Portland Pilots (6-1) vs. CSUN Matadors (1-7)
Date: Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019
Time: 7:00 p.m. (PT)
City: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center
Video: WCC Network
Radio: 910 ESPN-Portland (KMTT)
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats
Tickets: PortlandPilots.com or 503-943-GOUP (4687)

• Portland (6-1) looks to extend its five-game winning streak when the CSUN Matadors (1-7) visit the Chiles Center on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
• The Pilots will then hit the road to play Seattle U (5-5) on Saturday at 7 p.m.
• Wednesday's game will air on the WCC Network with Bryan Sleik and Canaan Chatman on the call. All Pilot men's basketball games are on the radio on 910 ESPN-Portland (KMTT) with Jason Swygard providing the play-by-play. The pre-game show begins 30 minutes prior to tip-off.
• Links for live video, audio and stats for all Portland games can be found at PortlandPilots.com.
• Follow @PilotHoops on Twitter for in-game updates.

LAST GAME
• Portland extended its winning streak to five games with a 65-56 victory over Incarnate Word Sunday night at the Chiles Center. Junior guards Malcolm Porter and JoJo Walker led the way with 15 points each, while Tahirou Diabate added 10 points and a team-high six rebounds.
• The game featured five ties and 17 lead changes as Portland struggled to find a rhythm following an eight-day break in game action.
• The Pilot defense held the Cardinals without a field goal for nearly seven minutes late in regulation as Portland closed the game with a 20-7. UIW made just two field goals in the final 10 minutes.

PORTLAND NOTES
• The Pilots have won five straight, which matches the longest streak since opening the 2014-15 season with five consecutive victories.
• Portland's 6-1 start is tied for the second best in program history. The 1978-79 Pilot team opened the season with a 13-0 record.
• UP ranks second nationally in three-point percentage (.446) and is among the WCC leaders in a variety of defensive categories.
• The team returns two starters, nine lettermen and adds five newcomers along with a returning redshirt to the 2019-20 roster.
• Newcomers Isaiah White (grad transfer) and Chase Adams (freshman) have been impact contributors. White ranks fifth in the WCC in scoring (15.3) and was named the league's Player of the Week on Nov. 25, while Adams leads the conference in steals (2.0) and ranks third in assists (5.3).
• Junior G JoJo Walker entered the 2019-20 season as the Pilots' active leader in points, minutes played, steals, free throws made and three-pointers made after starting his first two years on The Bluff. He is second on the team in scoring (13.8) and has reached double figures in all six games that he has appeared.
• Sophomore C Hugh Hogland (concussion) missed the team's first three games. Hogland spent time with the Japanese National Team this year.
• The Pilots return their entire frontcourt from last year. Tahirou Diabate, Jacob Tryon, Hugh Hogland, Theo Akwuba and Josh Phillips combined to average 16.7 points and 12.2 rebounds per game and the five big men also were the top five players in field goal percentage last season. Akwuba is expected to return to the lineup in mid-December.
• Lavar Harewood (South Carolina State) joins White as a grad transfer adding experience as Portland has no true seniors on the roster.
• Portland will return to Hawai'i for a non-conference tournament for the second straight season. The Pilots will take part in the 2019 Diamond Head Classic Dec. 22-25 after playing last season in the Rainbow Classic.
• The roster features players 12 different states, countries or territories including four from California and one each from Alabama, Hawai'i, Illinois, Mali, Maryland, New Zealand, Oregon, Puerto Rico, New York, Texas and Washington.
• The Pilots were picked to finish 10th in the WCC Preseason Head Coaches Poll.
• A total of 13 former Pilots are currently playing professionally overseas, while alum Erik Spoelstra ('92) is the head coach of the Miami HEAT and Ben Sullivan ('07) is on the Milwaukee Bucks coaching staff.
• Former NBA All-Star Terry Porter is in his fourth year as the head coach of the Pilots and is one of 11 Division I coaches in the nation to coach his son this season.
• The Pilots signed 6-5 G Zac Triplett (Melbourne, Australia) to a NLI on Nov. 13.

ABOUT CSUN
• The Matadors (1-7) picked up their first win of the season by defeating Fresno State 73-72 last week. CSUN has played a rigorous early schedule with losses at Oregon State, New Mexico, Auburn, Richmond, Green Bay and Colgate. The Matadors also dropped a 94-82 home game to Pepperdine.
• Guard Terrell Gomez leads the team and is averaging 22.1 points per game, while Darius Brown II is also in double figures (10.3).
• Gomez dropped 31 points against Fresno State to earn Big West Player of the Week honors.
• Head coach Mark Gottfried is in his second season at CSUN and has led teams to 11 NCAA Tournaments in previous stops at Murray State, Alabama and NC State.
• Portland leads the all-time series by a 4-1 margin including an 80-77 comeback win last year at CSUN.

STELLAR START
• Portland's 6-1 start is tied for the second best in program history.
• The feat has been accomplished just eight times since Portland moved to the NCAA Division I level for the 1958-59 season.
• The 2014-15 team was the last squad to open with a 6-1 record, while the 1978-79 UP team opened the year with 13 straight wins.
• Portland five-game win streak matches the longest since opening the 2014-15 season 5-0. The Pilots have not won six in a row since the 2008-09 season.

EFFECTIVE OFFENSE
• Portland ranks second nationally in three-point percentage (.446) trailing only conference rival Saint Mary's (.458).
• The Pilots are also 13th in the nation and second in the WCC in assists per game (17.7). Portland averaged just 11.5 assists per game last season.
• The team has shot above 47 percent from the field in all six wins, including 55 percent versus Maine and 53 percent at Portland State.
• Six of Portland's primary rotation players are shooting better than 50 percent from the field: Hogland (.727), Diabate (.556), Porter (.531), Walker (.519), Tryon (.514) and Ferebee (.500).

GETTING DEFENSIVE
• The Pilots lead the league in blocked shots (4.3) and rank second in scoring defense (60.6), field goal percentage defense (.383), three-point defense (.280) and turnovers forced (15.4).
• Opponents have been held below 45 percent from the field in all six wins, while the Pilots have a plus-2.4 turnover margin.

WHITE NAMED WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• Isaiah White was named the WCC Player of the Week on Nov. 25 after averaged 22.0 points and 5.5 assists in leading the Pilots to wins against Portland State and UC Davis.
• White is the first Pilot to earn men's hoops weekly honor since Alec Wintering took the award on Jan. 2, 2017.
• White, a grad transfer from Maine, has scored the most points at the Division I level (779) on the Portland roster after filling the stat in his two seasons with the Black Bears.
• White scored a career-high 23 points in the win over UC Davis and has recorded three 20-point games already this season.
• He finished with 22 points at USC and added 21 points and eight assists in the team's win at Portland State.

ADAMS NAVIGATING
• Chase Adams has been a difference maker at point guard out of the gates and leads the WCC in steals (2.0), while ranking third in assists (5.3).
• He earned the start in the team's opener against Willamette and took over the game in the first five minutes. Adams sparked a 23-3 run with disruptive on-ball defense, collecting four steals and getting three other defections. He also scored four points and dished out three assists during the spurt.
• He followed with six points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals at USC and then earned his first start against as D-I opponent in the team's win at San Jose State.
• The 5-foot-7 speedster was a heralded youth basketball star out of Chicago and spent one year at Link Prep (Branson, Mo.) before signing with the Pilots.
• Adams is prominent on social media with 125,000 Instagram followers.

WALKER LEADS THE WAY
• Junior G JoJo Walker missed the team's win over UC Davis on Nov. 23 with back spasms, but has scored in double figures in all six games he has played.
• Walker ranks third in the WCC in three-point percentage (.536) and posted a season-high 22 points at San Jose State while shooting 8-for-12 overall and 5-of-7 from 3-point range.
• Walker is the team's leading returning scorer after averaging 11.5 per game last season and entered the 2019-20 season as the Pilots' active leader in points, minutes played, steals, free throws made and three-pointers made. He led the team in assists each of the last two seasons and ranked eighth in the WCC with 3.3 assists per game a year ago.

PORTER PRODUCES
• Malcolm Porter has had a breakout season averaging 10.7 points per game.
• He recorded a career-high 15 points in the win over Incarnate Word and is shooting 53.1 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from three-point range.
• Porter was clutch down the stretch in the Nov. 16 win against Maine. He buried a 30-footer to beat the shot clock and scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half.
• He followed with an efficient 13 points and four rebounds at Portland State, finishing 5-for-8 from the field.
• Porter had 12 points, a career-high seven rebounds and four assists in the win against UC Davis.
• The youngest son of head coach Terry Porter, Malcolm played primarily a reserve combo guard role the last two years, but as one of the more experienced players on the roster has expanded his role this season.
 
TRYON SEEING DOUBLE
• Jacob Tryon put together the two best games of his career in recent outings.
• He came up big with 12 points off the bench in the second half of Portland's win at Portland State. He was a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line and made both of his field goal attempts.
• Tryon followed by recording his first career double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds in the win against UC Davis.
• He ranks second in the WCC in free throw percentage (.875) and tied for third in blocked shots per game (1.3).

TAKI TAKES ADVANTAGE OF OPPORTUNITY
• Redshirt sophomore G Takiula (Taki) Fahrensohn missed the team's last game due to injury, but has seized the opportunity for playing time this year.
• Fahrensohn has recorded double figures three times including a career-high of 11 points at Portland State.
• He had 10 points and six rebounds off the bench at USC on Nov. 8. He added two steals and a blocked shot in 26 minutes, while often battling defensively against bigger players in the post.
• He followed with six points, five rebounds and four assists in 21 effective minutes off the bench in the win over San Jose State, and then played major minutes down the stretch as the Pilots pulled away from Maine.
• The New Zealand native redshirted his freshman year after having knee surgery.

TRANSFERS BRING EXPERIENCE AND LEADERSHIP
• Portland's two graduate transfers are the only 'seniors' on the 2019-20 roster and embraced the leadership opportunity throughout summer and fall workouts.
• Lavar Harewood (South Carolina State) joins White as a previous D-I starter, averaging 8.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, and shot 39 percent from three-point range last year.
• Both players have had circuitous routes to Portland that touched in Maine. White is from Ellicott City, Md. and spent one season at UNC-Asheville, then a year at junior college before landing in Maine. Harewood, a Brooklyn, N.Y. native, began his college career at Maine and spent one season at a junior college and the last two at SCSU.
 
HOGLAND HONES SKILLS IN JAPAN
• Redshirt sophomore C Hugh Hogland has spent time with the Japanese National Team over the past year, just missing out on making the final roster for the Olympics.
• Hogland was born and raised in Hawai'i, but has dual citizenship as his mother, Sanae Watanabe, is Japanese.
• Hogland was also a standout prep volleyball player and member of various USA Volleyball Youth and Junior National Teams before choosing to play college basketball.

DIVERSE ROSTER WITH INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
• Portland's roster features players from a variety of geographic locations as four players are from the state of California, but all other 11 Pilots hail from different states, countries or territories.
• Other Pilots came to The Bluff from Alabama, Hawai'i, Illinois, Mali, Maryland, New Zealand, Oregon, Puerto Rico, New York, Texas and Washington.
• 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.

ALOHA AGAIN!
• Portland will travel back to Hawai'i for a non-conference tournament for the second straight season after competing in the 2018 Rainbow Classic last season.
• The Pilots will take part in the 2019 Diamond Head Classic Dec. 22-25, opening the tournament against Houston.

AUSSIE SHARPSHOOTER SIGNS WITH PILOTS
• Zac Triplett, a shooting guard from Melbourne, Australia, signed a National Letter of Intent with Portland on Nov. 13. He will join the Pilots as a freshman in 2020.
• The 6-foot-5, 165-pound sharp-shooter has represented Victoria on state teams at the Under-18 and Under-20 Australian National Championships.
• He helped Victoria win the Gold Medal at the 2019 School Sport Australia (SSA) National Championships in the U-18 division. The previous year, he earned All-Australian Team honors at the SSA National Championships.
• Triplett also led Maribyrnong to a Bronze Medal at the 2018 Australia School Championships for the Under-20, Division I level.

PILOTS ON THE TV & RADIO
Portland will have an extensive TV package with a minimum of 12 games aired nationally or regionally. All three games at the Diamond Head Classic will air on the ESPN family of networks, while a majority of Portland's WCC games will be televised regionally. Visit PortlandPilots.com for complete schedule details and full TV listings (once finalized). Pilot games will once again have live radio coverage on 910 ESPN-Portland (KMTT) 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 also air each Monday night (barring travel/game conflicts) throughout the season from 7-8 PM.