SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth University men's basketball team will return to Oregon this coming weekend for a pair of challenging Northwest Conference contests. The Pirates play at George Fox on Friday (8:00 pm) and at Linfield on Saturday (6:00 pm). Both games are scheduled for 8:00 pm as the second halves of women's-men's doubleheaders and 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 week's games.
The Pirates: Whitworth (8-5 overall, 4-0 NWC) won twice last week to extend its modest winning streak to three games in a row. The Pirates are 4-0 in the conference for the first time since starting 6-0 in the 2019-20 campaign.
Whitworth pulled out the first "Battle of Whits" of the 2023-24 season against Whitman, winning 76-69 last Tuesday night in the Fieldhouse. There were ten ties and ten lead changes over the first 25 minutes of the game before the Pirates took a lead they would not relinquish with 15 minutes to play. But that lead was never more than seven points. The Bucs made 43.1% (25-58) from the field, 38.5% (5-13) from beyond the arc. Jake Holtz led Whitworth with 22 points and four steals, while Sullivan Menard scored 21 points and made 3-4 from three-point range. Jojo Anderson scored 11 of his 15 points after halftime. The Pirates committed only eight turnovers against Whitman's tough defense.
Whitworth never trailed in Friday's 90-75 win at Lewis & Clark in Portland, Oregon. After holding a slight lead throughout the first half, the Pirates pulled away in the second, opening their largest lead (80-59) with just over three minutes to play. Whitworth made 54.1% (33-61) from the field, the first time the Bucs have made more than 50% of their shots since a December 1st win over Willamette. Anderson scored all 20 of his points in the second half to spur the surge. Holtz added 17 points and Menard had 16. Ty Edwards came within one rebound of his first career double-double with 16 points and nine boards, helping the Pirates win the rebounding battle 36-26.
The Opponents: George Fox University is 11-2 overall and 4-0 in the NWC. The Bruins are off to their best overall start since they were 14-1 to begin the 1990-91 season and are receiving votes in the latest D3hoops.com top-25 poll. GFU is 4-0 in the NWC for the first time since the 2018-19 campaign. The Bruins average 90.2 points per game, but their success is mostly due to a defense that leads the conference in opponent field goal percentage (40.3) and opponent three-point percentage (26.0). Head coach Maco Hamilton is in his 12th year at George Fox. First-year guard Aiden Price comes off the bench to lead the team in scoring average (14.5 ppg) and he adds 4.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists per contest. Senior wing James Moore adds 12.4 ppg, while junior guard Momo Stokes contributes 12.3 ppg. Whitworth split with George Fox last season. The Pirates held on to win 78-74 in Spokane, while the Bruins won 90-84 in Newberg, ending Whitworth's run of 18 straight victories in the series.
Linfield University is 5-8 overall and 0-4 in the NWC heading into its game on Friday vs. Whitman. Levi Sieg, a long-time assistant at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, is in his first season as head coach of the Wildcats and is operating with a mostly young and revamped roster. Like George Fox, a first-year guard leads Linfield in scoring. Cade Collins is putting up 14.6 points per game, but is the only Wildcat player to average double figures so far in 2023-24. Sophomore guard Chase Bennett adds 8.9 points and leads the team in assists (2.6 per game). McMinnville has been a very difficult place to play for the Pirates recently. Linfield defeated Whitworth 86-79 at Ted Wilson Gym last season, the Bucs' third straight loss on the road to the Wildcats. Whitworth won 79-66 in Spokane in the final weekend of the regular season to earn a split.
Tough Road: Whitworth went 3-6 against non-conference opponents this season, but that came against a very difficult list. The current combined record of the Pirates' eight Division III non-conference foes is 60-35.
Last Win vs. Ranked Team: Prior to the 74-71 win over 15th-ranked Elmhurst on December 30th, the Pirates' last victory over a ranked opponent was an 85-64 victory over St. Thomas (Minn.) in the Fieldhouse on Nov. 16, 2019.
Been a While: From Dec. 7 – 22, Whitworth lost four games in a row for the first time since the 2004-05 season when the Pirates finished 13-11 under head coach Jim Hayford.
No Holtz Barred: Jake Holtz seems to do everything for the Pirates in 2023-24. He averages 17.2 points per game, which currently leads the team and ranks second in the NWC. He also leads the Pirates in rebounding (7.0 per game, third in the NWC), assists (33) and steals (25). He is making 56.7% of his field goal attempts (fourth in the NWC). Holtz has 891 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 in scoring average (16.2 points per game, fourth in the NWC) and scored a career-high 33 points in a win over Northwest University on November 21st, the third-highest single game total in the NWC this season. He's made 44.7% of his field goals and adds 2.6 assists per game. 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 7.1 points and 4.3 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 NCAA Div. I 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 13.8 points per game and leads the team in three-pointers (29). He adds 5.5 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 416-95 (.814), an amazing run of success matched by few other college teams at any level. Within the Northwest Conference, Whitworth has won 215 of its last 244 (.881).
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 216-27 (.889) 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 117-38 (.754) away from home, 88-26 (.771) 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 close out the first half of its Northwest Conference schedule when the Pirates host Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran on Jan. 19-20.
