PACIFIC HOOPS TEAMS HAVE SCHEDULES, BUT WON’T HAVE FANS
With one month to go before the start of the college basketball season, the Pacific men’s and women’s full schedule has been tentatively set, featuring numerous California State schools as featured home matchups.
However, fans, students and alumni will not be able to attend a game this season at Spanos Center due to the novel coronavirus, as the school is set to announce its attendance guidelines, according to a program spokesman.
After a 23-10 finish in 2019, the men’s basketball team will is currently set to host UC Riverside on Nov. 25 for its season opener.
The Tigers will also host Fresno State (Nov. 28), Montana State (Dec. 2), Westmont College (Dec. 4), UC Davis (Dec 12), St. Katherine’s (Dec. 21) and William Jessup on Dec 29.
Pacific’s first road game is scheduled for Nov. 20 when they play at Nevada (Reno). It is also scheduled to play at San Jose State on Dec. 6, Cal State Northridge on Dec. 16 and Cal State Fullerton on Dec. 19, before West Coast Conference play begins on Jan. 2 with a home game against Portland.
In his fourth season as head coach, Damon Stoudamire led the Tigers to a 4th place finish in the WCC last season, a program best since joining the conference. Stoudamire’s success also netted him a significant contract extension this summer, keeping him in Stockton until the 2025-26 season.
“I am excited to know I’ll be in Stockton for another six years,” Stoudamire said in late July. “I want to thank the Pacific administration for giving me my first head coaching opportunity. Things like this happen when you work with good people and my staff has been a big part of our success.”
The Tigers graduated four seniors from last season’s team, including WCC Defensive Player of the Year Jahlil Tripp. They also added four players to this season’s recruiting class, including three transfers from other Division I basketball programs.
Pacific women host Fresno for opener — Pacific’s women’s team will begin its season with a closed scrimmage against William Jessup on Nov. 25, before hosting Fresno State for its season opener on Dec. 12, which will be the Tigers’ only home non-conference game.
The Tigers will then travel to San Jose State on Dec. 13, Weber State on Dec. 15 and will participate in a non-conference tournament, hosted at UNLV from Dec. 19-21.
Pacific then opens its WCC portion of the schedule with three-straight road games at Saint Mary’s, Portland and Gonzaga, who was picked to finish first in the 2020-21 WCC preseason coach’s poll.
Pacific, which returns 11 of its players from last year’s team that finished 17-14 (9-9 in WCC play), was picked to finish sixth in the West Coast Conference preseason coaches poll.
“This WCC season should be one of the toughest to predict for a couple of reasons,” Pacific women’s basketball head coach Bradley Davis said via statement. “First, 2020-21 is bound to present adversity for all teams from now through the end of the season. … Second, to put it simply, there are a lot of talented teams across the league. I fully expect this to be another competitive season throughout our conference.”