Pioneering a New Era: Landon Banks Breathing Life Into Pacific Union College Basketball
By Daniel Morales
Courtesy Images: Abigail Suttan
A new energy is building on the hardwood at Pacific Union College. Under the leadership of second year head coach Landon Banks, both the men's and women's basketball programs are showing signs of a long awaited revival, one built on grit, vision, and relentless belief. Thursday evening both teams hosted their 2025-26 home openers in pre-season play. The men's team fell to Nelson University 91-70 while the women's side was out performed by CSU Maritime 27-64.
"I try to play a tough schedule in the beginning of the year, Nelson are the defending National Christian College Athletic Association champs, they're going to be tough competition so we're learning how to play hard, work through adversity and build that team chemistry and grit that we'll need come conference." Said Banks.
Hired just 3 months before the start of the 2024-25 season, the Maryland native took on a unique challenge in collegiate athletics, leading both the men's and women's teams simultaneously. During that year the men finished 3-18 but turned heads across the NAIA Cal Pac Conference for the competitiveness they brought every night. The women's side saw perhaps the most emotionally resonant moment of Banks' first season. In the final game of the year, the Pioneers snapped a staggering 66 game losing streak with a win over CSU Maritime, ending a drought that stretched nearly 3 years. In the classroom his rosters were impressive with 100% of his players maintaining academic eligibility year round.
This year Banks enters the season with his first official recruiting class, one that's showing urgency and determination no matter the result, particularly on the men's side who currently has 24 roster members.
"Unfortunately on the women's roster we had three key players out with injuries tonight, we hope to recover them soon. On the men's side I would look at our freshmen they did pretty good, Kaden Bean when he came in I think we closed their lead to 8 points he's a freshman out of Sacramento and then Noah Oliver grabbed some important rebounds he's out of Arizona, John Hemsley another big came in and helped out so a lot of the young guys played well and stepped up and actually changed the momentum of the game."
The Nelson University Warriors shot an impressive 55.1% from the field and controlled the paint with a 52–20 edge in points inside, while also outrebounding the Pioneers 40–29. Nelson's balanced scoring attack and second chance opportunities, 16 points off offensive rebounds proved too much for PUC to overcome.
In spite of the loss, the Pioneers showed flashes of strong ball movement, tallying 14 assists compared to Nelson's six, and getting a solid lift from their reserves with 38 bench points. However, PUC's 19 turnovers and struggles at the free throw line (60.7%) kept them from closing the gap against the 2025 NCCAA Division I National Champions.
"When you play a good team they expose where you're not good and tonight was our defense and rebounding, they got 52 points in the paint versus us with only 6 assists which means they were just getting to the basket easy so we just have to work hard on the defensive end and once we do that that's where we'll close that gap, instead of losing by 20 it's going down to the wire."
Pacific Union College is no stranger to basketball success. Coach Banks references the 2017 men's team, which was managed by Greg Rahn and went on to win the Cal Pac Championship and compete in the NAIA National Tournament, as proof that success is possible in Angwin. "There's a legacy here of teams doing things the right way and competing at the highest level," he said. "That 2017 team showed what hard work, belief, and consistency can do. It won't happen overnight, but the process of bringing competitiveness and excitement back has started."
The Pioneers now shift their focus to their next contests, for the men it will be a voyage to Alaska where they'll face off against NCAA Division II opponent University of Alaska Fairbanks on November 5th. The women's side will visit UC Santa Cruz on November 1st before hosting Ottawa University on November 5th at 5pm in PUC's "Covered Wagon" Gymnasium.