Portland Pilots (9-8, 1-1 WCC) at BYU Cougars (12-5, 1-1 WCC)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020
Time: 6:30 p.m. (PT)
City: Provo, Utah
Arena: Marriott Center
TV: BYUtv
Radio: 910 ESPN-Portland (KMTT)
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats

GAME INFORMATION
• Portland continues West Coast Conference with a single game this week at BYU on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. (PST).
• The Pilots snapped a five-game losing streak with a convincing 76-65 win against San Francisco last Saturday, while the Cougars (12-5, 1-1 WCC) dropped an overtime heartbreaker at Saint Mary's on Thursday.
• The game will be televised on BYUtv with Dave McCann and Blaine Fowler 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
• JoJo Walker and Malcolm Porter combined for 32 points as Portland defeated San Francisco 76-65 Saturday night at the Chiles Center.
• The Pilots won despite missing leading scorer Isaiah White, who was a late scratch with the flu. Walker moved back into the starting lineup and was sensational, finishing with 19 points on just nine shot attempts, dishing out six assists and committing just one turnover.
• It was a complete team effort as all nine Portland players that got in the game scored four or more points. Defensively, the Pilots forced 19 turnovers and limited the Dons to 42 percent for the game.
• The victory snapped a five-game losing streak for the Pilots and broke an 11-game losing streak in the series with San Francisco.
• Portland led for a majority of the night in a game that featured four ties and 11 lead changes, but San Francisco took a late 56-55 lead on a Charles Minlend layup with 5:04 remaining. The Pilots would then use a 10-0 run to take control sparked by back-to-back three-pointers by Porter and Walker.
• Portland shot 49 percent from the field as a team, made 7-of-13 three-pointers and 19-of-24 free throws.

PORTLAND NOTES
• Portland's nine wins have already eclipsed last season's total of seven, while the victory over USF on Jan. 4 ended a 23-game WCC regular season losing streak dating back to Feb. 3, 2018.
• The Pilots rank second in the WCC in three-point defense (.295), third in FG percentage defense (.406) and are allowing just 66.6 points per game.
• Portland ranks 16th nationally in three-point percentage (.387).
• 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 13th in the WCC in scoring (13.3) and was named the league's Player of the Week on Nov. 25, while Adams ranks top five in the conference in both assists (4.1) and steals (1.6).
• 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 (11.1).
• Redshirt sophomore C Hugh Hogland announced he is entering the NCAA transfer portal earlier this week.
• Lavar Harewood (South Carolina State) joins White as a grad transfer adding experience as Portland has no true seniors on the roster.
• The current roster features players 11 different states, countries or territories including four from California and one each from Alabama, 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 BYU
• The Cougars (12-5, 1-1 WCC) dropped an 87-84 overtime heartbreaker at Saint Mary's on Thursday night. TJ Haws scored a game-high 29 points, while Jake Toolson added 24 to lead BYU.
• The Cougars were missing leading scorer and rebounder Yoeli Childs (20.9 pts, 10.1 rebs) with a finger injury and his status for Saturday's game is uncertain.
• Childs missed the first nine games of the season via NCAA suspension, but the Cougars are still ranked 33rd in the NCAA Net Rankings with some quality wins.
• Notable victories have come against Houston, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Nevada and Utah State, while other losses came versus San Diego State, Boise State, Kansas and Utah.
• Head coach Mark Pope is in his first year at the helm of BYU. A former Cougar assistant coach, Pope recorded 77 wins in four years as head coach at nearby Utah Valley before returning to Provo to succeed Dave Rose.

WALKER LEADS THE WAY
• Junior G JoJo Walker has opened WCC play strong with back-to-back quality outings.
• Against No. 1 Gonzaga, Walker finished a team-high 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting. He added five assists and zero turnovers.
• Walker followed with 19 points, six assists and five rebounds in Portland's win against San Francisco.
• He is second on the team in scoring (11.1) and has reached double figures nine times.
• The Puerto Rico native posted a season-high 22 points at San Jose State while shooting 8-for-12 overall and 5-of-7 from three-point range.
• Walker is the team's leading returning scorer after averaging 11.5 per game last season and entered the 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.

LINEUP ADJUSTMENTS CONTINUE
• Head Coach Terry Porter has had to juggle his lineup and rotation all season for a variety of reasons.
• Six rotation players have missed at least one game due to injury or illness.
• Theo Akwuba, who was Portland's starting center last season, missed the first nine games of the year before becoming academically eligible.
• Portland has featured seven different starting lineups with Tahirou Diabate the lone Pilot to start all 17 games.

OFFENSIVE UPTICK
• Portland is shooting a blistering 57.7 percent from three-point range through the first two WCC games and ranks 16th nationally this year in three-point percentage (.387).
• The Pilots have had a much more efficient offense this year compared to last. Portland is shooting 45.4 percent overall, up from 41.4 percent last year.
• The team also was just 32.5 percent from three-point range and averaged 11.5 assists last season, but have bumped those numbers to 38.7 percent and 14.8 assists this year.
• UP has shot above 45 percent from the field in all nine wins this season.

GETTING DEFENSIVE
• The Pilots rank second in the WCC in three-point defense (.295), third in FG percentage defense (.406) and are allowing just 66.6 points per game.
• Opponents have been held below 45 percent from the field in all nine wins.

HOGLAND ENTERS TRANSFER PORTAL
• Redshirt sophomore C Hugh Hogland has left the team to pursue other basketball opportunities.
• Hogland, who has trained with and played games for the Japanese National Team over the last two years in hopes of representing the host country at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, officially entered the NCAA transfer portal this week.

ADAMS NAVIGATING
• Chase Adams has been a difference maker at point guard out of the gates and ranks fourth in the WCC in steals (1.6) and fifth in assists (4.1).
• He tallied a career-high 19 points against Boise State in Hawaii and reached double figures in four of the last eight games.
• Adams had 11 points vs. Evergreen State, 14 against Florida A&M and 15 versus Jackson State before the team's trip to Hawaii.
• Adams 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.

WHITE MAKES IMMEDIATE IMPACT
• 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.
• A grad transfer from Maine, White has scored the most points at the Division I level (872) on the Portland roster after filling the stat in his two seasons with the Black Bears.
• He scored a career-high 23 points in the win over UC Davis and has recorded three 20-point games this season.
• He finished with 22 points at USC and added 21 points and eight assists in the team's win at Portland State.
• White ranks sixth in the WCC in blocked shots per game (1.1), ninth in steals (1.3) and 13th in scoring (13.3).

TAKI TAKES ADVANTAGE OF OPPORTUNITY
• Redshirt sophomore G Takiula (Taki) Fahrensohn has missed three games due to injury, but has been effective when available.
• He recorded a career high of 15 points and seven rebounds in a win against Florida A&M.
• He followed with his first career double-double against Jackson State with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
• Fahrensohn has blossomed in his first chance getting extended playing time while on The Bluff. He has recorded double figures six times in 13 games this year and is shooting 44.6 percent from three-point range with a team-best 29 threes made.
• 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.
• The New Zealand native redshirted his freshman year after having knee surgery and played a total of just 81 minutes last season.

TRYON WITH THE BLOCK PARTY
• Jacob Tryon blocked a career-high five shots in Portland's win against Florida A&M on Dec. 16 . He added 10 points and eight rebounds in a solid all-around performance.
• He recorded his second double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds against Evergreen State on Dec. 13.
• Tryon tallied his first career double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds in the win against UC Davis on Nov. 23. He then just missed another one with 10 points and nine rebounds at Seattle.
• 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 is 9-for-19 from three-point range and seventh in the WCC in blocks (1.1).

PORTER PRODUCES
• Malcolm Porter has had a breakout season averaging 9.8 points per game.
• He came up big with 13 points, three rebounds and three steals in the team's win against San Francisco.
• Porter recorded a career-high 15 points in the win over Incarnate Word.
• He 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.
• Porter followed with an efficient 13 points and four rebounds at Portland State, finishing 5-for-8 from the field and 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 previous two years.

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.

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.

PILOTS VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
• Thursday's game against Gonzaga marked the first time that Portland hosted a No. 1 ranked team at the Chiles Center, which opened in 1984.
• The Pilots are now 0-8 all-time against top-ranked teams.
• Portland is 7-71 all-time against ranked opponents and has never beaten a team in the Top 10. UP has lost 16 straight games against ranked teams.
• The last win against ranked competition was an 82-73 victory against No. 18 Gonzaga on Jan. 9, 2014 at the Chiles Center.

PILOTS PARTNER WITH NBC SPORTS NW
• UP Athletics and NBC Sports Northwest came to an agreement to air a total of seven basketball games this season (Xfinity Ch. 737) for the 2019-20 season. In addition to five women's games, the Pilot men's games against San Francisco (1/4 at 7 p.m.) and Loyola Marymount (2/22 at 7 p.m.) will be aired on NBCSNW.
 
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.