SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth University will take on St. John Fisher (N.Y.) in the first round of the NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament on Friday at Swarthmore College (Pa.). The Pirates are making their 16th appearance in the DIII tournament and they are taking on another squad that had to win its way there by earning a conference tournament championship. Friday's game starts at 4:40 (ET) / 1:40 (PT) and can be heard on KSBN 1230 am and 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 Swarthmore's Tarble Pavilion. Tickets can be purchased in advance using the Swarthmore online link. Swarthmore is providing free tickets for its own students and faculty/staff, so any other school's fans should purchase early. Tickets are $15 for adult general admission and $10 for senior adults and children.
Watch Party: For those who cannot make the trip to greater Philadelphia, fans are welcome to gather in the Whitworth Dining Hall and watch together. The Dining Hall will open to all spectators at 1:30 pm, after the conclusion of lunch service.
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 10-11 for the sectional semifinal and sectional final rounds at on-campus sites. The survivors of those games move on to Fort Wayne, Indiana for Division III Final Four on March 16/18. Click the link above for the full NCAA Div. III bracket (interactive).
The Pirates: Whitworth (18-9 overall, 11-5 NWC) won the Northwest Conference tournament for the 15th time in school history, but for the first time as a #3 seed that had to knock off two higher-seeded teams.
The Pirates defeated second-seeded Puget Sound 70-51 in last Friday's semifinal at Whitman College. Whitworth led most of the way and broke open the game in the last five minutes. The Bucs controlled the paint, scoring 38 points from inside and winning the rebounding battle 34-28. The defense was stellar, holding the Loggers to 33% (17 of 52) from the field and 17% (4 of 23) from three-point range. JT McDermott finished with 19 points, six rebounds and four assists. Rowan Anderson added 14 points and six assists, while Ty Edwards scored ten points. Whitworth won despite getting to the free throw line only six times in the game.
The Pirates' championship game against the top-seeded Blues was a tale of two halves. Whitman made seven three-pointers in the first half and took a 42-35 lead at halftime. The Pirates completely turned things around on the Blue's home floor in the second half, outscoring Whitman 43-23 in the 78-65 championship-clinching victory. Whitworth held the Blues to 1 of 11 shooting from three-point range after halftime, while making 6 of 9. The Pirates finished the game 31 of 54 (57%) from the floor and 9 of 11 (82%) at the free throw line. McDermott totaled 22 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three blocked shots. Jake Holtz came off the bench for 15 points, while Anderson scored 12, including a pair of key three-pointers in the second half, and had five assists.
All-NWC Recognition: JT McDermott is a first team All-NWC honoree for the second year in a row after leading the Pirates in scoring once again this season. Michael Smith claimed second team recognition as Whitworth's second-leading scorer. Jake Holtz earned honorable mention consideration as the Buc's first player off the bench.
NCAA Tournament History: Whitworth is making its 16th NCAA Division III tournament appearance this season. The Pirates are 14-14 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 championship 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.
Go East Young Man: Whitworth has been to the eastern time zone for the NCAA DIII men's tournament three times before. In 2015 the Pirates played the first and second rounds at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., defeating La Grange in the first round before falling to the host Eagles by one point in the second round. Whitworth played in the sectional semifinals and finals at Wooster (Ohio) in 2011 and the sectional semifinals at Hope (Mich.) in 2008.
The Opponent: St. John Fisher University is located in Rochester, N.Y. The Cardinals are 21-7 and finished in a three-way tie for second place in the Empire 8 conference, but had to take the fourth seed in the conference tournament, based on tiebreakers. Undeterred, St. John Fisher knocked off top-seeded Utica (70-65) on the road in the semifinals then defeated second-seeded Nazareth (78-62) in the championship. The Cardinals, who average 82.2 points per game and allow 71.4, have plenty of recent history in the NCAA DIII tournament. They made it in 2020 under current head coach Mike Gosodonia II, who is 103-44 in his sixth year. They had three straight appearances from 2015-17. Senior forward Daniel Cook is the two-time Empire 8 Player of the Year and was the 2023 conference tournament MVP. He averages 18.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and leads the team in steals (43) and blocks (25). Ryan Gentile (Gr., G) adds 9.8 points and makes 48% of his three-pointers, while taking a high volume (4.0 attempts per game) of shots. Whitworth has never played St. John Fisher, or any other Empire 8 school.
The Other Half: The other half of the Swarthmore pod features the host Garnet taking on SUNY Delhi.
Swarthmore is 24-3 after sharing the Centennial Conference title with Johns Hopkins at 14-2. The Garnet won the conference tournament championship on JHU's floor 76-73. If Swarthmore sounds familiar to Whitworth fans, that is where the Pirates were headed for the 2020 round of 16 when the tournament was cancelled by COVID-19. Landry Kosmalski, the 2020 Division III National Coach of the Year (NABC), is 199-83 in his 10th season. His squad is averaging 77.6 points per game and allowing only 64.9. The Garnet have a strong team all-around, but an exceptional backcourt. Junior guard Vinny DeAngelo leads the team in scoring (17.5 ppg) and makes 44.6% of his three-pointers. Senior guard George Visconti adds 13.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game and makes 50% of his treys. Whitworth has never played Swarthmore. The Pirates are 2-0 all-time against Johns Hopkins and defeated Centennial-member Muhlenberg (Pa.) 73-51 at home this season on December 31.
SUNY Delhi (20-8) earned its way to the tournament by claiming the North Atlantic Conference tournament title with an 83-77 road win over Maine-Farmington. The Broncos are a high-scoring team under 8th-year head coach Zack Thomsen, averaging 85.8 points while allowing 77.3. Thomsen is a three-time NAC Coach of the Year. Senior guard Jacob Beach averages 16.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Lester McCarthy scores 16.0 points and picks up 1.9 steals per contest. Whitworth has never played SUNY Delhi, or any member of the NAC in basketball.
JT Mc "Does" it: JT McDermott (Gr.) is a first team All-NWC honoree once again in 2023. He leads the team in scoring average (13.7 points per game) while making 48% of his field goals. The starting post also leads the team in rebounds (6.4), blocks (17) and steals (39). He is second on the team in assists (77, 2.9 per game).
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, transferred for his final season to Whitworth from Sonoma State (NCAA DII), where he started 47 games in two seasons. Smith earned second team All-NWC this season as the Pirates' second-leading scorer (12.7 points per game). He scored 30 in a win over Puget Sound on Jan. 28 and 27 in a win at Lewis & Clark on Feb. 4.
No Holtz Barred: Jake Holtz earned honorable mention All-NWC consideration in 2023 as Whitworth's first player off the bench. He is third on the team in scoring (12.6 ppg) and second in rebounding (6.2 rpg). Holtz is making 60.3% of his field goals (second in the NWC and 23rd in DIII). He is second on the team lead in blocked shots (15).
The Point Man: Rowan Anderson is in his third season as Whitworth's starting point guard. He averages 10.0 points per game and leads the team in assists (77, 3.1 apg).
Jerry, As Needed: Jerry Twenge averages 9.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Twenge has stepped up in a variety of ways this season. Twenge has led the Pirates in scoring (25 vs. UMHB), rebounding (14 vs. George Fox), assists (twice, including 5 vs. CLU) and steals (twice, including 4 vs. PLU). He leads the team in three-point percentage (42.5%) and in free throw percentage (85.2%).
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 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 408-89 (.821), 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 209-24 (.897) 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 116-35 (.768) 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 seventh season as the voice of Whitworth basketball. Nameck has more than 30 years of experience calling college basketball at Santa Clara, Gonzaga and Washington State. He has called more than 1,100 games on the radio during his career.
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 with a record of 75-25. Jablonski has led Whitworth to the NCAA Division III tournament three times in his 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.
