PORTLAND PILOTS (6-5) vs. GRAMBLING STATE TIGERS (4-6)
Date: Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018
Time: 7:00 p.m.
City: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center (4,852)
Video: TheW.tv
Radio: 910 ESPN-Portland
Live Links: Video I Audio I Stats
Overall Series: First Meeting

GAME INFORMATION
Portland continues its four-game homestand by hosting Grambling State at the Chiles Center on Saturday for a 7 p.m. tip-off. Portland enters the game after finals week and coming off of a home win against Sacramento State. The Pilots will then host Seattle U. on Monday at 7 p.m. and then Florida A&M on Dec. 21 at 5 p.m. before taking a break for the Holidays.

GAME COVERAGE
The next three games will have video coverage on TheW.tv with Tom Kolker and Scott Hermo on the call. Radio coverage of all Pilot games is on 910 ESPN-Portland (KMTT) with Jason Swygard providing the play-by-play. Pregame coverage begins 30 minutes prior to tip-off. Visit PortlandPilots.com for all live coverage links.

TICKET INFORMATION
Ticket packages, promotions and youth team experience opportunities at upcoming games are available now! Visit www.PortlandPilots.com/Tickets or call/text the Pilots Box Office at 503-943-GoUP (4687) for more information.

PORTLAND NOTES
• Portland snapped a three-game losing streak with a 76-67 win against Sacramento State on Saturday. The sophomore backcourt of JoJo Walker and Marcus Shaver Jr. combined to score 43 points and dish out seven assists in the win. RS freshman C Hugh Hogland scored a season-high 13 points off the bench to spark the Pilots.
• The five Pilot losses have come to teams with a combined 37-11 record this season.
• Shaver Jr. was named to the Rainbow Classic All-Tournament Team earlier this year. Last season, he became the first Pilot to earn All-WCC Freshman Team honors since Taishi Ito in 2007 and first UP freshman to garner honorable mention status since Donald Wilson in 2003. He is fifth in the WCC in steals per game (1.6) and ranks 13th in the league in scoring this year (15.0).
• Walker has led the team in scoring five times, including three 20-point games, and is the Pilots leader in assists per game (4.0). He also is third in the WCC in three-point percentage (.444)
• Freshman C Theo Akwuba has started all 10 games he has been available and ranks second in the WCC in blocked shots (2.3) and is averaging a team-high 7.7 rebounds per game. Akwuba blocked five shots against Sacramento State and currently tops the Portland single-season record book for blocks per game.
• Josh McSwiggan averages a team-best 14.4 points, ranking 15th in the WCC. His 90.9 FT percentage is second best in the league.
• RS-junior G/F Franklin Porter leads the WCC in three-point percentage (.455).
• The Pilots return four starters and six of the team's seven leading scorers from a year ago. Portland also adds four redshirts to the lineup this season in Pittsburgh transfer G Crisshawn Clark, freshmen Hogland and Takiula Fahrensohn, and junior Xavier Hallinan.
• Five other newcomers join the roster highlighted by 7-foot sophomore Jacob Tryon (East Los Angeles College). The freshmen newcomers include Akwuba, F Josh Phillips, G Miles Turner, and F Wyatt Watson.
• Injuries have sidelined Clark all season, while Tryon has missed all but one game. Both players were expected to play significant minutes and battle for starting spots.
• Former Portland State head coach Tyler Geving has joined the Pilots as an interim assistant coach. Geving, who brings 20-plus years of coaching experience including eight at the helm of the Vikings, will fill in for Kramer Knutson who is on family leave.
• Portland signed two players to NLI's last week. 6-2 G Donyae McCaskill (St. Louis, Mo./Vashon HS) and 7-1 F/C Cody Collinsworth (Lindale, Texas/Lindale HS).
• Former NBA All-Star Terry Porter is in his third year as the head coach of the Pilots.

ABOUT GRAMBLING STATE
• The Tigers (4-6) are the defending SWAC regular season champions and preseason favorite to win the league again this year.
• Tacoma, Wash. native Ivy Smith Jr. was a preseason All-SWAC pick and one of three GSU players averaging double figures at 10.3 per game. Dallas Polk-Hilliard averages a team-best 13.3 per game.
• GSU is averaging 73.9 points per game, shooting 46 percent overall from the field and 39 percent from three-point range.
• The Tigers' best win of the season was a 74-68 road victory at Niagara.
• Head coach Donte Jackson is in his second year with the Tigers.

FINALS IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR
It is finals week on campus and the Pilot players will complete fall semester with the last day of classes and exams on Thursday. School will return to session beginning on Monday, January 14.

DIALED IN FROM DISTANCE
Portland was 8-for-12 from three-point range on Saturday against Sacramento State. Junior G/F Franklin Porter leads the WCC in three-point percentage (.455), while JoJo Walker ranks third (.444).

HOGLAND ERUPTS OFF THE BENCH
Redshirt freshman C Hugh Hogland had a career game on Saturday against Sacramento State. He went 6-for-9 from the field and scored a season-high 13 points to go with five rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench. Portland's best post-up scorer, Hogland finished with both hands at the rim. The Hawai'i native has also shown a good touch at the line, converting 9-of-10 free throws this season.

AKWUBA ON RECORD PACE FOR BLOCKED SHOTS
Freshman C Theo Akwuba ranks second in the WCC in blocked shots per game (2.3). He has 23 blocked shots in 10 games played which is the highest per game average in Portland history. The single-season record of 73 blocked shots was set last year by Philipp Hartwich and is within reach at his current pace. Akwuba has blocked three or more shots in six games, including a season-high five blocks on Saturday against Sacramento State. He also leads the team in rebounding this season (7.7). The Montgomery, Ala. native averaged a triple double as a high school senior at 11.7 points, 14.1 rebounds and 10.4 blocked shots per game and ranked No. 2 nationally in blocks. An outstanding student, Akwuba is pursuing a computer science degree from the Shiley School of Engineering at Portland.

WALKER FINDING HIS STROKE
Sophomore G JoJo Walker has reached double figures in seven of the last nine games, including three 20-point performances. He recorded back-to-back career highs in scoring with 22 points versus North Texas (11/10) and 23 points against CSUN (11/17). The Carolina, Puerto Rico native went 9-for-11 from the field against the Mean Green in Hawai'i. He then ignited Portland's comeback win against CSUN with 23 points, seven assists and zero turnovers in 40 minutes. Walker scored 15 second half points and made 6-of-8 from three-point range in the win. He then made 5-of-7 triples and scored 22 points to lead the Pilots over Sacramento State on Saturday. Walker ranks third in the WCC in three-point percentage (.444) and seventh in assists (4.0).

WCC OFF TO STRONG START
Nine of ten WCC programs have winning records, while the league as a whole is 73-33 (.689) overall as of Dec. 13. For comparison, that is a higher collective win percentage than the Pac-12 (.663), Mountain West (.559) and Atlantic 10 (.515). The WCC is 6-6 head-to-head against the Pac-12 thus far, while six WCC teams rank in the Top 100 of the Dec. 13 NET rankings (GON #7, USF #21, LMU #53, USD #62, SMC #76, BYU #91).

McSWIGGAN MONEY AT THE LINE
Josh McSwiggan is a 30-of-33 from the free throw line to start the season. The Loughborough, England native made his first 20 free throw attempts and is second in the WCC in FT percentage (.909). He also recorded his first double double with career highs of 37 points and 11 rebounds in the opener against Multnomah. McSwiggan buried five three-pointers at Colorado and ranks fourth in Portland history for career three-point percentage (.424).

INJURY WARD
Portland has been hit with the injury bug early in the season. Four rotation players have missed a combined 23 games thus far. Pitt transfer Crisshawn Clark has missed all 11 games, while Jacob Tryon has missed all but one game this year. Center Hugh Hogland missed the game against Cal Poly, while C Theo Akwuba was out against Texas State.

A TALE OF TWO HALVES
Portland has trailed at the half in nine of 11 games this season, but have outscored opponents in the second half in five of those contests. Portland came back from 18 down at CSUN to defeat the Matadors and overcame a 13-point deficit to beat Cal Poly.

SHAVER JR. CONTINUES WHERE HE LEFT OFF
Freshman PG Marcus Shaver Jr. is 13th in the WCC averaging 15.0 points per game. Shaver became the first Pilot since Taishi Ito in 2007 to be named to the WCC All-Freshman Team last year and was the first UP freshman to earn All-WCC honorable mention honors since Donald Wilson in 2003. Shaver's 394 points last season were the third most by a freshman in Portland history. He has recorded double figures in eight games this year, is fifth in the WCC in steals (1.6), and was named to the Rainbow Classic All-Tournament Team.

IT'S ALL IN THE FAMILY
Junior G Franklin Porter and sophomore G Malcolm Porter are both sons of Portland head coach Terry Porter. Franklin began his career at Saint Mary's his freshman year before joining the Pilots, while Malcolm was a local standout at Jesuit High School.

BUILDING WITH REDSHIRTS
The Pilots have seven players on the active roster this season that have utilized redshirt seasons. Head coach Terry Porter wanted to emphasize player development in his vision of building the program and Portland is one of 10 schools in the nation that has seven or more active redshirt players this year.

WCC SCHEDULE ADJUSTMENTS
The WCC announced changes to the league schedule and conference tournament for this offseason. Moving from an 18-game to a 16-game league schedule is the result of changes adopted by the WCC Presidents' Council as part of the Conference's Men's Basketball Enhancement Plan. Portland will not play at Gonzaga and Saint Mary's will not visit the Chiles Center this year. The top two seeds at the WCC Championships will also receive byes into the semifinals to protect the high seeds late in the season.

PILOTS ADD MORE EXPERIENCE TO COACHING STAFF
Former Portland State head coach Tyler Geving joined the Pilots as an interim assistant coach last month as Kramer Knutson is on family leave. Geving brings 20-plus years of Pacific Northwest coaching experience, including eight seasons as head coach at Portland State from 2009-17 where he won 112 games and led the Vikings to the 2014 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. He also spent four years as the Associate Head Coach of the Vikings from 2005-09, which included a pair of Big Sky Conference titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2008 and 2009.

PILOTS IN THE PROS
A total of 12 former Pilots are currently playing professionally overseas: Philipp Hartwich (Huesca, Spain), D'Marques Tyson (Vitoria SC, Portugal), Alec Wintering (Windmills, Holland), Ray Barreno (Soles, Mexico), Thomas van der Mars (Aalstar, Belgium), Volodymyr Gerun (Breogan, Spain), Bryce Pressley (Bondi Ferrara, Italy), Nik Raivio (Bayreuth, Germany), TJ Campbell (Turk Telekom, Turkey), Luke Sikma (ALBA Berlin, German), Taishi Ito (Shiga L-Stars, Japan) and Pooh Jeter (Fujian S., China).

DIVERSE ROSTER WITH INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
Portland has a diverse roster featuring players from 12 different states or countries. There are three native Oregonians and three Californians, but no other state or territory has more than one player on the roster. Internationally, Portland has players from Mali, New Zealand and England. States represented include Hawaii, Alabama, Arizona, California, Ohio, Idaho, Washington and the US territory of Puerto Rico. Sophomore F 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.

HAWAIIAN HOMECOMING
Two Pilots had a homecoming when Portland visited Hawai'i for the Rainbow Classic on Nov. 9-10. Hugh Hogland was born and raised in Oah'u and a two-sport standout in volleyball and basketball at Iolani School. Marcus Shaver Jr. lived in Oah'u for a majority of his childhood and still has many family members and friends living in Hawai'i.

PILOTS SIGN TWO EARLY
Portland signed G Donyae McCaskill (St. Louis, Mo./Vashon HS) and F/C Cody Collinsworth (Lindale, Texas, Lindale HS) to National Letters of Intent on the first day of the early signing period on Nov. 14. McCaskill (6-3, 185) averaged 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists as a junior for Vashon HS. He helped the Wolverines to a 21-6 overall record, District 4 title, and a trip to the Missouri 4A State Basketball Championships. He had offers from Creighton, UMKC, Southern Illinois, Missouri State and Southeast Missouri State before committing to Portland. Collinsworth (7-1, 225) averaged 18.3 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocked shots per game last season for Pilot Point HS. He earned District 9-3A Co-Offensive Player of the Year honors and was named to the All-Texomaland Second Team by the Herald Democrat. The Denton-Record Chronicle selected him as the Area's Defensive Player of the Year. Collinsworth had offers from TCU, Minnesota, Wright State, Northern Colorado and Northwestern State.

FORMER PILOT COACH JACK AVINA, HALL OF FAMER DARWIN COOK HONORED
Portland honored former head coach Jack Avina prior to its first exhibition game with a video tribute and moment of silence. Avina, who racked up a school-record 222 wins during his tenure from 1970-87, passed away on Oct. 4 at the age of 89. The tribute fittingly happened when the Pilots hosted Antelope Valley, coached by former Avina player and Pilot Hall of Famer, Darwin Cook. Cook, who still holds the school records for assists and steals and had an eight-year NBA Career, was also honored prior to tip-off.

HALL OF FAME CIRCUIT
Head coach Terry Porter, a two-time NBA All-Star with his jersey retired by the Portland Trail Blazers, earned some more recognition this offseason. He was inducted this fall into both the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame and the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Porter was a standout for Wisconsin Stevens-Point under legendary head coach Dick Bennett prior to his 17-year NBA career.