SPOKANE, Wash. – Following a break for final exams, the Whitworth University men's basketball team returns to action this week hosting the Quality Inn Oakwood Classic on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday's games are Linfield vs. Mary Hardin-Baylor at 4:00 pm, followed by Whitworth hosting Saint John's at 6:00 pm. On Wednesday Linfield and SJU play at 4:00, while the Pirates host UMHB at 6:00. The Whitworth games can be heard live in Spokane on KSBN 1230 am and on the internet at KSBN.net.
Check the Whitworth men's basketball schedule for other live links to this weekend's games.
The Pirates: Whitworth (4-4 overall, 1-1 NWC) remained even this season with a split of the Northwest Conference opening weekend in Tacoma.
The Pirates shot well from three-point range on December 2nd at Puget Sound, but committed too many turnovers to hold off the Loggers in an 82-75 loss. UPS scored 24 points off 18 Pirate turnovers in the game. The team featured eight ties and eight lead changes before the Loggers took the lead for good with under nine minutes to play. Michael Smith scored 22 points, making 6 of 8 from three-point range. Jerry Twenge added 20 points, going 12 of 13 at the free throw line. JT McDermott finished with 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Whitworth made 12 of 26 (46.2%) from beyond the arc.
The Pirates trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half before rallying to beat Pacific Lutheran 81-80 in overtime on December 3rd. Whitworth trailed by four points with 22 seconds left in overtime, but Smith and Rowan Anderson made three-pointers for force a tie. Freshman Diego Jaques stole an inbounds pass and got fouled with 1.4 seconds left. He made one of two free throws for the winning point. Jake Holtz scored a career-high 22 points to go along with eight rebounds. McDermott totaled 15 points (13 after halftime) and nine boards. Smith and Anderson scored a dozen apiece. One night after making 46% from three-point range, the Pirates missed their first 13 tries from beyond the arc, but finished 4 of 6 down the stretch.
The Opponents: Saint John's University comes into the week 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (MIAC). The Johnnies went 23-5 overall and 17-2 in the MIAC last season, winning the regular season and MIAC tournament titles before falling in the first round of the NCAA Div. III tournament. SJU comes into the week on a five-game winning streak. Ryan Thissen (Jr., W) earned second team All-MIAC in 2022 and leads averages 17.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. He also leads the squad in assists (3.7 per game) and steals (11 total). Sophomore guard Kooper Vaughn adds 13.4 points per game and makes 50% of his three-pointers. He was a third team All-MIAC honoree in 2022. Whitworth and Saint John's have never played in men's basketball.
Mary Hardin-Baylor defeated Howard Payne and Sul Ross State at home late last week to improve to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the ASC. Despite the slower-than-anticipated start, big things are expected from the Crusaders, who went 28-3 overall and 17-2 in the American Southwest Conference in 2021-22. UMHB advanced to the NCAA DIII quarterfinals (Elite 8) before losing in overtime. Josiah Johnson (Sr., G) was a preseason D3hoops.com first team All-American after earning ASC and Regional Player of the Year honors last winter. He averages 20.8 points and 2.6 steals per game. Ty Prince (Sr., W) adds 15.5 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. He was a first team All-ASC selection and the ASC Tournament MVP last season. Whitworth is 2-1 in previous games vs. the Crusaders, winning the most recent meeting 68-58 on December 30, 2015 in Las Vegas.
Pirates picked to win: Whitworth is listed at the top of the 2022-23 Northwest Conference coaches poll with seven first place votes and 63 points. The Pirates are coming off a 22-5 record in 2021-22, including a share of the NWC regular season title (13-3). Whitman, who Whitworth defeated in the NWC tournament championship game, is second in the poll with two first place votes and 56 points.
JT Mc "Does" it: JT McDermott (Gr.) has been Whitworth's top scorer the last two seasons and currently leads the team in scoring average (15.3 points per game). The starting post also passes well (3.1 assists per game) and leads the team in steals (13).
McDermott was a first team All-Northwest Conference honoree in 2021-22 after he averaged 14.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: 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. Smith currently averages 13.1 points per game and leads the team in three-point percentage (43.5).
No Holtz Barred: Jake Holtz currently leads the Northwest Conference in rebounding (7.8 rpg) through eight games this season. He is averaging 13.6 points per game while making 58.3% of his field goals. He leads the team with seven blocked shots.
The Point Man: Rowan Anderson is in his third season as Whitworth's starting point guard. He averages 9.3 points per game and leads the team in assists (3.4 apg).
Jerry, As Needed: Jerry Twenge, who averages 11.0 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, has stepped up in a variety of ways this season. Twenge has led the Pirates in scoring (22 vs. Roanoke), rebounding (8 vs. Roanoke), assists (twice, including 5 vs. CLU) and steals (twice, including 4 vs. PLU).
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 394-84 (.824), an amazing run of success matched by few other college teams at any level. Within the Northwest Conference, Whitworth has won 199 of its last 224 (.888).
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 201-21 (.905) at home. Whitworth has won its last 22 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 110-33 (.769) away from home, 82-24 (.773) 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. His record was 58-16 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 break for the Christmas holiday before hosting Muhlenberg (Pa.) on December 31st in the final non-conference game of the season.
