SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth men's basketball team aims to end a two-game losing skid when the Pirates travel to play Dubuque (Iowa) and Knox (Ill.) in the Hoops in Hawaii Classic on December 21st and 22nd. The games will take place at Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu and both tip off at 3:00 pm (HST) / 5:00 pm (PST). 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. The video provider will charge a fee to watch the games.
The Pirates: Whitworth (5-3) lost home games to Wis.-Oshkosh and UC Santa Cruz last weekend, the first time the Pirates lost consecutive home non-conference games since the 2014-15 season against Rutgers-Newark and St. Thomas (Minn.).
Whitworth lost 79-68 to Wis.-Oshkosh on December 7th. There were 11 lead changes and four ties over the first 28 minutes of the game, but the Titans used a decisive 21-4 run midway through the second half to open a 75-58 advantage with 4:27 left in the game. UWO made 15 of 31 shots from beyond the arc (48.4%) and scored 17 points off 13 Pirate turnovers. Jake Holtz had 16 points to lead Whitworth in scoring. Jerry Twenge added 13 points and Jojo Anderson finished with a dozen points and six assists. Sullivan Menard led the team with a career-high 12 rebounds, leading the Pirates to a 43-35 edge on the glass. However, the Bucs made only 39.7% of their shots from the field.
Whitworth continued to struggle with putting the ball into the hoop on December 9th in a 65-63 loss to UC Santa Cruz. The Pirates made only 37.3% of their shots (22-59), a season-low shooting percentage. The Banana Slugs used a 7-0 run to build a 58-45 lead with just over seven minutes to play in the game before Whitworth cut the margin to 63-62 on Menard's fourth three-pointer of the second half with 22 seconds to play, but the Bucs were unable to complete the comeback. Menard led Whitworth with a season-high 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Holtz posted his second double-double of the season with 15 points and ten boards. UCSC defeated Whitworth for the first time after 12 defeats.
The Opponents: The University of Dubuque is 7-0 this season. The Spartans improved to 3-0 in the American Rivers Conference with a 70-59 victory at Simpson on December 2nd in their most recent game. Head coach Robbie Sieverding is 278-142 in his 17th season at Dubuque. Jaylin McCantis, a junior, is a dynamic 6-6 guard who leads his team, and ranks among the top three in the ARC, in scoring (20.6 ppg) and rebounding (9.4 rpg). Fellow junior guard Sam Kilburg averages 11.3 points per game, makes 43% of his three-pointers and leads the team with 24 assists. Whitworth and Dubuque have never played in men's basketball. The Pirates are 7-0 against ARC opponents since 2008, the most recent victory a 73-59 decision over Coe (Iowa) in 2019.
Knox College is located in Galesburg, Illinois and is a member of the Midwest Conference (MWC). The Prairie Fire are 5-3 overall and 2-1 in the MWC this season, a hot start for a team aiming for its first winning campaign since the 2004-05 season. Knox will almost certainly pick up another win on December 15th at home against Emmaus Bible College before the Prairie Fire take on Northwest Conference member Lewis & Clark in Hawaii on the 21st. Head coach Ben Davis is in his fifth year. Two junior guards lead the Knox attack. Sean Gallery (6'-4") averages 16.7 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, while Andrew Milot contributes 15.8 points and 5.0 assists per contest. Knox will be Whitworth's first opponent from the Midwest Conference since the Pirates defeated Ripon (Wis.) 76-65 in Las Vegas on December 28, 2010.
No Holtz Barred: Jake Holtz seems to do everything for the Pirates in 2023-24. He averages 17.0 points per game, which currently leads the NWC. He leads the Pirates in rebounding (7.4 per game, third in the NWC), assists (27) and steals (2.1 per game, second in the NWC). He is making 58% of his field goal attempts (fourth in the NWC). Holtz has 803 points as a Pirate and is on pace to become the latest Whitworth player to reach 1,000 for a career.
Welcome Back Jojo: Jojo Anderson's return to action in 2023-24 has been as hoped-for by Pirate fans. He is second on the team and fourth in the Northwest Conference in scoring average (16.4 points per game) and scored a conference-high 33 points in a win over Northwest University on November 21st. He's made 48.3% of his field goals and adds 3.7 assists per game, the best average on the team. The guard from nearby Mt. Spokane HS missed the 2022-23 season with an injury.
Jerry, As Needed: Jerry Twenge, in his fifth year as a Pirate, averages 8.5 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. Twenge has stepped up in a variety of ways throughout his Whitworth career., at different times leading the team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals. His latest highlight was the game-winning basket vs. Pacific on December 2nd with 1.4 seconds to play.
The Long Road Home: Sullivan Menard's road to Whitworth was a long one. A Gatorade Player of the Year as a high school senior in Alaska, Menard initially went to DePaul (Ill.) before transferring to Western Wyoming CC, where he suffered a season-ending knee injury that prevented him from playing the 2021-22 season in Spokane. Now Menard averages 13.9 points per game and leads the team in three-pointers (19) and three-point percentage (41.3). He adds 4.8 rebounds per contest. Menard is also a member of the Pirates' men's golf team.
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 413-93 (.816), an amazing run of success matched by few other college teams at any level. Within the Northwest Conference, Whitworth has won 213 of its last 242 (.880).
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 214-27 (.887) 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 take a break for the Christmas holiday before returning to host 15th-ranked Elmhurst on December 30th in the final non-conference contest of the season.
