STOCKTON, Calif. – Year two of the Dave Smart era gets underway Wednesday when the Pacific men's basketball program hosts Life Pacific at 7 p.m. at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
 
The new-look Tigers reloaded with 15 newcomers this year, which included 10 transfers and five freshmen. They have Division I transfers from Binghamton, Dayton, Florida, Lamar, Long Beach State, Maine, UC San Diego and Washington. Most notably, junior Kajus Kublickas was part of a national championship team last season with the Gators.
 
More than half of Pacific's roster is international. The Tigers are represented with six from Canada, two from Lithuania and one from each the Dominican Republic and Israel. At the same time, Pacific has been able to recruit locally with five California natives on the team.
 
Pacific brought back fifth-year forward Elias Ralph who was named to the WCC Preseason All-Conference Team. Ralph was second on the Tigers in scoring last year with 14.8 points per game and was the team's leading rebounder with 7.3 per outing.
 
At WCC Media Day in Las Vegas on Oct. 23, Ralph was asked why he returned to Pacific when he could have chased opportunities at Power 4 institutions.
 
"Loyalty is a lost virtue these days, especially with the transfer portal, and that's one thing that's really important to me. Not everything is about money, and I wanted to come back to Coach Smart and the staff who trusted me after no one even knew who I was in U SPORTS. I really wanted to build something here at Pacific. I didn't want to just come for a year and leave it behind. I'm excited about the upcoming season," Ralph said.
 
Ralph was one of two student-athletes to represent the Tigers at WCC Media Day alongside senior TJ Wainwright. The Long Beach State transfer averaged 13.4 points per game and shot .407 from three-point range and .841 from the free throw line last season.
 
Wednesday's contest against Life Pacific will be a rematch from last year where the Tigers broke the school record for the largest margin of victory with a 53-point win. The 94-41 result happened on a neutral court in Hawaii at the Rainbow Classic.
 
Though, the Warriors are looking much tougher this year as they're coming off a tight 88-80 road defeat to Pepperdine on Monday.
 
The Tigers are looking to win their season and home opener for the second year in a row after topping Jessup 92-65 last season in Smart's inaugural game.
 
NOTES
- Pacific is 809-462 all-time at home and 346-229 in the Alex G. Spanos Center.
 
- The Tigers were picked to finish 10th in the WCC Preseason Poll.
 
- Ralph, from Okotoks, Alberta, Canada, submitted 10 double doubles last year, which ranked top-40 nationally. In the WCC Tournament against San Diego, Ralph turned in game-highs of 23 points and 11 rebounds and was 9-of-16 from the field.
 
- Ralph is one of three returners on the roster. Junior Kris Keinys averaged 2.6 points per game but came on strong in the end with 7.8 points per outing over the last four games. Sophomore Noah Budu returns but did not see action last season.
 
- The Tigers will participate in the 2025 Sunshine Slam in Daytona Beach, Florida. The tournament begins with a road game at Florida Atlantic on Nov. 24 and continues with a neutral game against Stony Brook. Pacific will face either Bethune-Cookman or Jacksonville in the finale on Nov. 25.
 
- Pacific took a step in the right direction last year in Smart's first season. The Tigers surpassed their conference win total by four games and overall win total by three games from the year prior.
 
- Highlights from last season included a season sweep over Washington State, and an 83-58 road win at LMU that saw Pacific post its largest margin of victory in a WCC road game since the school rejoined the league in 2013-14.
 
- Widely regarded as the most successful Canadian college basketball coach of all time, Smart is in his second season as the head coach. Smart arrived at Pacific after serving as Assistant Coach at Texas Tech in 2023-24. He previously amassed 656 victories as the head coach at Carleton University over 18 seasons.
                       
Tigers Tickets
Tickets for upcoming events can be purchased through the PacificTigers.com tickets tab, or by calling the Box Office at 209-946-2474.  Groups of 10 or more are eligible for a group discount and exclusive fan experiences.
 
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