WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13
Whitworth at Seattle Pacific, 6:00 p.m. PST
Iron Coach Court at Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14
Whitworth at Seattle Pacific, 6:00 p.m. PST
Iron Coach Court at Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
• Webcast: https://www.youtube.com/user/SPUsports
• LiveStats: www.sidearmstats.com/spu/mbball
 
A season like no other starts with a pair of games this week. Defending Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion Seattle Pacific begins its 77th men's basketball season this week with a pair of home games on Iron Coaching Court at Brougham Pavilion. The Falcons (0-0) entertain NCAA Division III powerhouse Whitworth on back-to-back nights, Wednesday, Jan. 13 and Thursday, Jan. 14. Tip-off is 6 p.m. for both games that will be played without spectators. The Pirates (0-3) advanced to the Sweet Sixteen before the 2020 Division III Tournament was halted due to the COVID outbreak. SPU suffered a similar fate, having the Division II playoffs stopped on March 12, the day before they began. The Falcons were seeded No. 5 in the West Region.
 
Abbreviated Schedule:
With six schools opting out this year, the GNAC announced Dec. 17 that there would not be a conference season and the Falcons fended for themselves in finding opponents. SPU will almost certainly play fewer games than in any of its prior 76 seasons. Just once have the Falcons played less than 20 games, and that was in 1945-46 when they competed 18 times (3-15). There are currently eight games scheduled, six of them at home and two at Saint Martin's. Each of the home contests come in two-game sets on consecutive nights. There will likely be additional opponents inserted into the schedule and there is a possibility of games being postponed or cancelled if COVID issues arise.
 

2021 Season Preview
The Falcons return four starters and eight lettermen from last year's GNAC championship team. Junior point guard Divant'e Moffitt, a first-team All-GNAC honoree, topped the team with a 17.1-point scoring average and was the leading playmaker with 99 assists (3.4 apg). Senior guard Harry Cavell was second on SPU in scoring (13.5 ppg) and was the best rebounder, collecting 6.7 caroms per contest. Sophomore forward Shaw Anderson averaged 12.8 points, 4.7 rebounds and converted an astounding 56 percent of his 3-point attempts (58 of 103). The fourth returning starter is sophomore center Filip Fullerton who shot 57 percent from the floor while averaging 7.0 points and 3.4 rebounds. Newcomers include two red-shirts, three transfers and three freshmen.
 
2020 Review
Seattle Pacific registered a 22-7 record in 2020 and qualified for the NCAA Tournament as the West Region's No. 5 seed, but the playoffs were cancelled on March 12 due to the pandemic, just one day before the first-round games were scheduled to begin. After starting last season with four straight losses, the Falcons compiled a 14-game winning streak that was the second-longest in school history. They won 22 of their final 25 games to clinch a second straight 20-win campaign. SPU captured the GNAC regular-season title with an 18-2 league ledger. Grant Leep was honored as the 2020 GNAC Coach of the Year, forward Shaw Anderson was the Freshman of the Year and  guard Harry Cavell shared the Defensive Player of the Year award. Both Anderson and Cavell were selected to the All-GNAC second-team squad while point guard Divant'e Moffitt represented the Falcons on the first-team as one of five unanimous selections.
 
Quoting Coach Grant Leep
"This year's team has excited me every day. It seems after every workout a different player steps up and shows a new skill or makes a great play. Led by all-conference performers Harry Cavell, Divant'e Moffitt and Shaw Anderson, this team has quality and depth at all five positions. Having only lost three players from the conference championship team from 2020, we have a great balance of returning players and an exciting mix of freshman and transfers all competing for a role on this team."
 
Scouting Whitworth (0-3)
> The Pirates, from Spokane, Washington, are NCAA Division III competitors from the Northwest Conference. They are coached for the second season by Damion Jablonski.
 
> Whitworth opened with three games in four days last week, capped by an 84-67 loss at Division I Montana on Saturday. The Pirates lost 77-75 and 92-91 (2ot) to College of Idaho to start the year.
 
> Liam Fitzgerald leads Whitworth with 13.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
 
> The Pirates own a 32-24 advantage in the series that hasn't been contested in 28 years. The teams last battled through a pair of close games in back-to-back seasons with SPU winning the last matchup 71-69 on Dec. 4, 1992 following a 70-69 loss at Whitworth on Dec. 14, 1990.

 

Dynamic Divant'e
Point guard Divant'e Moffitt produced a stellar sophomore campaign and was honored as a unanimous first-team All-GNAC selection in 2020. His 17.1-point average ranked fourth in the GNAC and his 3.4 assists per game was seventh. Moffitt erupted for a career-high 33 points at Alaska Fairbanks (Jan. 30), his second 30-point performance. He reached double-digits 24 times, nine of them 20-plus point performances. Moffitt was the Falcons top scorer in 13 games and leading assister 18 times. He shot 51 percent from the field and 81% from the free throw line.
 


Coach Leep
GNAC Coach of the Year Grant Leep, 41, begins his fifth season directing the SPU men's basketball program after seven years as an assistant on the Falcons staff. He has a 73-42 career record. Leep coached the 2020 team to a 22-7 record that featured a 14-game winning streak. His Falcons won the GNAC regular-season championship and qualified for the cancelled NCAA West Regional as the No. 5 seed.  Leep has strong basketball ties throughout the Northwest as an All-America player at Mount Vernon (Wash.) High School before lettering four years at Washington. Leep still owns the Huskies 3-point accuracy records for a season (52.7% in 2002) and career (42.9%). His coaching resumé includes stops at Eastern Washington and a pair of community colleges. SPU had a 165-51 (.764) record during his time as an assistant.