SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth University is in the NCAA Division III Tournament for the 15th time in school history. The 25th-ranked Pirates found out on Monday morning that they would play Trinity (Texas) in the first round at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas. The game will tip at 3:00 pm (CT) / 1:00 pm (PT) and can be heard live in Spokane on KSBN 1230 am and on the internet at KSBN.net.
Watch the Whitworth men's basketball schedule for other live links to the games.
Ticket Information: Prices for the weekend follow NCAA guidelines. Admission is $15 adults and $10 students, children, seniors. Ages 2 and under are free. Tickets will be available at the Mayborn Campus Center ticket office the day before and the day of the games. Click here for more information.
NCAA Tournament Info: The NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament features a 64-team field with 44 automatic bids and 20 at-large spots. Sixteen teams advance to March 11-12 for the sectional semifinal and sectional final rounds. The survivors of those games move on to Fort Wayne, Indiana for Division III Final Four on March 18-19. Click the link above for the full NCAA Div. III bracket (interactive).
The Pirates: Whitworth (22-4 overall, 13-3 NWC) won the Northwest Conference tournament for the 14th time in school history. The Pirates have won more than half of the 25 NWC tournaments.
Whitworth completely dominated the paint in Saturday's 85-59 NWC tournament championship victory over visiting Whitman. The Pirates scored 62 of their points in the paint and made 59.6% of their baskets, despite making only 2-13 from three-point range. Whitworth opened up a 24-point lead early in the second half with a 19-0 run. JT McDermot made 10 of 12 shots from the floor to lead all players with 23 points. Miguel Lopez contributed 21 points and nine rebounds, finishing one rebound short of his fourth double-double of the season. Jake Holtz came off the bench for 20 points and six rebounds. Whitworth completely controlled the boards, outrebounding the Blues 41-19.
The Pirates built a big first half lead and played strong enough defense in the second half to prevent a PLU comeback in an 80-72 win over the Lutes on Feb. 24 in the semifinals. Whitworth led by 15 late in the first half and took a 46-33 advantage to halftime after hitting 8-14 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes. The Bucs still led by 15 points nearly eight minutes into the second half before hitting an offensive dry spell. The Lutes closed to as close as five points with less than two minutes to go, before JT McDermott made a big shot. McDermott and Rowan Anderson combined to go 7-8 at the free throw line in the final 62 seconds to secure the victory. Garrett Paxton led Whitworth with 17 points, making 5-7 from three-point range. Miguel Lopez added 12 points and six rebounds. McDermott finished with 11 points and six assists. However, the difference in the game may have been bench production. Jojo Anderson, Jake Holtz and Jerry Twenge each scored eight points and the Pirate bench outscored the Lute bench 24-5. Whitworth won two of three against PLU during the 2021-22 season.
All-NWC Recognition: JT McDermott is a first team All-NWC honoree in 2022, while Miguel Lopez and Garrett Paxton are second team selections. McDermott led Whitworth in scoring (14.2 ppg) during the regular season and he led the conference in field goal percentage (61.8%). McDermott's conference-only numbers were even better, with averages of 15.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Lopez started all 24 games this season and he has started every game (40) since arriving on campus for the 2020-21 school year. He averaged 10.9 points and a team-high 6.9 rebounds per game during the regular season. Paxton was Whitworth's most dangerous three-point shooter this season. He led the team in three-pointers made per game (2.0) and he finished the regular season 37.6% from beyond the arc. Paxton averaged 11.3 points per game.
NCAA Tournament History: Whitworth is making its 15th NCAA Division III tournament appearance this season. The Pirates are 14-13 all-time in the NCAA DIII post-season. They have advanced to five Division III sweet 16s since 2009, with an Elite 8 berth in 2011. Four times the team that eliminated Whitworth has gone on to play in the national championship game (UMHB in 2013, Wooster in 2011, Washington Univ. in 2007 and Gustavus Adolphus in 2003). Whitworth reached the round of 16 in 2020 before the tournament was cancelled by Covid-19.
Prior to its history in the NCAA Division III tournament, Whitworth had a post-season history as a member of the NAIA. The Pirates played in the 1996 and 1998 NAIA Division II tournaments, hosted by Northwest Nazarene College in Nampa, Idaho. In 1996 Whitworth advanced to the title game before losing in overtime to Albertson (now College of Idaho) College. In 1998 Whitworth lost on a last-second basket to eventual champion Bethel College (Ind.) in the quarterfinals. Prior to the splitting of the NAIA into divisions in 1992, the Pirates played in the NAIA tournament in Kansas City five times. Whitworth advanced to the quarterfinals in 1952 and then suffered first-round losses in 1954, 1955, 1961 and 1991.
Deep in the Heart…: Whitworth has been to Texas three previous times for the first two rounds of the NCAA Division III tournament. The Pirates have had success, going 5-1 and within a buzzer beater of being unbeaten. In 2012 Whitworth defeated McMurry (Tex.) and Trinity to win the pod in Belton and move on to the Sweet 16. In 2014 at the Richardson pod, the Bucs defeated Trinity in the first round, but lost at UT-Dallas on a three-pointer at the horn in overtime in the second round. In 2020, Whitworth returned to Richardson and beat LeTourneau in the first round, then beat host UT-Dallas in the second round.
The Opponents: Trinity University comes into the NCAA Division III tournament 22-5. The Tigers are making their 11th appearance in the Div. III tournament, and first since 2013-14. Trinity had five players make the 2022 All-Southern Collegiate Athletics Conference team, led by first team honoree Enzo Sechi (Jr., F), who averaged 15.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Senior guard AJ Clark made the second team after averaging 9.4 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. Sophomore guard Tanner Brown also made the second team with his average of 13.0 points per contest.
Trinity finished second in the SCAC behind University of St. Thomas with a 13-3 record. The Tigers defeated Univ. of Dallas (80-78) and Schreiner University (88-65) in the first two rounds of the SCAC tournament, but lost to St. Thomas 77-58 in the finals. St. Thomas is in its final year of transition to Division III, and therefore ineligible for the NCAA Division III tournament. Therefore, Trinity received the SCAC's automatic bid.
Whitworth has a 7-1 all-time record against the Tigers. The last game was 11/9/19 in Spokane and the Pirates won 96-73 in Damion Jablonski's second game ever as Whitworth's head coach. The teams have played twice in the NCAA Division III tournament. Whitworth won 64-53 in Belton, Texas in 2012 in the second round. The Pirates won again in 2014 75-73 in a game played at UT-Dallas in the opening round.
The Other Half: If Whitworth is fortunate enough to defeat Trinity on Friday, the Pirates would play either Mary Hardin-Baylor or Chapman in the second round on Saturday.
Host Mary Hardin-Baylor comes into the tournament 25-2 and ranked 6th in the latest D3hoops.com top-25 poll. The Crusaders won the regular season title in the American Southwest Conference and then rolled through the ASC tournament with victories over Concordia (87-82), UT-Dallas (90-73) and LeTourneau (99-82). Junior guard Josiah Johnson ranks fourth in all of NCAA Division III in scoring average at 25.0 points per game. He adds 5.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game. Senior wing Ty Prince averages 16.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists per contest. Whitworth is 2-1 all-time against UMHB, winning the most recent game 68-58 on Dec. 30, 2015 in Las Vegas. The Crusaders, who are making their 7th all-time NCAA Div. III tournament appearance, defeated the Pirates in the third round of the 2013 national tournament on the way to reaching the Div. III championship game.
Chapman University is 22-4 this season and picked up an at-large bid to the Division III tournament. The Panthers beat Whittier (87-84) and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (78-75) in the first two rounds of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletics Conference tournament before falling to Pomona-Pitzer 76-71 in the championship game. Chapman gets great contributions from a pair of senior guards. Jack Roggin averages 15.4 points, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game. Hayden Moore contributes 14.3 points per contest and makes 41.1% of his three-pointers. Both are first team All-SCIAC honorees. The Panthers are making their fifth appearance in the Division III tournament, their first since 2016. Whitworth is 6-1 all-time against Chapman, including second round NCAA wins in 2010 and 2011. The Pirates won the last meeting 78-69 in Orange, California on Dec. 19, 2016.
Three Way Tie: Whitworth, Pacific Lutheran and Linfield all shared the 2022 Northwest Conference men's basketball regular season championship with 13-3 records. All are considered co-champions and each will be awarded a trophy. It is the first three-way tie atop the NWC men's basketball standings since 1987, when Pacific, Willamette and Whitman shared the crown.
Taking Offense: Whitworth is tied for the lead in the Northwest Conference in scoring average at 83.8 points per game, which ranks 28th in NCAA Division III. The Pirates are doing it with efficiency, making 51.7% of their field goals, which leads the NWC and ranks 3rd in NCAA DIII. JT McDermott leads the way, making 62.4% of his field goals, which is first in the conference and ranks 13th in NCAA DIII.
Share and Share Alike: Whitworth leads the Northwest Conference (and ranks 36th in DIII) in assists per game in 2021-22, averaging 17.1. In the season opener, the Pirates set a team record for assists in a single game (47) in a win over Greenville. The Pirates not only pass well, they take care of the ball, ranking second in the NWC (and 42nd in DIII) in Assist-Turnover ratio (1.30).
D3hoops.com Poll: The Pirates are 25th in today's (Feb. 28) D3hoops.com top 25 regular season poll, the final version for the regular season.
Whitworth has appeared in the D3hoops.com top-25 poll 182 times since it was created during the 1999-00 season. Very few teams have appeared in the rankings more than Whitworth has. Heading into 2021-22, the Pirates were eighth on the list among schools ranked in the top-25 the most times.
1. Wooster 249
2. UW-Stevens Point 240
3. Amherst 234
4. Washington U. 203
5. St. Thomas 199
6. UW-Whitewater 194
7. Augustana 185
8. Whitworth 172
9. Williams 171
10. Illinois Wesleyan 164
Over the poll's 20-year history, 32 programs have reached the top spot at least once. UW-Stevens Point has reached that spot in seven different seasons. Whitworth has been there in two seasons: 2010-11 and 2015-16.
Sweet 16: With its win over Lewis & Clark on Feb. 19, 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.
When Wooster (Ohio) lost in its conference championship game on Saturday with 19 wins, the Scots' streak of 20-win campaigns ended at 24 seasons in a row. That means that Whitworth's streak is the longest active streak of 20-win seasons in 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 15 seasons) the Pirates are 390-79 (.831), 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 108-28 (.794) away from home, 80-22 (.784) 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 seventh 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 11th season on the Pirate coaching staff in 2020-21, and his third as head coach of the Pirates. He is currently 37-11 as Whitworth's head coach. 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.
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: The winner of this weekend's pod advances to the sectional semifinal / sectional final rounds of the NCAA Div. III tournament, which take place March 11th and 12th at on-campus sites.
