Portland Pilots (2-1) vs. #9 North Carolina (3-0)
Date: Thursday, Nov. 23
Time: 11:30 AM
Place: Portland, Ore. (Moda Center)
TV: ESPN
Video: WatchESPN
Radio: 910 ESPN-Portland
Stats: ESPN.com
Series: First Meeting
Video Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvouTSxMna8&feature=youtu.be
Team Receives PK80 Gear (Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcek9lrGbEQ
Tickets: PKInvitational.com

PK80 - PHIL KNIGHT INVITATIONAL
Portland will be playing in the Victory Bracket at the much-anticipated PK80 - Phil Knight Invitational. The Pilots open the tournament against defending NCAA champion and No. 9-ranked North Carolina at the Moda Center on Thanksgiving morning at 11:30 a.m. The tournament continues on Friday and concludes on Sunday. Visit PKInvitational.com for complete brackets, ticket information and all other details.
 
EVENT COVERAGE
All PK80 games will be televised on the ESPN Family of Networks. Portland's opener against UNC will be aired on ESPN with Roxy Bernstein and Bill Walton on the call. Radio coverage for all Pilot games will be on 910 ESPN-Portland (KMTT) with pregame programming starting 30 minutes prior to tip-off with play-by-play voice Jason Swygard.

PORTLAND NOTES
• The Pilots (2-1) posted a pair of dominant wins against NAIA opponents Walla Walla (89-52) and Oregon Tech (86-59) last week after opening the season with an 80-75 loss to Portland State at the Chiles Center. The Pilots led by seven with less than three minutes left in regulation, but the Vikings closed the game with a 12-0 run to steal the win.
• Senior C Philipp Hartwich has had a breakout start to the season and leads the WCC in rebounds (12.0), field goal percentage (.900) and blocked shots (4.7).
• Sophomore transfers Josh McSwiggan (14.3) and Franklin Porter (11.0) have led a balanced scoring attack featuring nine players averaging five or more points per game.
• The Pilots hosted an exhibition game against Eastern Washington on October 29 to raise money for the Red Cross and Puerto Rico's Hurricane Maria relief efforts. Freshman PG JoJo Walker is from Puerto Rico and still has many family and friends that have been impacted by the hurricanes. Walker's family will be in attendance at PK80.
• Terry Porter's 2017 recruiting class was ranked No. 10 nationally by HoopScoop.com. The class was the highest rated in the WCC and No. 2 class nationally among mid-majors. Nine newcomers comprised the class with seven freshmen and two JC transfers.
• The Pilots feature just four returning lettermen from last year and two returning redshirts - Franklin and Malcolm Porter, sons of head coach Terry Porter.
• Portland took an August foreign tour to England and went 3-1 on the trip. The Pilots defeated 2017 British Basketball League runner-up Newcastle on a buzzer-beater by Franklin Porter, dropped a buzzer beater to BBL Champions Leicester, and posted two comfortable wins against academy teams.
• Saint Mary's was the unanimous pick to win the WCC, according to head coaches in the league's preseason poll. Gonzaga was second, while the Pilots were picked ninth. 
• Portland signed prep senior Josh Phillips (Huntington Beach, Calif./Edison HS) to a National Letter of Intent in November. Phillips (6-8, 190) is long and athletic post player that Portland targeted this summer.
 
ABOUT NORTH CAROLINA
• The defending NCAA Champion Tar Heels (3-0) are ranked No. 9 in both the AP and Coaches Polls this week. Last year's run marked the sixth NCAA title for the storied program which boasts 20 NCAA Final Four appearances.
• UNC posted home wins over Northern Iowa (86-69) and Bucknell (93-81), before visiting Stanford on Monday and winning by a 96-72 margin.
• Luke Maye leads five players averaging double figures with 19.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Joel Berry has averaged 18.5 points in two games since returning from injury.
• Hall of Fame head coach Roy Williams is in his 15th year at North Carolina and the only coach in NCAA history with 400 wins at two schools (401 at UNC, 418 at Kansas).
• This is the first meeting between Portland and North Carolina.
 
PORTLAND AT REGULAR SEASON TOURNAMENTS
Portland has taken part in various regular season tournaments throughout the years. The most notable Pilot appearance came at the 2009 Anaheim 76 Classic during Thanksgiving weekend. Portland crushed UCLA in the opener by a 74-47 margin, then defeated No. 16 Minnesota in the semifinals, 61-56. Portland dropped the title game to eventual NCAA runner-up and No. 9-ranked West Virginia (84-66), but cracked the AP Top 25 for the first time in 50 years after the run.

PILOTS AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS
Portland is 7-64 all-time against AP Top 25 opponents, has lost nine straight games to ranked teams, and has never defeated a top 10 opponent (0-24). The last Pilot win against a ranked opponent came versus then-No. 18 Gonzaga, 82-73, on Jan. 9, 2014.

HARTWICH POSTING BREAKOUT SENIOR SEASON
Senior C Philipp Hartwich has exploded out of the gates in his senior season. Hartwich averaged 1.4 points and 3.0 rebounds through his first three years on The Bluff, but is averaging 8.0 points, 12.0 rebounds and 4.7 blocked shots this year while making 9-of-10 field goals thus far and recording his first two career double-doubles (10 pts, 18 rebs vs. Portland State; 10 pts, 10 rebs vs. Walla Walla). He leads the WCC in rebounding, blocked shots and FG percentage, and his 101 career blocked shots are third in UP history. He is two behind Tim Frost (103, 1999-01) for second and 20 shy of all-time leader and former teammate Thomas van der Mars (121, 2011-15).

McSWIGGAN OFF TO FAST START
Sophomore G/F Josh McSwiggan has led the Pilots in scoring all three games and is averaging 14.3 points and 5.0 rebounds. The Loughborough, England native had a circuitous route to Portland. After committing to UTEP and sitting out his freshman season, he transferred to Casper College (Wyoming) and had a solid 2016-17 campaign. Portland assistant coach Bob Cantu, who recruited McSwiggan to UTEP, kept in touch helped garner his commitment to the Pilots. McSwiggan was then able to return to his roots and play in his hometown in front of friends and family when Portland took a foreign tour to England in August.

WALKER RESILIENT
Freshman PG JoJo Walker is from Puerto Rico and still has many family and friends that have been impacted by the hurricane season. Walker left Puerto Rico to gain greater basketball exposure and opportunities when he was a freshman in high school and settled in Santa Maria, Calif. What was originally supposed to be a short stint, but he developed such a connection with his host family and friends that he ended up staying all four years at St. Joseph High School. Despite only getting back to Puerto Rico a couple weeks per year, Walker's entire biological family still calls Carolina, Puerto Rico home. His mother, father, and grandfather were able to get off the island and visit JoJo in Portland in early October and will be at the PK80 Tournament, along with his Santa Maria, Calif. host family. The Pilots were able to use the NCAA Natural Disaster Exemption to host an exhibition game against Eastern Washington on Oct. 29 that raised nearly $3,000 for Red Cross efforts benefitting Puerto Rico relief.

DIVERSE ROSTER WITH INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
Portland has a diverse roster featuring players from 13 different states or countries. There are three native Oregonians, but no other state or territory with more than one player on the roster. Internationally, Portland has players from Mali, New Zealand, Germany and England. States represented include Hawaii, Arizona, California, South Carolina, Ohio, Idaho, Washington and the US territory of Puerto Rico. Freshman Tahirou Diabate is from Mali, but has lived in France, the Canary Islands, and Japan and speaks five languages: Bambara (native), English, French, Spanish and Japanese.

YOUTH MOVEMENT
The Pilots feature one of the youngest rosters in the nation. Portland has 10 underclassmen with eight freshmen and two sophomores. Rashad Jackson and transfers Crisshawn Clark and Austin Stone are juniors, while Philipp Hartwich and D'Marques Tyson are the only seniors.

TYSON CLIMBING UP CHARTS
Senior G D'Marques Tyson is the leading returning scorer for the Pilots after averaging 8.5 points per game a year ago. Tyson, a three-point specialist, ranks fourth all-time in three-pointers made at Portland (199). He is on pace to move into second place for career threes made, trailing only Jared Stohl (336, 2007-11). Tyson is also No. 5 in career three-point percentage (.409). His 782 career points and is on pace to become Portland's 39th 1,000-point scorer.

IT'S ALL IN THE FAMILY
Sophomore G Franklin Porter and freshman G Malcolm Porter are both coming off of redshirt seasons and in 2017. Franklin transferred to UP after playing one season at Saint Mary's, while Malcolm signed with the Pilots after graduating from Jesuit High School. Both players are also sons of Portland head coach Terry Porter.

RECRUITING CLASS RANKED NO. 10
Terry Porter put together a nine-player 2017 recruiting class that one publication has been ranked as the No. 10 in the nation. In his first full recruiting cycle, Porter and his staff were recognized by HoopScoop.com to have the top class in the WCC and No. 2 class nationally among mid-major schools. Three of those newcomers will redshirt the 2017-18 season - Crisshawn Clark due to NCAA transfer rules after coming to Portland from Pitt, Takiula Fahrensohn is coming off of knee surgery, and Hugh Hogland is redshirting to focus on development.
 
ENGLAND FOREIGN TOUR IN AUGUST
Portland went on a foreign tour to England in August and finished with a 3-1 record against quality competition. The Pilots defeated 2017 British Basketball League runner-up Newcastle on a buzzer-beater by Franklin Porter, dropped a buzzer beater to BBL Champions Leicester, and comfortable defeated a pair of academy teams during the trip. In addition to the games and tours in London, the team was able to get 10 extra days of practice on campus. Visit PortlandPilots.com/LondonTour for complete details on the trip.

PK80 HIGHLIGHTS 2017-18 SCHEDULE
The Pilots will play a total of 15 regular season home games at the Chiles Center, and will also take part in the prestigious PK80 Invitational hosted at the Rose Quarter over Thanksgiving Weekend. Portland will open the tournament against defending NCAA champion North Carolina at 11:30 a.m. Thanksgiving morning on ESPN.
 
PILOTS ON THE TV & RADIO
Portland has an extensive TV package with a minimum of 18 games aired nationally or regionally this basketball season. Games will primarily be seen on ESPN, ROOT Sports Northwest, and NBC Sports Northwest. Visit PortlandPilots.com for complete schedule details and full TV listings. All Pilot games will once again have live radio coverage on 910 ESPN-Portland with Jason Swygard calling the action. Each broadcast will feature a 30-minute pregame show and complete post-game coverage. The Terry Porter Show will air on 1080 The Fan each Tuesday night (barring game conflicts) throughout the season from 7-8 PM beginning on Nov. 7.  Fans can also watch a simulcast of the weekly show on the Portland Pilots Facebook Page.

PILOTS INK ATHLETIC BIG DURING EARLY SIGNING PERIOD
Portland signed Josh Phillips (Huntington Beach, Calif./Edison HS) to a NLI on the first day of the early signing period, head coach Terry Porter announced. Phillips (6-8, 190) will join the Pilots as a freshman in the fall of 2018. Porter and the Portland coaching staff targeted a 2018 post this summer and Phillips caught the staff's attention immediately. He earned All-Sunset League First Team honors and helped Edison post a 23-5 overall record and 9-1 mark in the Sunset League. The team advanced to the second round of the CIF Southern Section 2017 Boys Basketball Division I-AA Championships. "Josh impressed us with his ability to make multiple effort plays consistently as we evaluated him in the recruiting process," Porter said. "He has good size, length and athleticism, a great motor, and the tremendous desire to defend and rebound. His shot blocking ability will translate right away and he is always doing the little things that helps winning programs. He will bring a unique skillset to our frontline next year."

PILOTS IN THE PROS
A total of 11 former Pilots are currently playing professionally overseas: Alec Wintering (Araberri, Spain), Ray Barreno (Panteras de Aguascalientes, Mexico), Thomas van der Mars (Kalev/Cramo Tallinn, Estonia), Volodymyr Gerun (FC Barcelona B, Spain), Bryce Pressley (Palencia, Spain), Nemanja Mitrovic (Araberri, Spain), Nik Raivio (Legnano, Italy), TJ Campbell (Turk Telekom, Turkey), Luke Sikma (ALBA Berlin, German), Taishi Ito (Toyota Alvark, Japan) and Pooh Jeter (Tianjin Gold Lions, China).