Portland Basketball Coach Literally Took One for the Team Before Huge Upset vs. Gonzaga

Coach Shantay Legans tore his Achilles while filling in on the Pilots' scout team due to injuries and illnesses. Now, he has his signature win at Portland.

Legans's Pilots captured its first win against a ranked opponent since 2014. | James Snook-Imagn Images

Portland basketball coach Shantay Legans’s latest feat brings new meaning to the phrase "take one for the team." So ravaged by injuries and illnesses were the Pilots over the course of the last week—they had just 10 active players for a 23-point loss to Pacific and just nine for a 30-point defeat at the hands of Washington State—that Legans had to take the court for the program’s scout team earlier this week.

That’s when disaster struck, for Legans tore his Achilles during the action.

“A lot of mentors say don't get out there and play anymore once you're 40," Legans told the Field of 68 Podcast Network before Wednesday's game. “And so I’m 44. We lost some scout team guys. We lost some redshirts. So we didn’t have enough numbers for a five-on-five before we left.

"We were just going over some basic zone defense, offense, and I'm on offense and my Achilles popped—the worst thing that could possibly happen at the time ...Former teammates joked that they stopped playing. 'That's not who you are anymore.' That's where we are [as a team]: beat up.”

But the hardship was seemingly all worth it days later when Legans’s Pilots, 21.5-point underdogs, stunned the sixth-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs on Wednesday.

The Bulldogs had entered the game on a 15-game winning streak but found themselves behind the eight-ball early, as the Pilots raced out to a 15-5 lead. Gonzaga fought back into the game but Portland took a 39-33 lead into the locker room at halftime and, powered by freshman guard Joel Foxwell’s 27 points, never looked back en route to victory. It was the program’s first win vs. a ranked opponent in over a decade.

Meanwhile, Legans had told KOIN News sports anchor Brenna Green that he planned to sit on the bench for most of the game against Gonzaga. Well, that didn’t happen.

Legans didn’t sit for long during the action and hobbled when he walked up and down the sideline. When the fans at Chiles Arena stormed the court, Legans navigated the floor using a knee scooter.

Shantay Legans had to join #Portland’s scout team because of the Pilots’ recent injuries and illnesses. It resulted in him tearing his Achilles.

Legans after the first top-10 win in school history: “That’s life, shouldn’t be out there. I’ll take an Achilles’ for a couple wins.” pic.twitter.com/umbM5dv7Z9

— Theo Lawson (@TheoLawson_SR) February 5, 2026

“Going through the motions, I tore my Achilles [last week], but that's life,” Legans said, according to Theo Lawson of The Spokesman-Review. “I shouldn't be out there. I tore my other one seven years ago playing one-on-one with one of our players. This one was worse, though.

“But it's OK. It worked out. We won the game. I'll take an Achilles [tear] for a couple of wins.”

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