Portland has been assigned the No. 9 seed and will play against No. 12-seeded Pepperdine in the first round of the 2026 Credit Union 1 West Coast Conference (WCC) Men’s Basketball Championship. The league released the full tournament bracket on Sunday. The game is scheduled for Thursday at 6 p.m. at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
The Pilots finished the regular season with a record of 13-18 overall and 6-12 in conference play, tying for ninth place with Loyola Marymount University (LMU). Portland secured the higher seed based on a tiebreaker. Pepperdine completed its season at 9-22 overall and 4-14 in WCC games, having won both regular season matchups against Portland, with scores of 67-63 in Malibu and 95-87 at the Chiles Center.
The winner between Portland and Pepperdine will advance to face No. 8 seed Washington State, which ended its season at 12-19 overall and 7-11 in conference, on Friday at 6 p.m.
Gonzaga enters as the top seed after finishing with a share of the WCC regular season championship, posting a record of 28-3 overall and 16-2 in conference play. Saint Mary’s holds the No. 2 seed after also securing a share of the title for a fourth consecutive year, finishing at 27-4 overall and matching Gonzaga’s conference record. Gonzaga was awarded the top spot through tiebreakers by winning both games against Santa Clara, while Saint Mary’s split their series with Santa Clara.
Santa Clara takes the No. 3 seed after achieving a program-record fifteen conference wins this season, finishing with an overall record of 24-7. Oregon State is seeded fourth after ending its season at .500 in conference play.
San Francisco, Pacific, and Seattle U each concluded league play with identical records but were separated by tiebreakers into seeds five through seven respectively.
In another first-round matchup on Thursday night, LMU (No.10) will play San Diego (No.11).
Broadcast coverage includes ESPN+ for early rounds and ESPN2 or ESPN for later rounds including quarterfinals, semifinals, and championship games.
Fans can find ticket information for upcoming Portland Pilots events by visiting PortlandPilots.com/Tickets or using the official app.
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