SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth men's basketball team will play two non-conference games at home this week. On Thursday the Pirates host NCAA Division III power Wisconsin-Oshkosh (7:00 pm) and on Saturday the Bucs take on NCAA Division III west region foe UC Santa Cruz (6:00 pm). 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 (5-1) opened its Northwest Conference schedule with two victories at home last weekend.
The Pirates pulled away near the end of the first half and continued to extend the lead through the second half of Friday's 101-71 win over Willamette. Whitworth shot 61.3% from the field, including 42.1% from three-point range. Jake Holtz had 19 points, seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocked shots for the Pirates, leading five players in double figures. Jojo Anderson added 16 points, while Garrett Long came off the bench for 15.
Whitworth appeared on its way to another easy win on Saturday against Pacific (Ore.) after Holtz converted a three-point play for a 53-32 lead with under 15 minutes to go. The Boxers rallied back to tie the game with two minutes to play. Jerry Twenge scored the winning basket with 1.4 seconds left to lift the Pirates to a 67-65 victory. Sullivan Menard led Whitworth with 18 points, while Holtz finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals. Ty Edwards scored 12 and Twenge finished with 11. Whitworth overcame a season-high 19 turnovers and shot 50% from the field.
The Opponents: Wisconsin-Oshkosh is 4-1 and ranked 24th in the latest D3hoops.com poll. The Titans have not played since a 69-64 win over (at that time) #21 North Park on November 25th. Last season Oshkosh went 24-7 and won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletics Conference with a 13-1 record before reaching the NCAA Div. III Elite Eight. Head Coach Matt Lewis is 105-26 in his sixth season and he coached the team to an NCAA Div. III title in his first year (2018-19). The Titans have a pair of stellar senior guards in Will Mahoney (16.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg) and Quinn Steckbauer (14.2 ppg). Whitworth has never played Wisconsin Oshkosh in men's basketball, but the Pirates have faced five other WIAC opponents and are 4-5 vs. the WIAC since 2010-11.
UC Santa Cruz comes into the week 4-5 after falling 77-73 at 20th-ranked Pomona Pitzer on Sunday afternoon. The Banana Slugs will play at Whitman on Friday night before visiting Whitworth for Saturday's game. Head Coach Matt Malone is 19-40 in his third season at UCSC. Senior guard Ian McCloskey averages 12.0 points per game, while junior guard Zino Okah puts up 11.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists per contest. It will be nearly a decade to the day since Whitworth last played UCSC when the teams meet on Saturday. The Pirates defeated the Banana Slugs 87-67 on Dec. 7, 2013 in the last meeting.
Hot,hot,hot!: Through the first six games of the 2023 men's basketball season, Whitworth leads all of NCAA Division III in team field goal percentage at 52.4%. The Pirates have shot above 50% in every game since the season-opening loss to Carnegie Mellon, including a season-high 61.3% against Willamette.
Welcome Back Jojo: Jojo Anderson's return to action in 2023-24 has been as hoped-for by Pirate fans. He leads the team and the Northwest Conference in scoring average (19.3 points per game) and scored a conference-high 33 points in a win over Northwest University on November 21st. He's made 52.9% of his field goals and adds 3.8 assists per game. The guard from nearby Mt. Spokane HS missed the 2022-23 season with an injury.
No Holtz Barred: Jake Holtz seems to do everything for the Pirates in 2023-24. He averages 17.5 points per game, which currently ranks second only to teammate Jojo Anderson in the NWC. He leads the Pirates in rebounding (7.2 per game), assists (22) and steals (2.5 per game). He is making 60% of his field goal attempts (third in the NWC). Holtz has 772 points as a Pirate and is on pace to become the latest Whitworth player to reach 1,000 for a career.
Jerry, As Needed: Jerry Twenge, in his fifth year as a Pirate, averages 8.5 points and 3.5 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. Twenge currently leads the team in three-point percentage (45.0).
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 413-91 (.819), 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 214-25 (.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 travel to Hawaii for a pair of NCAA Division III non-conference games against Dubuque (Iowa) and Knox (Ill.) on December 21-22.
