SPOKANE, Wash. –Whitworth University plays its first men's basketball home game of the 2022-23 season on Thursday night. The Pirates will host Sul Ross State (Texas) at 7:00 pm. The game can be heard live in Spokane on KSBN 1230 am and on the internet at KSBN.net.
Tickets: Digital tickets are required for entrance to the Whitworth Fieldhouse for all fans. Tickets can be purchased in advance using the Hometown Ticketing App. Follow the Tickets link on the schedule for access. Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for senior adults, non-Whitworth students and children. Whitworth students, as well as faculty and staff, get free admission by using an ID number.
The Pirates: Whitworth (0-2) dropped its first two games of the season at The M Club Classic, hosted by the University of Mount Union last weekend. The Pirates have started 0-2 for the first time in a non-COVID-19 season since 1999-00.
Whitworth battled 7th-ranked Mount Union throughout the opener before losing 84-74 in front of a hostile season-opening crowd. The Purple Raiders built a double-digit lead three times and the Pirates climbed back into the game each time. Whitworth got as close as 77-70 with two minutes left, but could get no closer. Jake Holtz had 20 points and eight rebounds, while Michael Smith had 19 points in his Whitworth debut – 15 in the first half. JT McDermott scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half and dished six assists. The Pirates shot 44.6% from the field and had a 37-33 edge in rebounds.
Whitworth took an early lead in the consolation game against Roanoke on Saturday. The Bucs went ahead 50-41 early in the second half before Roanoke rallied and won 86-83 in a game that tipped off only 18 hours after the Pirates' previous game ended. Whitworth shot 52.3% in the game, but the Maroons got to the free throw line 27 times and made 21. Whitworth only got to the free throw line seven times. Holtz had 19 points and seven boards to lead five Pirates in double figures. Jerry Twenge scored 18 and grabbed eight rebounds, Smith finished with 17 points and McDermott had 16 points and four assists. Carson Talbert came off the bench for 10 points.
The Opponents: Sul Ross State comes into Thursday's contest 0-1 this season after an 85-61 loss at Texas Lutheran in the season opener. The Lobos will play an exhibition game at UTEP on Tuesday night before heading to the Pacific Northwest. SRSU, located in Alpine, Texas, went 10-16 overall and 7-13 in the American Southwest Conference last season. The Lobos return their top two players. Forward Julian Parades, a graduate student, averaged 15.2 points and 8.2 rebounds last season, while senior guard Trey Nelson put up 14.4 points per game. Head coach Xavier Webb is in his third season. Whitworth and Sul Ross State have never played in men's basketball.
The Graduates: Whitworth's three graduate students on the 2022-23 roster play significant roles. JT McDermott is back for his final year of eligibility after earning first team All-Northwest Conference recognition in 2021-22 after he averaged 14.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. Rowan Anderson is in his third season as a starting point guard. He put up 8.9 points and 3.3 assists per game last winter. Michael Smith, a former high school teammate of McDermott, has transferred to Whitworth from Sonoma State (NCAA DII), where he started 47 games in two seasons.
Sweet 16: With its win over Lewis & Clark in the 2021-22 regular season finale, Whitworth extended its school record for consecutive seasons with at least 20 victories to 16 in a row. Prior to this current streak, the most 20-win seasons in a row the Pirates had ever had was two (on three different occasions). The NCAA statistics office is granting waivers for streak records that were interrupted by Covid-19 in 2020-21.
Whitworth's streak of 20-win seasons is now the current longest in all of NCAA Division III.
Best of the Decade: Whitworth University concluded the decade of 2010-11 through 2019-20 as the winningest program in NCAA Division III men's basketball, by winning percentage. The Pirates posted a record of 245-43 for a winning percentage of .851. In addition, Whitworth's winning percentage ranked fourth among the top schools in all of NCAA basketball, behind West Liberty (Div. II - .895), Lincoln Memorial (Div. II - .874) and Gonzaga (Div. I - .858). Two of the winningest men's basketball teams in the nation are located within six miles of each other.
The decade included three head coaches for the Pirates, beginning with Jim Hayford in 2010-11, continuing with Matt Logie for eight seasons and concluding with Damion Jablonski in 2019-20.
More Than A Decade of Dominance: Since the beginning of the 2005-06 season (over 16 seasons) the Pirates are 390-82 (.826), an amazing run of success matched by few other college teams at any level. Within the Northwest Conference, Whitworth has won 198 of its last 222 (.892).
Home-Sweet-Home: Whitworth has been stellar in the Whitworth Fieldhouse since the 1990's. During the decade of the 1990s and 2000's Whitworth won more than 84% of its home games. However, since the beginning of the 2005-06 season, the Bucs are 199-21 (.904) at home. Whitworth has won its last 20 games at home.
The Pirates have had two home-court winning streaks of more than 40 games since 1990. A 41-game home court winning streak from early 2009 until December of 2011 was the second-longest in Pirate history. The school record for consecutive home victories is 43, beginning during the 1994-95 season and ending during the 1997-98 season.
Road Warriors: As good as Whitworth is at home, the Pirates have been almost as good away from the Whitworth Fieldhouse over the last decade. Since the start of the 11-12 season, Whitworth is 108-31 (.777) away from home, 80-23 (.777) in true road games.
On the Air Again: Whitworth's men's basketball games are once again carried live this season on KSBN 1230am in Spokane. The relationship between Pirate athletics and KSBN goes back to 1994, a span of more than 25 years. Bud Nameck is in his eighth season as the voice of Whitworth basketball. Nameck has more than 30 years of experience calling college basketball at Gonzaga University and Washington State.
The Coach: Damion Jablonski is in his 12th season on the Pirate coaching staff in 2022-23, and his fourth as head coach of the Pirates. He is currently 58-15 as Whitworth's head coach heading into this season. Jablonski has led Whitworth to the NCAA Division III tournament twice in his previous three years, the only non-tournament year was due to Covid-19. His first year was a rousing success. He went 23-6, led the Pirates to a share of the Northwest Conference championship and to a pair of victories in the NCAA Division III tournament. The Bucs were slated to face top-ranked Swarthmore before the tournament was cancelled. Jablonski was named D3hoops.com West Region Coach of the Year and he coached Ben College to NWC Player of the Year and NABC All-America recognition. Whitworth went 12-5 during the COVID-19 season in 2020-21, including games against NCAA DI Montana, NCAA DII Seattle Pacific and NAIA playoff regular College of Idaho. Whitworth finished 22-5 overall and 13-3 in the NWC in 2021-22 to once again share the regular season title before winning the conference tournament.
Jablonski spent eight years as the top assistant at Whitworth, including six seasons with the title of Associate Head Coach. Over the course of his tenure as an assistant, the Bucs won 215 games, seven Northwest Conference titles and seven NWC tournament crowns. As the head recruiting coordinator, Jablonski was instrumental in continuing the Bucs' tradition of success by helping to recruit high quality student-athletes to Whitworth. His efforts over the past several years have included the addition of First Team All-American Kyle Roach, third team All-American and NWC Player of the Year Kenny Love and First Team All Northwest Conference selection Christian Jurlina.
Coming Up Next: Whitworth will play three games next week. The Pirates will host California Lutheran on Tuesday, November 22 before traveling to Colorado Springs for a Thanksgiving Weekend tournament at Colorado College.
