STANFORD, Calif. – The Pacific men's basketball team opens the 2022-23 season on the road, traveling to take on Stanford on Monday, Nov. 7, at Maples Pavilion.
Facing off against a Pac-12 opponent for the second-straight season, the Tigers competed at California and USC a season ago and led during parts of both contests.
Leonard Perry, the 23rd head coach in program history, enters his second season at the helm, looking to improve on an up-and-down 2021-22 season. Highlighted by an upset win over BYU at the Alex G. Spanos Center a season ago, the Tigers look to improve as a new team has been assembled for the upcoming 2022-23 campaign.
With the departure of seven players from last season's roster, Perry and the rest of the coaching staff have rebuilt the team with seven transfers and one true freshman.
Donovan Williams and Keylan Boone join the Tigers after spending time as teammates at Oklahoma State, while Judson Martindale (Holy Cross), Tyler Beard (Georgetown), Jordan Ivy-Curry (UTSA), Cam Denson (Triton Community College), and Makai Richards (Eastern Washington) enter their first season with the team as transfers. Moe Odum begins his collegiate career as the lone freshman on the team, joining the Tigers after finishing his high school career at West Oaks Academy in Orlando, Fla.
Luke Avdalovic enters his second season with the program and returns as the Tigers' top-returning scorer, where he averaged 10 points per game a season ago. Avdalovic, who established himself as one of the Tigers' best shooters a season ago, ranked second on the team in three-point percentage and shot 87 percent from the free-throw line.
Nick Blake also returns as a critical piece to last season's roster, as he averaged 8.8 points per game, primarily coming off the bench. Blake, who shot 45.5 percent from the floor, scored double figures in 12 games last season, including a career-high 20 in wins over Pepperdine and BYU.
Stanford enters the 2022-23 season after finishing in ninth place in the Pac-12 standings with a 16-16 overall record and an 8-12 record during conference play. The Cardinal defeated Arizona State in the first round of the conference tournament before dropping a narrow 84-80 decision to nationally ranked Arizona in the second round.
Stanford is one of two power conference programs to return eight of its top nine scorers from a season ago. Last season, Spencer Jones led the Cardinal with 12 points per game, while Harrison Ingram paced the team with 6.7 rebounds per game. Leading the team in assists, Michael O'Connell dished a team-leading 3.6 assists per game.
Pacific and Stanford have faced off 37 times in program history, dating back to the first-ever meeting in the 1912-13 season. The teams last competed five years ago, when the Tigers narrowly lost to the Cardinal, 89-80, on November 12, 2017, at Maples Pavilion.
For more information about the 2022 season and future events, follow Pacific men's basketball on social media and download the Pacific Athletics mobile app to keep up with news regarding your favorite Pacific Tiger teams.
