SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth men's basketball team will open Northwest Conference play this coming weekend (December 1-2) against Willamette and Pacific (Ore.). Friday's game against Willamette tips at 8:00 pm, while Saturday's contest against Pacific is scheduled for 6:00 pm. Both are part of women's-men's doubleheaders. The 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.
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 (3-1) has bounced back from a season-opening loss to Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) by winning three straight games.
The Pirates are averaging 88.1 points per game while allowing 81.0 points per contest through four games. Whitworth is making 51.4% of its field goals, while allowing its opponents a 50.0% clip. Opponents have outrebounded Whitworth 34.0 – 32.8. The Pirates average 15.0 assists per game, while allowing 12.3 assists per contest. Whitworth has taken very good care of the basketball, giving up only 8.8 turnovers per game.
The Pirates lost the season opener 89-82 to Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) in the Whitworth Fieldhouse. Whitworth trailed 81-68 with just over four minutes left before rallying to within 85-82 with 47 seconds to go. Jojo Anderson had 19 points, while Jake Holtz added 15 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.
The Bucs responded with an 88-81 win over St. Olaf (Minn.) the following night. Whitworth outscored the Oles 47-38 in the second half. Holtz had 23 points and six rebounds, while Anderson scored 22 and Sullivan Menard finished with 17 points.
The Pirates won their second game on Nov. 19 against Schreiner (Texas). After trailing by one point at halftime, Whitworth outscored the Mountaineers 52-34 in the second half. Holtz scored 20 points and grabbed seven boards. Menard added 16 points, while Garrett Long (13) and Diego Jaquez (10) combined for 23 points off the bench.
Anderson scored a career-high 33 points to lift Whitworth to a 95-83 win over Northwest (Wash.) on Nov. 21. And it wasn't just about points as Anderson also led the Pirates in rebounds (9) and assists (5). Long, Holtz, Menard all scored in double figures with 16, 15, and 10 points, respectively.
The Opponents: Willamette comes into the weekend 2-4 overall, but 2-2 against NCAA Division III opponents. The Bearcats were competitive in a 107-84 loss at NCAA Div. I University of Portland in their most recent game on Saturday. Michael Lenahan is in his first season as head coach of Willamette after serving many years as the top assistant for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in California. The Bearcats are averaging over 90 points a game and have five players averaging double figures, led by wing Jack Boydell (5th year), who puts up 15.2 points per game and makes 47% of his three-pointers. Whitworth defeated Willamette twice last winter, 104-64 away and 98-75 at home.
Pacific University is 3-2, including a 102-32 whitewash of Portland Bible College last Saturday - the Boxers' second win of the season over PBC. Head coach Justin Lunt is in his fifth year at Pacific after 12 years as the head coach at Puget Sound. Junior guard Lucas Winkler averages 14.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. Junior forward Devin Fortune adds 11.3 points per contest. The Pirates defeated the Boxers twice in 2022-23, winning 91-48 at home and 90-74 in Oregon. Whitworth has won 11 in a row in the series.
Pirates picked to win: Whitworth is listed at the top of the 2023-24 Northwest Conference coaches poll with six first place votes and 62 points. The Pirates are coming off 18-10 record in 2022-23, including a second place finish NWC regular season and a conference tournament championship. Whitman, who Whitworth defeated in the NWC tournament championship game, is second in the poll with one first place vote and 53 points. Third place Puget Sound (50 points) got the other two first place votes.
Start a New Streak?: Whitworth's school record streak of consecutive seasons with at least 20 victories came to an end last season after 16 in a row. Prior to that streak, the most 20-win seasons in a row the Pirates had ever had was two (on three different occasions). The NCAA statistics office granted waivers for streak records that were interrupted by Covid-19 in 2020-21. Whitworth's streak of 20-win seasons was the longest in all of NCAA Division III at the time.
Nearly Two Decades of Dominance: Since the beginning of the 2005-06 season (over 17 seasons) the Pirates are 411-91 (.818), an amazing run of success matched by few other college teams at any level. Within the Northwest Conference, Whitworth has won 211 of its last 240 (.879).
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 212-25 (.895) 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 116-36 (.763) away from home, 87-26 (.769) 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 ninth 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 13th season on the Pirate coaching staff in 2023-24, and his fifth as head coach of the Pirates. His record was 76-26 as Whitworth's head coach heading into this season. Jablonski has led Whitworth to the NCAA Division III tournament three times in his previous four 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 host NCAA Div. III powerhouse Wisconsin-Oshkosh on December 7th in the Fieldhouse and West Region non-conference foe UC Santa Cruz will visit on Dec. 9th.
