Sat. 1/7, 5pm vs Pepp: Military Appreciation Night

Military Appreciation Night at Saturday’s Basketball Game

PORTLAND, Ore. --- The University of Portland will recognize the service of all armed forces personnel with a Military Appreciation Night scheduled for Saturday’s men’s basketball game versus the Pepperdine Waves. All active and retired military will receive free admission to the game, while the 204th Army Band, stationed at Vancouver, Wash., will perform prior to the game and at halftime. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. and gates will open at 3:30 p.m.

In addition to free tickets, military personnel will get discounted tickets of $5 each for family members.

The 204th Army Band, under the command of Chief Warrant Officer Robert Nicholas, is comprised of over 45 musicians, and performs throughout the Pacific Northwest at special ceremonies, public events and other community gatherings. The band will perform the National Anthem prior to tip-off and then a salute to veterans with an armed forces medley at halftime.

Tickets to University of Portland basketball games are available through all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.com, or through the Pilot Box Office (M-F, 11 am – 5 pm). Tickets can also be purchased at the door 90 minutes prior to tip-off.

• Pepperdine went 0-for-10 on 3-pointers in the 74-45 loss to St. Mary’s on Dec. 31. It was the first time since March 2, 1996, that the Waves had failed make a 3-pointer in a game. That wasn’t the only reason the Waves were handled so easily at home by St. Mary’s, but it was one of them.

• Winning the conference opener is not unusual for the Waves, nor does it necessarily mean good things lie ahead. The 77-61 victory over San Francisco represented the fourth straight year Pepperdine has won its conference opener. But the Waves finished 5-9 in the conference in 2009, 3-11 in 2010 and 5-9 last season.

• Pepperdine C Corbin Moore had a career-high 19 points and 12 rebounds against San Francisco on Dec. 28, his fourth double-double of the season and his second in a row.

• Two days after scoring a season-high 77 points in the win over San Francisco, Pepperdine was limited to its second lowest output of the season in a 75-45 loss to St. Mary’s on Dec. 31. The only time the Waves had scored fewer points was when they scored 39 in a loss to UCLA. In some ways, the game against St. Mary’s represented a worse offensive showing, because that game was at home and because the Gaels play at a much faster pace than UCLA, which typically leads to higher scores. Pepperdine scored only 18 points in the first half, and it had 26 points with 11 minutes left in the game, by which point the Gaels had a 28-point lead.

Pilots Host Pepperdine on Saturday at 5 PM

Portland Pilots (4-11, 1-1) vs. Pepperdine Waves (7-7, 1-2)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012
Tip-off: 5:00 p.m.
Location: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center (4,852)
Television: CSN Northwest
Radio: 800 AM
Overall Series: 32-53
At UP: 17-23
At PEP: 13-25
At Neutral: 2-5
Last: PEP 66, POR 64 (Feb. 10, 2011 at Pepperdine)

COMING UP
• Portland (4-11, 1-1 WCC) looks to complete a West Coast Conference weekend home sweep as the Pepperdine Waves (7-7, 1-2) visit the Chiles Center on Saturday at 5 p.m.
• The Pilots are coming off of an 84-74 win over Santa Clara, while the Waves dropped a 73-45 decision at Gonzaga on Thursday.
• Saturday’s game will be televised live on Comcast SportsNet Northwest with Scott Lynn, Bob Weiss, and Abby Chin calling the action.
• All Portland basketball games will be broadcast live on True Talk 800 AM, with a 30-minute pregame show. Bill Johnson will call the action courtside and an audio simulcast will also be available on www.PilotsVideo.com.


TICKETS AND PROMOTIONS
• Saturday is Military Appreciation Night and all active and retired military will receive free admission to the game. The 204th Army Band, based in Vancouver, Wash., will perform the national anthem and a halftime medley.
• Tickets are still available for all Portland home games are still available through all Ticketmaster outlets, online at ticketmaster.com, or through the Pilot Box Office (M-F, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.). Tickets may also be purchased at the door 90 minutes prior to tipoff each game. Call the Pilot Box Office at (503) 943-7525 with any questions.


ABOUT THE PILOTS
• The Pilots snapped a seven-game losing streak with the win over Santa Clara.
• Sophomore F Ryan Nicholas leads the Pilots in scoring (11.3) and rebounding (7..
• UP underclassmen are accounting for 77 percent of the minutes played and 78 percent of the team’s scoring thus far.
• Portland has outrebounded 10 of 15 opponents this year.
• The Pilots played one of the most difficult non-conference schedules in the nation, including nine of 13 games away from the Chiles Center. Portland’s strength of schedule entering Friday is No. 4 nationally, according to KenPom.com.
• Sophomore C Riley Barker (knee) has missed the last eight games due to injury and will not be available on Saturday.
• Portland is 0-8 on the road this year, with two of those losses coming against ranked opponents (#2 Kentucky, #23 Saint Louis).
• Head coach Eric Reveno and all three assistant coaches return for their sixth year together on The Bluff, the longest current stretch of any Division I coaching staff in the nation.
• Portland is coming off of back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time ever.
• The Pilots were invited to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) for the third consecutive season in 2011.
• Portland returns two starters and nine lettermen from last year’s team that finished 20-12 overall and 7-7 in the WCC.
• All nine UP graduates in the last two years and have gone on to play pro ball.
• The Pilots were picked to finish seventh in the nine-team West Coast Conference, while senior G Nemanja Mitrovic was named to the preseason all-conference team.


ABOUT PEPPERDINE
• The Waves (7-7, 1-2) dropped a 73-45 decision at Gonzaga on Thursday. Previously, Pepperdine defeated San Francisco (77-61) and lost to Saint Mary’s (74-45) in Malibu.
• Pepperdine’s biggest wins have come at Arizona State (66-60) and at home versus Hawaii (73-67).
• Key losses have come at UCLA (62-39) and at Washington State (67-56).
• Pepperdine is last in the WCC in points per game (59.6) and field goal pct. (.390), but is third in points allowed (62.4) and field goal pct. defense (.403).
• The Waves are led by senior F Taylor Darby (11.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg) and senior C Corbin Moore (10.6 ppg, 8.4 rpg).
• Six players are averaging six or more points in Pepperdine’s balanced offensive attack, while junior G Caleb Willis dishes out a team high 4.1 assists per game.
• Former Pepperdine guard Marty Wilson is in his first year as head coach of the Waves after serving as associate head coach under Tom Asbury the last three seasons.


LINEUP NOTES
• Sophomore C Riley Barker has missed the last eight games (knee) and will not be available on Saturday.
• Head coach Eric Reveno has used six different starting lineups this year.
• Sophomore Ryan Nicholas is the only Pilot to start all 15 games this year, while 10 different Pilots have started at least one game.
• Three different freshmen have started at least four games.


FRESHMEN FIRSTS
• Portland’s highly-touted four true freshmen have each appeared in all 15 games and are all averaging more than 14.5 minutes per game.
• Thomas van der Mars (Gouda, Netherlands) has started the last 10 games and is averaging a freshman-best 8.1 points and 4.9 rebounds. He also is third in the WCC in field goal percentage (.552) after finishing with 10 points and seven rebounds in just 15 minutes versus Santa Clara.
• Kevin Bailey (Clovis, Calif./East Clovis HS) has started the last seven games and has reached double figures four times this season. He played one of his best all-around games against Santa Clara, holding the league’s leading scorer, Kevin Foster, to 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting. Bailey also scored nine points on only five shot attempts.
• Dorian Cason (Fontana, Calif./Summit HS) averages 17.0 minutes per game and is the team’s third leading rebounder (4.5).
• David Carr (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic HS) started the first four games at guard and is averaging 14.5 minutes per game. He recorded a career-high 11 points to go with three rebounds against Santa Clara.
• Redshirt freshman F John Bailey (Mesa, Ariz./Dobson HS) played a season-high 10 minutes against SCU and responded with highs of seven points, five rebounds and a blocked shot.


NICHOLAS’ TIME IS NOW
• After sitting behind All-WCC forward Luke Sikma and four-year starting center Kramer Knutson last season as a freshman, Ryan Nicholas is off to a fast start this year.
• Making his first 15 career starts, Nicholas is averaging team-highs of 11.3 points (17th in the WCC) and 7.8 rebounds per game (fourth in the WCC).
• He recorded his first career double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds in the season-opener against FAU. He has since topped those career highs with 19 points versus Santa Clara and 13 rebounds at Gonzaga.


DOUGLAS GIVEN THE KEYS
• Sophomore PG Tim Douglas moved into the starting lineup during WCC play last season, but missed the team’s final three games due to injury (all losses). He was voted team co-captain by his peers entering this season.
• He was named the WCC Player of the Week twice as a freshman, joining Elias Harris (Gonzaga, 2010), Patrick Mills (Saint Mary’s, 2008), Darrell Tucker (San Francisco, 2000) and Greg Anthony (Portland, 1987) as the only freshmen in league history to do so.
• Douglas is leading the Pilots in assists (51) and second on the team in scoring (10.6).

Military Appreciation Night at Saturday’s Basketball Game

Pilots Complete Home Sweep with 53-43 win over Pepperdine

PORTLAND, Ore. --- Freshman guard Kevin Bailey scored a season-high 15 points and sophomore forward Ryan Nicholas added 11 points and nine rebounds to lead the Portland Pilots to a 53-43 win over the Pepperdine Waves before 2,206 fans at the Chiles Center on Saturday. Portland (5-11) won its second straight game to improve to 2-1 in West Coast Conference play, while the Waves drop to 7-8 overall and 1-3 in league action.

The Pilots played suffocating defense for the second game in row, holding the Waves to 31 percent shooting from the field and 0-for-14 from three-point range. On Thursday, Portland limited the Santa Clara Broncos to 38 percent shooting in an 84-74 win.

Portland has struggled from three-point range all season, but found the touch on Saturday and finished 7-for-12 from beyond the arc. Portland shot 38 percent from the field and committed just 10 turnovers, compared to Pepperdine’s 14 giveaways.

After a slow start offensively to the game, the Pilots came alive late in the first period and ran off a 9-2 run capped by a Nicholas jumper to take a 21-15 lead. Back-to-back three-pointers by senior Nemanja Mitrovic and Bailey and a dunk by freshman Thomas van der Mars took Portland into the half with a 29-19 lead.

The margin would grow to 42-25 on another Nicholas jumper with 11:20 remaining, but Pepperdine had one last surge. The Waves pulled within eight at 47-39 with 5:56 remaining as the Pilots went nearly six minutes without a point. Freshman guard David Carr buried a corner three-pointer with 2:40 left to put the lead back to double-digits as the Pilots would hold on for the win.

Senior Taylor Darby led the Waves with 14 points and eight rebounds, while freshman Jordan Baker added 12 points off the bench for Pepperdine.

Portland will look to extend its winning streak as the team hits the road for a pair of games in the Bay Area. The Pilots will face the San Francisco Dons on Thursday at 7 p.m. and then take on the Saint Mary’s Gaels on Saturday at 8 p.m. live on Comcast Bay Area and tape-delayed for a 9 p.m. start on Comcast SportsNet Northwest. Both games will be aired live on True Talk 800 AM (KPDQ) with a 30-minute pregame show.

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:I tried the famous pasta tonight. Very nice; I can see why everyone wanted it back.

DoubleDipper wrote:

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:I tried the famous pasta tonight. Very nice; I can see why everyone wanted it back.

But what about the Army Band I saw that a few of the Troops sat in with the PP P-Band in the first half; what did you think?

I'm a fan, not a musician, you can be candid

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:The inside story on the season't biggest controversy! A food review! Color photos! Some actual basketball discussion!

http://www.midmajority.com/p/2428

It's good to see a couple of nice wins at home, and the stat sheet will tell you what the Pilots did well this weekend. There's one factor that no statistical model will take into account however: When pasta is served at the Chiles Center concessions, Portland is 2-0.

When pasta is served at the Chiles Center concessions, Portland is 2-0.