PORTLAND PILOTS (5-4) at PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (4-3)
Date: Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018
Time: 7:00 p.m.
City: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Viking Pavilion (3,094)
TV: Pluto TV Channel 232
Radio: 910 ESPN-Portland
Live Links: Video I Audio I Stats
Overall Series: Portland leads 36-19 (H: 23-11, A: 11-7, N: 2-1)
Last Meeting: PSU 80, @POR 75 (11/11/17 at Portland)

GAME INFORMATION
Portland travels to crosstown rival Portland State for a non-conference game Wednesday night at the new Viking Pavilion. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. The Pilots dropped a road game at Colorado last week, while Portland State looks to improve to 4-0 on its home court.

GAME COVERAGE
The game will have video coverage on Pluto TV and WatchBigSky.com. 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.
 
PORTLAND NOTES
• The Pilots visited Colorado last Wednesday and were tied early in the second half, but the Buffaloes erupted late for a 93-69 victory. Josh McSwiggan led the way for Portland with 22 points, including five three-pointers.
• Josh McSwiggan and Franklin Porter were previously named to the Portland Classic All-Tournament Team after leading the Pilots to a pair of wins. McSwiggan averaged 15.0 points and 5.3 rebounds in three games, while Porter erupted for a career-high 24 points in Portland's comeback win against Cal Poly.
• Injuries have sidelined G Crisshawn Clark all season, while F Jacob Tryon has missed all but one game. Both players were expected to play significant minutes and battle for starting spots.
• McSwiggan is averaging a team-best 15.8 points per game and leads the WCC in free throw percentage (.960).
• Sophomore G Marcus Shaver Jr. is averaging 14.4 points per game. He also ranks fifth in the WCC in steals (1.7) and 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.
• Sophomore G JoJo Walker has already established career highs in nearly every category this year. He is averaging 12.6 points per game and ranks fifth in the WCC in three-point percentage (.429).
• Freshman C Theo Akwuba has started all eight games he has been available at center. He missed the Texas State game with an ankle injury. Akwuba ranks second in the WCC in blocked shots (1.9) and is averaging a team-high 8.0 rebounds per game.
• Franklin Porter is averaging 14.0 points and 4.7 rebounds in the last three games.
• 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 Hugh 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, athletic F Josh Phillips, G Miles Turner, and F Wyatt Watson.
• 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 PORTLAND STATE
• The Vikings (4-3) are unbeaten at home and a high-tempo squad averaging 86.1 points per game. PSU has road losses to Oregon and Stanford, and a neutral site loss to UCSB. The Vikings lone Division I win came in its home opener against UC Riverside.
• Ten players are averaging 13 or more minutes per game, while sophomore G Holland Woods leads four players averaging double figures at 15.0 points per game.
• PSU forces 23 turnovers per game and are outrebounding opponents by nearly 13 per game, but the Vikings are shooting just 25 percent from three-point range and 63 percent at the free throw line.
• PSU returns two starters and seven lettermen from a 2018 team that finished 20-14 overall and sixth in the Big Sky Conference. The Vikings were picked fifth in the Big Sky Preseason Coaches Poll.
• Head coach Barret Peery is in his second year at PSU.

McSWIGGAN HAS THE STROKE
Josh McSwiggan is a 24-for-25 from the free throw line to start the season. The Loughborough, England native made his first 20 free throw attempts, leads the WCC in FT percentage (.960) and ranks third nationally. 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 third in Portland history for career three-point percentage (.429).

WALKER DIALED IN
Sophomore G JoJo Walker has reached double figures in five of the last seven games. 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 ranks seventh in the WCC in three-point percentage (.429).

INJURY WARD
Portland has been hit with the injury bug early in the season. Four rotation players have missed a combined 19 games thus far. Pitt transfer Crisshawn Clark has missed all nine 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 eight of nine 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. The script was flipped in the last two games as Texas State and Colorado each outscored the Pilots by 21 points in the second half.

SHAVER JR. CONTINUES WHERE HE LEFT OFF
Freshman PG Marcus Shaver Jr. is 14th in the WCC averaging 14.4 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 six games this year, ranks fifth in the WCC in steals (1.7), and was named to the Rainbow Classic All-Tournament Team.

STRONG START FOR AKWUBA
Freshman C Theo Akwuba has started all eight games that he has been available at center this season. He grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds against Lewis & Clark and finished with 11 boards versus USC Upstate. Akwuba ranks second in the WCC at 1.9 blocked shots per game and leads the team in rebounding (8.0). 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. He ranked No. 2 nationally in blocks. An outstanding student, Akwuba is pursuing a computer science degree from the Shiley School of Engineering at Portland.

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. Franklin has been a force the last three games averaging 14.0 points and 4.7 rebounds and ranks third in the WCC in three-point percentage (.481).

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.