Portland Pilots (10-21, 4-14 WCC) vs. Loyola Marymount Lions (10-19, 5-13 WCC)
Date: Friday, March 2, 2018
Time: 6:00 PM 
Place: Las Vegas, Nev. (Orleans Arena)
TV: ROOT NW/SPEC/NBC SN/ATT RM
Video: TheW.tv
Radio: 910 ESPN-Portland
Stats: StatBroadcast.com
Series: POR trails 49-51 (H: 30-17, A: 17-27, N: 2-7)
Last Meeting: Pilots 68, LMU 66 (Jan. 9, 2018 at Portland)

GAME INFORMATION
Portland enters the 2018 WCC Basketball Championships as the tournament's No. 9 seed and will open against No. 8 Loyola Marymount on Friday at 6 p.m. at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The winner will move on to face top-seeded Gonzaga on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the tournament quarterfinals.

GAME COVERAGE
Friday's game will televised live on ROOT Northwest, Spectrum SportsNet, NBC Sports California, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain and BYUtv, while a simulcust will be available online at TheW.tv. Barry Tompkins and Casey Jacobsen will provide the commentary. Live radio coverage of all Pilot games is on 910 ESPN-Portland (KMTT) with play-by-play voice, Jason Swygard. Radio coverage begins 30 minutes prior to scheduled tip-off.

PORTLAND NOTES
• Portland has lost six straight after a 75-64 road loss to Pepperdine on Saturday concluding the regular season. Senior G D'Marques Tyson eclipsed 1,000 career points in the second half to become Portland's 40th 1,000 point scorer. Tyson and freshman G Malcolm Porter paced the Pilots with 12 points each.
• Tyson has been on fire from three-point range of late. He has made 26-of-48 three-pointers in the last eight games. He is second in UP history for career three-pointers made (252) and is the WCC leader in three-point percentage (.465).
• Freshman G Marcus Shaver Jr. was named to the five-player WCC All-Freshman Team and garnered All-WCC honorable mention recognition. Shaver is the first Pilot to earn Freshman Team honors since Taishi Ito in 2007 and first UP freshman to garner honorable mention status since Donald Wilson in 2003. His 377 points are fourth most among all freshman in Portland history.
• Sophomore F/C Joseph Smoyer was named WCC All-Academic honorable mention.
• Senior C Philipp Hartwich broke the UP career record for blocked shots earlier this year and also shattered the single-season record (74). Hartwich is second in the WCC in blocks per game (2.4) and is third in the league in rebounds (8.1).
• Sophomore G/F Josh McSwiggan (10.7) is also averaging double figures and is third in the WCC in three-point percentage (.431).
• Portland has one of the youngest rotations in the nation and has started three freshmen, in nine of the last 10 games. Hartwich are the only Pilot to have started all 31 games.
• Portland has a diverse roster featuring players from 13 different states or countries. There are four Oregonians, but no other state/territory with more than one player. Internationally, Portland has players from Mali, New Zealand, Germany and England.
• Terry Porter's 2017 recruiting class was ranked No. 10 nationally by HoopScoop. The class was the highest rated in the WCC and No. 2 nationally among mid-majors. Nine newcomers comprised the class with seven freshmen and two junior college transfers.
• The Pilots signed 6-8 Josh Phillips (Huntington Beach, Calif.) to a NLI in November.
• 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.
• Xavier Hallinan returned to the Portland roster over winter break. Hallinan was a walk-on for two years and played significant minutes down the stretch last season, starting the last six games. He will sit out this season, but can practice with the team.

ABOUT LOYOLA MARYMOUNT
• The Lions (10-19, 5-13 WCC) passed the Pilots for the No. 8 seed with wins over Santa Clara (65-64) and Pacific (74-71) last week to close out the regular season. LMU has won three of its last five games entering the WCC Tournament.
• Junior G James Batemon leads the Lions in scoring at 17.7 per game, while freshman F Eli Scott (13.0) and senior G Steven Haney (12.9) also average double figures.
• LMU leads the WCC in steals (7.0) and offensive rebounds per game (12.6), but are ninth in points allowed (76.3)
• The Lions lead the all-time series over Portland by a 51-49 margin, but Portland swept the series this year with a 72-65 road win and 68-66 home victory.
• Mike Dunlap, former coach of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, is in his fourth year at LMU. The Lions finished 15-15 last year and 8-10 in WCC play.

PILOTS AT THE WCC TOURNAMENT
• Portland is 12-29 all-time at the WCC Championships and 5-9 in Las Vegas.
• The Pilots won the 1996 WCC Tournament to earn the automatic NCAA bid and were defeated in the finals of the 1995 tournament by Gonzaga, the only two finals appearances in school history.
• Portland has reached the semifinals five times, most recently in 2015.

SHAVER JR. GARNERS ALL-WCC HONORS
Freshman G Marcus Shaver Jr. became the first Pilot since Taishi Ito in 2007 to be named to the WCC All-Freshman Team. He also garnered All-WCC honorable mention honors, the first Pilot freshman since Donald Wilson in 2003 to be recognized. The Phoenix, Ariz. native led the Pilots in scoring (12.2) and steals (31) during the regular season and finished No. 3 overall in the conference in free throw percentage (.856). His free throw percentage ranks 10th in UP single-season history, while his 377 points are No. 4 in Portland history among all freshmen. In league games, Shaver Jr. was the No. 3 freshman scorer (12.6) and No. 9 among all players in steals per game (1.1). He reached double figures scoring 21 teams, reached 20 or more three games, and led the team in scoring on nine occasions this season.

TYSON CATCHING FIRE, CLIMBING CHARTS
Senior G D'Marques Tyson become the 40th player in Portland history to score 1,000 career points on Saturday at Pepperdine. He has been scorching hot from three-point range in recent weeks knocking down 26-of-48 triples in the last eight games and now leads the WCC in three-point percentage (.465). He recorded a season-high 22 points in a Feb. 3 win versus LMU, going 6-for-8 from three-point range. Tyson had a 16-point effort off the bench against Pepperdine on Feb. 1 where he drilled 4-of-5 three-pointers to spark the Pilots. He ranks second all-time in three-pointers made at Portland (252). He passed Casey Frandsen (211, 2000-04) after drilling five three-pointers against Sacramento State on Dec. 21 and now trails only Jared Stohl (336, 2007-11). Tyson is also No. 5 in career three-point percentage (.421).

HARTWICH SETS RECORD, CONTINUES BREAKOUT SEASON
Senior C Philipp Hartwich broke the school career record for blocked shots on Dec. 19 against Hartford and then set the single-season school record on Jan. 20 at LMU. The Cologne, Germany native swatted three attempts against Hartford to pass former teammate Thomas van der mars (121, 2011-15) for the top spot. He now has 161 and counting. He blocked a career best six shots at Loyola Marymount and also owns the single-season school record (74). Hartwich averaged 1.4 points and 3.0 rebounds through his first three years on The Bluff, but is averaging 5.5 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocked shots this year. He has recorded his first three career double-doubles, is second in the WCC in blocked shots, and is third in rebounding.

DIABATE HAVING A BREAKOUT RUN
Freshman F Tahirou Diabate grabbed a season-high 11 rebounds on Feb. 15 vs. Santa Clara after scoring a season-high 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds in a Feb. 1 win over Pepperdine. He also had three blocked shots in just 24 minutes of action. Diabate was re-inserted into the starting lineup when the Pilots hosted San Diego on Jan. 4 and scored the team's first six points and matched a season-high with 13 points. He scored a then-season high 15 points with 10 rebounds and four blocked shots at Santa Clara on Jan. 6. The Bamako, Mali native came up big in a win at San Diego on Jan. 18 with the go-ahead basket with less than two minutes remaining. He finished with 11 points and added 14 points and seven rebounds in a Jan. 20 game at Loyola Marymount.

McSWIGGAN MAKING SHOTS
Sophomore G/F Josh McSwiggan has led the Pilots in scoring nine times this year, reached double figures in 17 games, and is second on the team in scoring (10.7). He also ranks third in the WCC in three-point percentage (.431). 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 and 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.

GETTING DEFENSIVE
Portland's stifling defense against San Diego on Jan. 18 limited the Toreros to 36 percent shooting and the 49 points allowed was the lowest for the Pilots since holding Oregon State to 45 points on Dec. 18, 2016. Portland held just two Division I opponents 70 points or less in non-league play, but the Pilots held eight WCC opponents to 70 or less in 18 games.

YOUTH MOVEMENT
The Pilots feature one of the youngest rosters in the nation with eight freshmen and two sophomores. Freshman PG JoJo Walker has started 26 games this year and freshman G Marcus Shaver Jr. has scored 15 or more points 12 times this season.

DIVERSE ROSTER WITH INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
Portland has a diverse roster featuring players from 13 different states or countries. There are four 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.

WALKER RESILIENT
Freshman PG JoJo Walker is from Puerto Rico and still has many family and friends that were impacted by the hurricanes. 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. Originally supposed to be a short stint, Walker developed such a connection with his host family and friends that he ended up staying all four years at St. Joseph HS. 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 were also at the PK80 Tournament. 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.

THREE-POINT THREATS
UP is second in the WCC in three-point percentage (.379) and is making 7.9 three-pointers per game. The Pilots have made nine or more triples in 12 games this year. The Pilots have two of the top sharpshooters in the league as D'Marques Tyson (.465) is first and Josh McSwiggan (.431) is third.

ENGLAND FOREIGN TOUR IN AUGUST
Portland went on a foreign tour to England in August and finished with a 3-1 record. 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.

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.

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).

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. They are one of 30 brother tandems on the same team this year at the NCAA Division I level.