COMING UP: vs. Eastern Oregon, Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.; vs. Montana Tech, Saturday, 7 p.m.
COMPLETE WEEKLY MEDIA NOTEBOOK
TICKET / FAN PROTOCOLS: Season Tickets for the 2021-22 C of I basketball season are currently on sale through the
C of I Ticket Portal – including a limited number of reserved seats (general admission season tickets are $150, reserved season tickets are $200). Gates to the Activities Center will open 90 minutes prior to tip-off on game days. Per the Cascade Conference Return to Play protocol, all fans will be required to wear a mask over their nose and mouth at all times while inside the Activities Center.
LIVE LINKS: Both the Eastern Oregon and Montana Tech games will be carried live on the
Yotes Digital Network ($10 per game, $50 season pass), with Mike Safford calling the action – as Safford begins his 21st year as the Voice of the Yotes. In addition, Live Stats will be available through
C of I's SIDEARM Sports Portal.
CONFERENCE SEASON OPENS: The 22-game Cascade Conference schedule opens Tuesday with the six travel partner sets meeting each other. Along with Eastern Oregon traveling to C of I, Oregon Tech makes the trip to Southern Oregon, Evergreen visits Northwest, Bushnell makes the short trip to Corban, Warner Pacific heads to Multnomah, with Lewis-Clark State making their league debut at Walla Walla. The conference schedule begins with back-to-back weekend games starting Dec. 3-4 – with Friday games at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday games at 5 p.m.
LAST YEAR / 2019-20: The Cascade Conference returns to normalcy this year as a 12-team league, playing a full schedule for the first time since 2019-20. That year, the Yotes dominated conference play, becoming the first team to go wire-to-wire, finishing with a 20-0 record and sweeping three games in the CCC Tournament (taking a 20-game CCC win streak into 2021-22). Last year – Northwest, Walla Walla and Evergreen opted out of the spring season; C of I and Lewis-Clark State played a full independent season without league games, while Corban won the spring season with a 10-2 mark, outdistancing Oregon Tech (6-2), Southern Oregon (7-3), Bushnell (5-5), Warner Pacific (3-5), Eastern Oregon (3-9) and Multnomah (0-8).
LONGEST CONTINUOUS RIVALRY TO CONTINUE: Tuesday's game with Eastern Oregon will extend C of I's longest continuous basketball rivalry – as the Yotes and Mountaineers have met every season since the 1968-69 season – a stretch of 53-straight years. The two teams met every year from 1932-43, 1946-53 and 1956-65 – only missing games during World War II, during the 1953-54 and 1954-55 seasons, and during the 1966-67 and 1967-68 seasons. The 190 meetings between the rivals separated by 150 miles ranks second all-time for C of I (behind their rivalry with Northwest Nazarene), with the Coyotes holding a 121-69 series lead – including 9-straight wins.
OPPONENT PREVIEW – EASTERN OREGON: A new-look Eastern Oregon team heads to Caldwell Tuesday, off to an impressive 3-1 start to the season. Interim head coach Chris Kemp has guided the team to quality wins over Montana Tech, Montana Western and Whitman, with the team also playing competitively in exhibition games against Gonzaga and Idaho State. North Idaho transfer Phillip Malatare (17.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg) has replaced all-time leading scorer Max McCullough as the Mounties go-to player, with 6-foot-6 transfer Xavier Lovelace (12.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg) and 6-foot-9 Division I transfer Ismael Valdez (5.8 ppg, 4.0 apg) the top players in the post. EOU is converting 48-percent of their field goal attempts, but are committing 14 turnovers a night.
ONLY ONE THANKSGIVING GAME: With the Coyotes finishing a stretch Tuesday of four games in the span of seven days, C of I has scheduled just one game over the Thanksgiving holiday – a Saturday evening rematch with Montana Tech. It marks just the second time since 1993 that the Yotes will not play multiple games during the holiday weekend (C of I was to have played 3 games at Montana Western last year, but two were canceled due to COVID) – as the 2012 squad took the weekend off to prepare for conference play.
OPPONENT PREVIEW – MONTANA TECH: Fifteen days after the first meeting between the squads, C of I and Montana Tech will have a rematch Saturday night in Caldwell. The Orediggers (6-2) have rattled off three-straight wins since a 62-59 loss to the Yotes – including impressive road wins at Oregon Tech and Southern Oregon. Montana State transfer Caleb Bellach (15.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg) has been key to the Diggers success, converting 47-percent of his 3-point attempts. Returning All-Frontier Conference players Sindou Diallo (12.3 ppg, 4.2 apg) and Taylor England (11.9 ppg, 6.3 rpg) provide key experience to Adam Hiatt's squad that is looking to snap a 10-game losing streak to C of I, dating back to 2012.
YOTES WIN DOMINO'S CLASSIC TITLE: For the fourth time in seven years, C of I claimed the title of the Domino's Classic, finishing as the only unbeaten team in the 4-team tourney (Simpson and Montana Western finished 1-1, Multnomah finished 0-2). The Coyotes had previously won the tourney titles in 2014, 2017 and 2018.
OFFENSE AWAKENS: Success at the offensive end of the floor had eluded the Coyotes during the first five games of the season – with the squad averaging just 62 points per game over the stretch, while making just 42-percent of their field goals. Beginning in the second half against Montana Western, the switch flipped on for the Yotes – as C of I converted 56-percent of their shots to close the game vs. the Dawgs and followed by making 53-percent of their field goals in both halves vs. Simpson. The Coyotes scored over 40 points in all three halves, including 53 points in the second half vs. Simpson – with the season scoring average ballooning to 69 points a game.
MAKING FREE THROWS: C of I salted away their victory over Western by converting 20-of-23 free throws – their best free throw percentage since knocking down 18-of-20 freebies in a win over Southern Oregon in 2018. After starting the season by making 55-percent of their free throws in the first three contests, the Coyotes have found their stride at the stripe, making 49 of their last 63 attempts – a 78-percent clip.
REBOUNDS AND TURNOVERS: Key to the Coyote success has been an edge in rebounding, while the team limited miscues during their weekend games. C of I has won the rebound battle in 5-of-7 games this season – including all three games last week – averaging 16 more rebounds per game than their opponents in the wins over Western and Simpson. More impress was the offensive efficiency, as over the final 60 minutes of weekend play, the Yotes recorded just 10 total turnovers – including a season-low eight turnovers vs. Simpson.
RADFORD HAS CAREER WEEKEND: Trailing by nine points in the second half against Montana Western, the Yotes needed a boost – and
Johnny Radford stepped up to provide it. The second-year guard scored 11-straight points to pull C of I even, finishing the night with a career-high 19 points, as the Coyotes rallied for the victory. Radford provided magic 24 hours later vs. Simpson, connecting on three consecutive 3-pointers, part of a 17-point second half outburst, helping the hosts pull away for a win. Radford nearly quadrupled his season scoring output in the weekend games and heads into the week averaging 6.6 points per game, while making 46-percent of his 3-point attempts.
TIME NEAR PERFECT: It was an efficient week for
Ricardo Time, as the super-senior had his best stretch of games of the season. The third-year Coyote recorded back-to-back 17-point games to open the week, while scoring all eight of his points vs. Simpson in the first half. He recorded his second career double-double, recording 10 rebounds in the win over Montana Western. Time made 12-of-22 field goal attempts – including four 3-pointers – in the three contests. He tied a school record by converting 11-of-11 free throws vs. NNU – becoming just the ninth Coyote to make 11-or-more free throws in a game without a miss (Todd Williams holds the record, making 17-of-17 free throws vs. Central Washington in 1994) and first since Bryan Champ went 12-for-12 vs. Corban in 2009.
WYMAN LEADS CHARGE VS. NNU: Freshman
Drew Wyman had a quality week in the Activities Center, averaging 10 points and six rebounds per game – posting a career-high 18 points on Wednesday vs. NNU. Wyman converted 12-of-22 field goal attempts and is among the team leaders in both scoring average (9.1) and rebound average (5.0).
FRESHMAN AT THE POINT: The Yotes made a change at the point-guard position prior to the NNU game, as
Caden Handran took over the starting spot. The 6-foot-6 true freshman averaged 24 minutes a game during the trio of contests, converting 4-of-6 field goal attempts, averaging three assists and six rebounds per game. Handran ranks second on the team with a 5.6 rebounds per game average.
ROBINETT TAKES OVER POST ROLE: Second-year Coyote
Tyler Robinett made his first career start vs. NNU and remained in the starting lineup during the Domino's Classic – posting key numbers for the club. The forward averaged eight points and four rebounds in 21 minutes of action per night – making 10-of-18 2-point field goal attempts – while adding a combined four blocked shots.
BENCH PRODUCTION: C of I got key minutes off the bench from returners
Jake O'Neil,
Charles Elzie and
Ivory Miles-Williams in the long week of games. O'Neil posted eight rebounds in the Wednesday match-up with NNU, adding a season-high 14 points in the win over Simpson. Elzie had a pair of steals vs. NNU and followed it up with a season-high 12 points and four steals against Simpson. Miles-Williams was the catalyst in the comeback vs. Western, scoring a season-high 10 points, including 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line, adding four rebounds – in his 100th career game as a Coyote (26th player to play in 100 or more games).
SENIOR LEADERSHIP: One of the changes in the starting line-up was inserting
Derek Wadsworth into one of the guard rules – with the senior posting quality numbers in the three games. The fourth-year player logged back-to-back 11-point games against NNU and Montana Western, while posting a career-high six rebounds vs. NNU. Wadsworth went 6-for-15 from 3-point range and is converting 43-percent of his long-range attempts.
YOTES CLIMB IN POLL: The Yotes climbed six positions to No. 18 in the first regular-season NAIA Top-25 Coaches' Poll, released Nov. 17. C of I was one of two Cascade Conference teams in the poll (Lewis-Clark State at No. 19) and one of five West Coast teams in the ranking (No. 4 Arizona Christian, No. 5 Carroll, No. 17 The Master's). Of the teams in the poll, 10 were former members of the now defunct NAIA Division II, with 15 teams part of the old NAIA Division I (NAIA combined divisions in 2020-21).
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE: The J.A. Albertson Activities Center is arguably one of the toughest venues in all of NAIA Basketball, as the Coyotes have posted a staggering 119-16 overall record on their home floor since the start of the 2013-14 season. Since the Activities Center opened in 1991, the Yotes have recorded a 335-99 all-time record – with the mark ballooning to 451-108 when accounting the previous decade at O'Connor Fieldhouse.
RECORD BOOK: Four C of I players are ranked in the Top-50 of the career record book – as
Ricardo Time ranks No. 26 in 3-pointers made (113) and No. 28 in 3-point attempts (293),
Derek Wadsworth is No. 33 in 3-point attempts (265), No. 34 in 3-pointers made (96) and No. 43 in games played (90), with
Ivory Miles-Williams No. 26 in games played (101) and
Paul Wilson No. 44 in blocked shots (24).
NEXT WEEK: The Yotes open the CCC schedule in earnest, traveling for games at Oregon Tech (Dec. 3) and Southern Oregon (Dec. 4), before playing NNU (Dec. 7) in the second Mayors' Cup Series game.
