapped a two-game losing streak.
Aaron Eneas led TAMUCC with a career-high 20 points, while Michael Hicks added 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Vladimir Ryzhov (12), Lee Denmon (11) and Toby Thompson (11), also scored in double figures for the Islanders.
The Pilots, who came into the game shooting less than 57% at the free throw line, were 19-of-27 in the second half alone and finished 25-of-34 (73.5%). Portland also shot 50% from the field (27-54), and outrebounded the Islanders 38-35.
The game saw 21 lead changes and 11 ties, and neither team led by more than seven points until Portland’s 82-73 edge on Troy Collins’ dunk with 13 seconds left in the game.

Boise State 67, Portland 55: Abe Jackson scored 21 points and Clint Hordemann added 15 to lead Boise State to a 67-55 victory over Portland.
With Boise State leading 38-37 with 7:47 left in the game, Jackson hit two free throws off a technical foul on Portland's Ryan Jones and followed with a 3-point basket to put the Broncos ahead for good.
Jones led Portland (5-7) with 20 points, while Tim Frost and Troy Collins added nine points each.
Boise State (6-4) led 23-21 at halftime, but the Pilots took a brief 30-28 lead with 13:20 remaining on a basket by Jones. After Jackson put Boise State ahead, the Broncos widened their lead to 54-42 on a bucket and free throws by Justin Lyons, who had 10 points.
Portland outscored Boise State from the field, hitting 21 of 46 field goal attempts (45.7%), compared with 19 of 45 for the Broncos. But Boise State compensated from the free throw line, hitting 23 of 31 compared with nine of 17 for the Pilots.
In the second half, Portland was 12-of-21 from the field (57.1%), but Boise State made 18 of 25 free throw attempts in the final 20 minutes.

FROST LEADS RECORD-TYING PERFORMANCE
Freshman center Tim Frost’s four blocks vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi led Portland to a single-game record tying 10 blocks, matching the previous game record of 10 blocks, set by the Pilots against Santa Clara in 1988.
In addition to Frost’s quartet of swats, Troy Collins and Bryan Mills each had two blocks, while Travis Andrews and Diaby Kamara each had one.
The Pilots are on pace to break the Portland season record for blocks (91 - 3.25 per game), set by the 1987-88 team. Portland is averaging 3.77 blocks per game on 49 blocks in 13 games.

LET’S MAKE THIS HAPPEN MORE OFTEN: Counting the Jan. 6 game vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi - in which Ryan Jones (24) and Tim Frost (20) combined for 44 points - Portland has had two 20-point scorers in the same game just nine times in the last six seasons.
Travis Andrews and Ryan Jones accomplished the feat last season against Long Island. Before that, the 1994-95 team had four games of two 20-pointers. The 1995-96 team had three games of double 20-pointers.
The common thread in the research? Portland is 7-0 under Rob Chavez when two players score at least 20 points each in the same game for 44 or less combined points. However, Portland is 0-2 under Chavez when two players combine for more than 45 points (1-28-95 at SMC - Lemont Daniels 22, Canaan Chatman 27; 2-10-95 at LMU - Chatman 27, Curt Ranta 24).

PILOTS ROLL UP CAREER NUMBERS
Tim Frost (20 points, 27 minutes, 2 assists), Bryan Mills (2 blocks), Troy Collins (3 steals, tied), and Diaby Kamara (1 block), set or tied previous career highs, as the Pilots continue to score well statistically.
At CS-Sacramento, Brian Jackson, Travis Andrews and Tim Frost set new career high marks. Jackson dished out four assists, Andrews had nine assists and tied his career mark with two blocks, and Frost had eight rebounds.
Against Seattle, six Pilots established new career high marks in seven categories. Troy Collins’ 12 rebounds was the only total by a starter to best a career high, with the reserves contributing 43 of the team’s 82 points.
Sophomore guard Ross Jorgusen’s three assists were a career high.
Freshman guard Bryan Mills established new career bests in four categories: points (12), assists (5), blocks (1) and steals (2).
Freshman forward Diaby Kamara got into the act in a huge way, just missing a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds. He also set new standards in blocks (1) and minutes (21).
Freshman forward Daniel Sandrin scored his first points as a Pilot (3), and also had his first assist, and played nine minutes.
Freshman guard Kevin Woodberry notched career-highs in rebounds (6) and blocks (1).

COLLINS IS GOOD TO THE LAST DROP: Senior forward Troy Collins has been like a good cup of coffee - good to the last drop.
Against Idaho State, Collins had his third career double-double with 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, to go with one assist, a career-best tying three blocks, and two steals - in only 26 minutes of play.
He played only 19 minutes vs. Seattle, but grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds, and added eight points, three assists and one steal.
Collins leads Portland in rebounding (6.5 rpg), is second on the team in scoring (10.5 ppg), third in assists (1.8 apg), and blocks (0.8 bpg), and adds 13 steals while shooting 54.1% from the field (53-of-98).

WORK, WORK, WORK: Senior forward Brian Jackson has waited his entire career to produce quality minutes, and over the last six games, he’s been showing up with career numbers.
In those games, Jackson has averaged 6.7 points (40), 5.0 rebounds (30), and 2.0 assists (12). He’s also averaged 24.5 minutes per game.
A career 54% field goal shooter, Jackson is second on the team this season at 53.2%%, and is averaging 5.2 points and 3.2 rebounds.

STEVIE WONDER WOULD LOVE THESE GUYS: Portland’s backcourt of Ryan Jones and Travis Andrews nearly broke Sac State’s back on Dec. 30, combining for 27 of Portland’s 59 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, two blocks and one steal.
Jones had 16 points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal, while Andrews added 11 points, eight rebounds, a career-best nine assists, and tied his career high with two blocks.
At Loyola, the duo played together like Ebony & Ivory (side by side on my piano keyboard). The two combined for 35 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
Jones scored 12 of his team-high 18 points in the first half, including a run of eight straight points. Jones also finished with a career-best six rebounds.
Andrews added 17 points and tied his then career-high with seven assists. He also had a personal run of eight straight points in the second half, and added five rebounds.

IS IT JUST ME, OR IS IT COLD IN HERE?: Baseball has its Mendoza Line for batters hitting less than .200, so it reasons that basketball should have a line for free throw shooters. After starting the season hitting just 42-of-87 free throw attempts (48.3%), the Pilots have steadily improved their standing at the place where shots are free.
Portland won its game over Ohio with a 20-of-29 performance, raising the season mark to 57.3%. Philip Dejworek was 8-of-8 in the Ohio game.
Of course, in the Seattle win, a game which saw all 12 players score, the Pilots were just 15-of-26 at the line - all eight players who shot a free throw missed at least one.
Portland reached a new low in the Sac State loss, making only six of 14 free throws, dropping their season mark to 56.5%.
The Pilots were just 9 of 17 at Boise State, lowering the season mark to 56.2%.
Everything changed against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, as the Pilots nailed down an 83-75 win with a season-best 25-of-34 effort (73.5%), including 19-of-27 in the second half.
Ryan Jones was 9-of-12 against TAM-CC, Troy Collins was 5-of-6, and Tim Frost was 4-of-5.
In Portland’s seven losses, the Pilots have converted just 53.8% of their free throw attempts, and opponents have made 45 more free throws in just 32 more attempts.

THERE IS GOOD NEWS, REALLY: While the Pilots try to sort out their free throw situation, the team is accomplishing a very important goal: outscoring their opponent.
The Pilots are holding opponents to just 61.2 points per game (#2 in the WCC), have a scoring margin of +3.6 points per game (#5 in the WCC), and opponents are shooting only 39.2% from the field (#3 in the WCC).
Portland is also #2 in the WCC in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.04.

PILOT BASKETBALL NEWS ON THE INTERNET: Up-to-date information on Portland men’s basketball is always just a click away, providing you have internet access at your home or office.
The University of Portland website - www.up.edu/athletics - is updated each Monday with the weekly release and current statistics; and immediately following each game with a brief story.
In addition, Pilot fans can access two other sites for Portland basketball information - www.wccsports.com and www.ncaabasketball.net. The WCC site features stats and information on the eight West Coast Conference schools, while the NCAA Basketballnet site covers every level of men’s and women’s basketball in the nation.
You can even choose Portland as “my team” at the NCAA site, ensuring that you keep current with the Pilots.

IS HE A FRESHMAN?: He probably should have been named Jack (born on Dec. 25), but freshman center Tim Frost living up to his surname with his solid play.
He scored six points, grabbed a career-best seven rebounds, had an assist, two blocks and a steal in his first career start (vs. Loyola), and in his second start (vs. Ohio), he scored a career high 10 points, had four rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal.
At Boise State, Frost had nine points, an assist and a steal.
In the team’s final non-conference game, Frost exploded for a career-high 20 points (8-of-9 from the field), added seven rebounds, 2 assists and 4 blocks.
In five starts, Frost is averaging 9.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks. Overall, he’s averaging 6.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks.

MULTIPLY BY THE COEFFECIENT OF X, THEN DIVIDE BY YOUR BIRTHDATE PLUS 3: Call them Hustle Points or the Good Hands Team - any way you look at it, these are only numbers.
Using a complex scientific formula (assists + blocks + steals - turnovers, divided by total games played), to determine Portland’s top positive performers, here is the list :
Player Points Per Game
Andrews 43 3.31
Frost 30 2.31
Woodberry 19 1.46
Collins 16 1.23
Mills 16 1.23
Jorgusen 11 1.00
Jackson 7 0.54
Dejworek 5 0.38
Jones 4 0.31
Sandrin 1 0.33
Kamara 1 0.10
Neboh -1 -0.50
TEAM 153 11.77

“CAN WE PLAY EVERY GAME AT HOME?”: Last year, Portland did not fare well away from the Chiles Center. The numbers favored the home floor. Consider the following numbers: Portland was 7-6 at home; 2-12 on the road or neutral.
After 13 games this season and a 6-1 home record, the numbers again tell a story: are they true?
Portland at: Home Road
Scoring: 70.4 58.3
Defense: 57.0 66.2
FG Shooting: 46.2% 41.4%
FT Shooting: 62.9% 50.9%
3fg Shooting: 32.8% 30.7%
Rebounds: 36.9 32.8
Opp. rebounds: 34.4 34.8
Assists: 16.7 13.0
Steals: 7.6 6.2
Blocks: 5.3 2.0

MORE USELESS NUMBERS: The Pilots are averaging 71.2 points in their six wins, and just 59.4 points in seven losses.
The average winning margin is 17.7 points, the average margin in losses is 7.3 points.

IT’S ABOUT TURNOVERS: Spend a day at any basketball practice, at any level, and you’ll hear coaches bark about the same things: rebound, pass, shoot well, defend, and don’t turn the ball over.
Already this season, Portland has an edge in turnovers (+33), and are 2-2 when opponents commit more than 20 turnovers.
Portland’s made its reputation in 1998-99 on defense, and when that defense played well, Portland won. Portland was 7-4 when Pilot opponents committed more than 20 turnovers.

RECORD LISTS NEED UPDATING: Last year, several Pilots neared entry onto the Portland career and season top 10s, and the following are in the career top 10, or on the verge of moving up in the ranks:
•Brian Jackson’s current 53.5% career field goal mark (147-275), ranks 5th all-time;
•Troy Collins’ career 50.9% field goal shooting (213-418), is 10th;
•Tim Frost is tied for 9th (23) on the single-season blocks list.
Travis Andrews needs just seven 3-pointers, 83 assists and 39 steals to reach those top 10s; Ryan Jones needs 31 3-pointers, 47 steals and 188 assists to qualify for top 10s; and Chuks Neboh needs just seven blocks to reach that top 10.
In season records, the following were on the verge of cracking the top 10 in the 1998-99 season:
•Travis Andrews needed 23 assists to tie for 10th (105);
•Ryan Jones needed five steals to tie for 10th (50);
•Chuks Neboh is 4th in blocks (29); needed one to tie for 3rd

TOM’S BEST FRIEND: Head athletic trainer Tom Fregoso has been busy this fall, as a quartet of players started the year off with injuries, most notably returning starter Chukwuma Neboh. The 6-11 Nigerian was Portland’s starting center last year, but has been slow to recover from off-season surgery to correct stress fractures in his leg and finally suited up (but didn’t play) against Ohio.
Neboh played the final six minutes against Seattle, scoring three points with one rebound and one block.

JONES PRESSED DUCKS IN CAREER EFFORT: Sophomore guard Ryan Jones scored 19 of his game and career-high 25 points in the second half against Oregon, 10 of which came in the final 3:00 of the game. Jones was 9-of-16 from the field in the game (3-6 on treys). His 3-pointer at the 3:00 mark pulled Portland to within 62-52, but that was as close as the Pilots could get late in the game.
Jones, the WCC Freshman of the Year last season, followed up that effort with a team-high 11 points in Portland’s win over San Jose State.

LET’S TALK LOW-SCORING: Portland’s 82-33 win over Seattle was just five points off the school record of 28 points allowed vs. Willamette in the 1948-49 season, and ranks third overall in terms of low scores.
Portland’s 39-point defensive effort against San Jose State earlier this season was just the first time since the 1960-61 season that a Pilot team held a Division I opponent under 40 points.
Last season, Portland held NAIA Eastern Oregon to 37 points, but you have to go back to 1960 when the Pilots held Portland State to 36 points to find another sub-40 occurrence.
In fact, since 1946-47 (the first year of basketball on The Bluff), a span of 1,923 games, only 108 Portland opponents have been held under 50 points. Eight of those 108 sub-50 games have come under Rob Chavez, while 50 of the sub-50 games occurred in the first five years of the program.