PORTLAND PILOTS (7-17, 0-9 WCC) vs. BYU COUGARS (14-10, 6-3 WCC)
Date: Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019
Time: 8:00 p.m. (PT)
City: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center (4,852)
TV: ESPN2
Radio: 910 ESPN-Portland
Live Links: Video I Audio I Stats
Tickets: PortlandPilots.com/Tickets
Overall Series: BYU leads 19-2 (H: 2-7, A: 0-11, N: 0-1)
Last Meeting: BYU 79, Portland 56 (1/9/19 at BYU)

GAME INFORMATION
Portland opens a three-game West Coast Conference homestand against the BYU Cougars on Thursday at 8 p.m. The Pilots will then host the Loyola Marymount Lions on Saturday at 7 p.m. That game is the second of a doubleheader as the Pilot women host No. 13 Gonzaga at 4:30 p.m.

GAME COVERAGE
Thursday's game will be televised live on ESPN2 with Steve Quis and Richie Schueler on the call. All Pilot 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, with post-game coverage featuring highlights and interviews.

PORTLAND NOTES
• Portland dropped an overtime heartbreaker at Santa Clara on Saturday to remain win-less in West Coast Conference play. Sophomore G Marcus Shaver junior capped a 10-point comeback in the final 1:41 to force overtime with a pair of three-pointers in the final 20 seconds, but Santa Clara went on to win 69-63.
• Shaver Jr. scored a team-high 15 points against the Broncos and has been a force in WCC play. He dropped a career-high 30 points at Pacific on Jan. 26 and is ninth in scoring during league games (16.4).
• Last season, Shaver Jr. 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.
• RS-Junior G Crisshawn Clark has returned to the lineup for the last eight games after having not played in an official game since the end of his freshman season at Cañada College in 2015 due to various injuries.
• Sophomore G JoJo Walker has scored 20 or more points four times this year. He leads the team and ranks eighth in the WCC in assists per game (3.5).
• Sophomore F Jacob Tryon missed 10 games with a foot injury, but has come on strong of late. He finished with 11 points and nine rebounds against USF on Jan. 24 and has reached double figures four times in the last ten games.
• Freshman C Theo Akwuba has started 18 games, ranks second in the WCC in blocked shots (1.6) and is averaging a team-high 4.8 rebounds per game.
• 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 Clark, freshmen Hugh Hogland and Takiula Fahrensohn, and junior Xavier Hallinan.
• Six other newcomers join the roster highlighted by Tryon. The freshmen newcomers include Akwuba, F Josh Phillips, G Miles Turner, and F Wyatt Watson, while sophomore F Dillon Scarboro joined the roster in December.
• 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 in November. 6-2 G Donyae McCaskill (St. Louis, Mo./Vashon HS) and 7-1 F/C Cody Collinsworth (Lindale, Texas/Lindale HS).
• Hugh Hogland has dual citizenship in Japan and went to training camp with the Japanese National Team last year.
• A total of 16 former Pilots are currently playing professionally overseas, while alum Erik Spoelstra ('92) is the head coach of the Miami HEAT.
• Former NBA All-Star Terry Porter is in his third year as the head coach of the Pilots.
 
ABOUT BYU
• The Cougars (14-10, 6-3 WCC) sit alone in second place in the WCC standings entering Thursday after defeating LMU by a 67-49 margin on Saturday.
• BYU played a challenging non-conference schedule with notable wins against Utah, Utah State and Portland State. Quality losses came against Nevada, Houston and Mississippi State.
• BYU ranks second in the WCC in scoring offense (80.6), while junior F Yoeli Childs leads the league in rebounding (9.5) and is second in scoring (21.2). Junior G TJ Haws adds 17.2 per game to form the highest scoring tandem in the WCC.
• Head coach Dave Rose is in his 14th year at the helm and has guided BYU to 13 consecutive 20-win seasons, eight NCAA Tournament berths and five NIT bids.

SHAVER JR. SHOWING OUT
Marcus Shaver Jr. has reached double figures in all but one WCC game and is averaging 16.4 points in league play. Shaver Jr. established new career-highs twice during the stretch, both against Pacific. He recorded 25 points on 9-for-12 shooting on Jan. 12 in Portland, and then erupted for 30 points on 9-of-14 shooting last Saturday in Stockton. In WCC games, Shaver Jr. is shooting 48 percent from the field (third among all guards), 46 percent from three-point range (2nd overall), and 71 percent from the foul line. His 2.3 threes made per game are also fourth in the league. He ranks 12th in overall scoring (15.3). 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. His 394 points last season were the third most by a freshman in Portland history. He has recorded double figures in 20 games this year and was named to the Rainbow Classic All-Tournament Team.
 
WALKER STARTS WCC PLAY STRONG
Sophomore G JoJo Walker recorded his fourth 20-point game of the season in the WCC opener at LMU. He finished with 20 points, five rebounds and five assists, while going a perfect 13-of-13 from the free throw line. 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 made 5-of-7 triples and scored 22 points to lead the Pilots over Sacramento State on Dec. 8. Walker ranks eighth in the WCC in assists (3.5).

CLARK MAKES HIS LONG AWAITED DEBUT
Redshirt junior G Crisshawn Clark made his Portland debut off the bench and scored five points with three rebounds in 12 minutes at BYU on Jan. 10. Clark has had a circuitous route to Portland that has been plagued by injuries. He last competed in an official game during the 2014-15 season at Cañada College in San Mateo, Calif. He was at Pittsburgh for the 2015-16 season, but has had a total of three ACL surgeries in the last three years that he kept him sidelined. He was ready to return to the court this year, but suffered a foot injury in preseason training that kept him out of action.

McSWIGGAN MONEY AT THE LINE
Josh McSwiggan is a 44-of-49 from the free throw line this season. The Loughborough, England native made his first 20 free throw attempts and would lead the WCC (.898) if he attempted enough to qualify. He also recorded his first double-double with career highs of 37 points and 11 rebounds in the season opener against Multnomah. McSwiggan buried five three-pointers at Colorado and ranks 11th in Portland history for career three-point percentage (.391).

AKWUBA WITH THE BLOCK PARTY
Freshman C Theo Akwuba ranks second in the WCC in blocked shots per game (1.6). He has 36 blocked shots in 22 games played which is the second highest per game average in Portland history. The single-season record of 73 blocked shots was set last year by Philipp Hartwich. Akwuba has blocked three or more shots in seven games, including a season-high five blocks on Dec. 8 against Sacramento State. He also leads the team in rebounding this season (4.8). 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. Akwuba is pursuing a computer science degree from the Shiley School of Engineering at Portland.

TRYON FINDS HIS STROKE
Sophomore F Jacob Tryon came off the bench to score 11 points and grab a season-high 11 rebounds on Jan. 24 against USF. He also had 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting, including a pair of three-pointers against Gonzaga. Tryon has now reached double figures four times in the last nine games. He recorded back-to-back 11 point games against Cal State Fullerton and LMU. Tryon was in the starting lineup to open the season, but missed 10 games with a foot injury, before returning to the starting five the last three games.

HOGLAND PRODUCING IN THE PAINT
Redshirt freshman C Hugh Hogland has been Portland's best back-to-the-basket scorer this season, and that skillset was on display against No. 5 Gonzaga. The Bulldogs were forced to double-team Hogland as he made all three of his field goal attempts and finished with eight points and six rebounds. Hogland had a career game Dec. 8 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. He followed with 11 points against Grambling State and is shooting 56.5 percent from the field. The Hawai'i native holds dual citizenship with Japan and has trained with the Japanese National Team.

WCC FINISHES NON-CONFERENCE STRONG
Nine of ten WCC programs had .500 or better non-conference records, while the league as a whole finished non-conference play with a 100-49 (.671) mark. For comparison, that is better than the Pac-12 (99-58, .631), Mountain West (76-64, .543) and Atlantic 10 (100-83, .546).

HALLINAN RETURNS
Redshirt junior G Xavier Hallinan became eligible following fall semester. The Portland native contributed three points and an assist off the bench in his season debut on Dec. 17 against Seattle U. Hallinan provided a spark as a walk-on during the 2016-17 season, when he averaged 10.7 points while starting the final six games and led the Pilots to a WCC Tournament win over San Diego by playing all 40 minutes. He returned to The Bluff last spring after a brief stint at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

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.

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.

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 16 former Pilots are currently playing professionally overseas, while Miami HEAT head coach Erik Spoelstra played four years with the Pilots (1989-92) and was the WCC Freshman of the Year in 1989. Ben Sullivan is also an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks. Notable former Pilots still with active playing careers include: 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 13 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, Alaska 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.

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.