It’s a full day of basketball, and Pilots steal the show

Shantay Legins has his team cooking in his second season at the Pilot helm (courtesy UP sports communications)

Updated 12/1/2022 2:30 AM

Notes and observations from an almost full Friday of basketball at the Phil Knight college tournaments (sorry, missed Oregon’s near upset of No. 12-ranked Michigan State. Getting out of Memorial Coliseum around midnight didn’t appeal.) …

• The University of Portland may very well be the best college basketball team in the state.

The Pilots (5-2) took care of Villanova 83-71 in the PK Invitational consolation bracket at the MC, a night after giving North Carolina all it could handle in an 89-81 defeat. Portland trailed by three inside the final minute against the No. 1-ranked Tar Heels, who got their comeuppance Saturday in an 80-75 PKI loss to Iowa State.

Villanova (2-4) is five seasons removed from the second of two NCAA titles in a three-year span. These aren’t Jay Wright’s Wildcats, but the Villanova name makes it the biggest win for Coach Shantay Legans in his two seasons on The Bluff.

“We were disappointed in the loss (against North Carolina), but we bounced back tonight,” Legans said. “A lot of pride, a lot of character. That’s why I love this team.”

Two years ago, Legans got Big Sky Conference Eastern Washington to the NCAA Tournament in 2020-21. He left for what he considers a better conference — the West Coast — and a program in which he saw promise.

In his first season, the Pilots went 19-15, their highest win total since 2009-10. Legans used only one returning scholarship player, leaning on transfers such as Moses Wood, who led the Pilots in scoring against Villanova with 16 points on just six field goal attempts. The 6-8, 210-pound redshirt junior, who made 3 of 4 3-point shots against the Wildcats, transferred from Nevada-Las Vegas after the 2020-21 season. Wood is the spitting image of his father, David Wood, who prepped at Hudson’s Bay in Vancouver and played nine NBA seasons.

Legans brought with him three players and two assistant coaches from Eastern Washington.

“I felt like we had a great base right from the start,” Legans said. “I’ve been with these guys for awhile. You’re looking at bringing in the right guys, guys who believe we can win right away. We have guys who want a lot.”

Portland broke the game open early in the second half, leading 45-27 with 17 minutes left. It was 58-40 when the Wildcats began a run that drew them to within 77-71 with 1:08 to play. The Pilots salted it away with free throws.

“Villanova is a storied program,” Portland’s Jack Perry said. “We knew they weren’t going to go away, but we managed to hang tough.”

All three transfers are starting this season — guards Tyler Robertson, Mike Meadows and Perry, the latter filling in Friday for Meadows, who is injured. Robertson, Portland’s best player, totaled 15 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. Robertson and Perry are Australians, two of the five imports on the Pilots’ squad.

“Villanova is one of those teams we watched growing up in Australia,” Robertson said. “You see them on ESPN. I was proud of my guys bouncing back. We felt like we should have won (over North Carolina), but the guys didn’t drop their heads. It’s a big-time win for this program.”

Athletic director Scott Leykam’s choice of hire is looking good.

“Student-athletes respond to him in a different way,” Leykam said. “Shantay is a players’ coach. He played at a high level in the Pac-12 (at California); the guys would run through a wall for him. ”

Perry is in his sixth season playing for Legans.

“He does a great job of giving guys confidence, even if they have off nights,” Perry said. “That confidence bleeds over to everyone else and gives you the belief you can go out and beat anyone.”

Legans doesn’t mind recruiting foreign players, but he’d like to establish something a little closer to home. Portland has no in-state natives on its 12-man roster.

“We need some guys from our backyard,” the coach said. “I want some guys from Portland. There are a lot of good players in our area who decide to go different places. That upsets me, because we have a great brand. I want them to join our program.”

The Pilots don’t get a lot of recognition in the Portland area, overshadowed by the Ducks and Beavers. Let me extend a nod of respect, then, for the path they have taken under Legans.

•

Oregon State had its chances on Thanksgiving Day against eighth-ranked Duke, missing a pair of 3’s in the closing seconds that could have forced overtime in a 54-51 loss.

The Beavers’ matchup with Florida was much different. Going mostly against an ineffective OSU zone, the Gators (4-2) jumped to leads of 9-0, 17-2 and 22-4. Fourteen minutes into Friday’s game at Moda Center, the gap was 34-11 and the Beavers (3-3) were on life support. The final was 81-68, and OSU never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

“We didn’t come out with the same intensity defensively and selflessness offensively as we did (against Duke),” coach Wayne Tinkle said. “It put us behind the 8-ball. And (the Gators) made a lot of shots.”

Over the final 26 minutes, Oregon State outscored Florida 57-47. The second half was a 39-39 deadlock. After grabbing their huge lead, though, the Gators boat-raced the Beavers to the finish, shooting a scorching .556 from the field for the game, including 8 of 19 from 3-point range.

Oregon State, meanwhile, shot .370 in the first half and .562 in the second. OSU’s best player, sophomore forward Glenn Taylor, struggled through a rough outing. He was 2 for 8 from the field, 0 for 4 from beyond the arc and had two rebounds, four assists and six of the Beavers’ nine turnovers.

“We got tunnel vision offensively,” Tinkle said. “When you’re not synchronized, you maybe go a little too much one-on-one, and when you miss, that frustration can carry over to the defense. That was the problem early.”

The Beavers were 8 for 21 (.381) from 3-point range, their best percentage of the season. They are 31 for 108 (.287) for the season. It might be time to give the red light to senior guard Dexter Akanno (6 for 29, .207). Tinkle knows that’s not going to cut it.

“When we’ve shot the worst, it’s because we’ve take poor shots,” the veteran coach said. “There is a direct correlation. We have to penetrate, pass, create ball movement. Then our shooters will hit a better percentage with better shots, and the numbers will go up.”

Tinkle has seven freshmen playing, with another rookie — guard Christian Wright — along with sophomore Justin Rochelin expected back around Christmas after knee surgeries.

There is some talent among the first-year players. Starting point guard Jordan Pope is the team’s leading scorer at 14.2 points per game and a potential star. Tyler Bilodeau, a 6-9 power forward who was the state of Washington’s Player of the Year last season, scored 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting, including 2 of 3 from distance, with three rebounds in 24 minutes. He reminds me of Gary Freeman, a sweet-shooting big man at OSU in the late ‘60s. Michael Rataj, a 6-9 forward from France, is shooting 70 percent from the field and made 5 of his 6 shots Friday.

Freshman point guard Jordan Pope is Oregon State’s leading scorer (courtesy OSU sports communications)

“We said it was going to be a battle between the ears tonight, and we didn’t pass that test,” Tinkle said. “It was one of the more mature teams in the country (Florida) against one of the younger teams. We don’t make excuses, but we talked about the lessons we need to learn.”

Tinkle gave 10 players at least 10 minutes Friday. All of the young guys will get a chance to show what they can do. Some of the players on last year’s 3-28 club lost faith in the coaches.

“This group allows us to coach them,” Tinkle said. “That was missing in the past (last season). It’s a big learning process right now, but the guys bring their hard hats and lunch pails every day.”

•

Before we get into the details of eighth-ranked Iowa’s 73-59 over Oregon State in women’s competition at Chiles Center, let’s allow the participants to extol the virtues of the PK tournaments.

“We are happy to come here and beat a good Oregon State team,” coach Lisa Bluder said. “We’re really proud to be here for this great Nike event. They’ve taken good care of us. They are working hard to promote the women’s game.”

“It’s a great event to be a part of,” Oregon State coach Scott Rueck said. “Nike is a fantastic host.”

“We got to visit Nike headquarters,” said Iowa guard Caitlin Clark, who burned the Beavers with 28 points, nine rebounds and eight assists with no turnovers in 35 brilliant minutes. “That’s an opportunity not a lot of people get. We are excited to get invited to such a prestigious event.”

The Hawkeyes (5-1) prepared to go against Oregon State’s 6-9 center, Jelena Mitrovic.

“We had guys standing on boxes, and we practiced shooting over them,” Iowa center Monika Czinano said.

The Hawkeyes needn’t have worried. Mitrovic pulled down 14 rebounds but managed only five points in 2-for-8 shooting. Czinano was 7 for 11 with 17 points and seven boards, but the real story was Clark, a bonafide candidate for National Player of the Year.

The 6-foot junior is already highly decorated. Last season, she was National Point Guard of the Year, Big Ten Player of the Year and Big Ten Tournament MVP. Clark is a two-time first-team All-American.

“Caitlin is a great player, a great competitor, a warrior on the floor,” said Rueck, who recruited her as a high school player.

Oregon State hung within striking distance, trailing 19-16 after one quarter, 44-37 at halftime and 54-46 after three quarters. The Beavers drew to within 57-51 with seven minutes left, but Iowa responded with five straight points and the issue was all but decided.

The Beavers’ best player and leader, sophomore guard Talia von Oelhoffen, had a nice game, collecting 22 points, six rebounds and three assists with only one turnover despite the hounding presence of Iowa defender Gabbie Marshall.

Sophomore guard Talia von Oelhoffen is the best player on the Oregon State women’s team (courtesy OSU sports communications)

“Talia is a terrific player,” said Clark. “I was at USA tryouts with her (last summer). We knew she was the key player for them. Gabby did a tremendous job on her, especially in the second half.”

Oregon State (4-1) got a nice spark from Shalexxus Aaron, the 6-1 junior transfer from Texas Southern. Aaron — 0 for 7 from the 3-point line through the first four games — scored 15 of her 17 points in the first half, sinking 3 of 4 3-pointers.

“We needed something to go down from the perimeter, and Lex was able to do big things for us,” Rueck said.

The Oregon State women have similar offensive problems to their male counterparts. The OSU women were 6 for 17 on 3-point attempts Friday and are now 26 for 101 (.257) for the season. With the likes of von Oelhoffen, Aaron, AJ Marotte and Lily Hansford, Rueck believes the Beavers have the tools to improve on that.

“I think we do,” he said. “Our shooting woes typically come from bad passing and lack of ball movement. We had a stretch against Prairie View where the ball moved and it was nice all around. I think we’ll get to that. In practice, they shoot (3’s) very well. It’s about familiarity and comfort. The problems so far are lack of experience, not because of lack of shooting ability.”

Oregon State’s talent base will improve with the expected January return of injured freshman Timea Gardiner. Gardiner and fellow freshman Raegan Beers, both 6-3 and McDonald’s All-Americans last season, provide pop inside as well as interior help defensively.

As is his nature, Rueck sounded positive about the experience of playing Iowa.

“We knew what we were getting into,” he said. “You’re playing a great offensive team, and tonight was also a good, disruptive defensive team. They’re used to winning, they’re a top-10 team, and they operate way faster than anything this group has seen this year.

“At least we’ll take a step forward, and that’s what this team needs. We took huge strides defensively. In basketball, experience matters. You don’t have to wait until the second year. You just have to wait until the next game. We’re formidable at the rim. We have young players adapting. We held them 12 possessions without a score in the third quarter. We played without fouling (much). Those were great signs going forward.

“The main takeaway is hope. We saw flashes of great things tonight. It was a very positive experience for the team.”

In their final tournament game Sunday, Oregon State faces Duke — and some familiar faces. Former Beavers Kennedy Brown and Taya Corosdale transferred and are now playing for the Blue Devils. Brown had three points in 28 minutes of a 78-50 loss to Connecticut Friday. Corosdale did not play. Former OSU star Aleah Goodman is now Duke’s director of recruiting and player development.

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