Portland Pilots (9-13, 1-6 WCC) at Saint Mary's Gaels (18-4, 5-2 WCC)
Date: Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020
Time: 7:00 p.m. (PT)
City: Moraga, Calif.
Arena: McKeon Pavilion
TV: Stadium
Radio: 910 ESPN-Portland (KMTT)
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats

GAME INFORMATION
• Portland continues West Coast Conference play with a road game at Saint Mary's on Thursday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at McKeon Pavilion and the game will be televised live on Stadium.
• The Pilots will then return home to host Santa Clara in the late game of a Chiles Center doubleheader on Saturday. The UP women host San Diego at 2 p.m. followed by the men versus the Broncos at 5 p.m. live on the WCC Network.
• 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
• Tahirou Diabate scored a career-high 25 points, but Pepperdine jumped out to an early double-digit lead and never looked back in an 80-69 victory Saturday at Firestone Fieldhouse.
• Diabate was 9-for-12 from the field, 6-of-7 at the foul line and grabbed seven rebounds.
• Jacob Tryon matched his career-high with 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists, while JoJo Walker added 11 points.
• Tryon hit a pair of threes and scored eight straight points early to give the Pilots a 14-9 lead, but the Waves answered with a 9-0 run and extended to a 41-24 halftime lead.
• The margin grew to 21 points early in the second half, but Takiula Fahrensohn buried a pair of three-pointers and Diabate hit a jumper to make it a 60-50 deficit with 11:26 left. The Waves immediate quelled the threat with a pair of three-pointers and the Pilots never got it back to single digits.
• Portland shot 46 percent from the field compared to just 41 percent for Pepperdine, but the Waves dominated the glass and forced 15 Pilot turnovers to sway the momentum. Pepperdine had a 46-34 edge on the boards and 10-5 advantage in second chance points. The Waves also had a 17-8 margin in points off of turnovers.

PORTLAND NOTES
• Portland's nine wins have eclipsed last season's total of seven, while the 76-65 victory over San Francisco on Jan. 4 snapped a 23-game WCC regular season losing streak.
• The Pilots rank fourth in the WCC in FG percentage defense (.419), third in three-point defense (.320) and are allowing just 69.5 points per game.
• Portland ranks fourth in the WCC in three-point percentage (.362), but are seventh in three-pointers made per game (7.0).
• Newcomers Isaiah White (grad transfer) and Chase Adams (freshman) have been impact contributors. White ranks 18th in the WCC in scoring (12.0) and was named the league's Player of the Week on Nov. 25, while Adams ranks second in the conference in steals (1.8) and sixth in assists (4.0).
• 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 (10.9).
• Due to injuries/absences, UP has used eight different starting lineups and no Pilots have started all 22 games.
• 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 10 different states, countries or territories including four from California and one each from Alabama, Illinois, Mali, Maryland, New Zealand, Oregon, Puerto Rico, New York 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 SAINT MARY'S
• The Gaels (18-4, 5-2 WCC) sit alone in second place in the WCC standings and are receiving votes in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches Polls.
• Saint Mary's enters Thursday having won three in a row against Pepperdine, San Francisco and LMU, all by double digits. League losses came at Pacific and home versus Santa Clara.
• Notable non-conference wins came against Wisconsin, Utah State, California, Arizona State and Nevada. Losses were to Winthrop and Dayton.
• Senior G Jordan Ford leads the WCC in scoring (21.2), while Malik Fitts adds 15.9 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Tanner Krebs is also contributing double figures at 10.9 per game.
• Head coach Randy Bennett has been at the helm since 2001 in Moraga and guided Saint Mary's to seven NCAA Tournament appearances including the 2010 Sweet 16. He has three times been named the WCC Coach of the Year.

INJURY BUG CONTINUES TO BITE
• Head Coach Terry Porter has had to juggle his lineup and rotation all season for a variety of reasons and the injury bug bit has bit hard recently.
• Sophomore G Takiula Fahrensohn returned to the rotation after missing the previous three games at LMU on Jan. 23, but junior C Tahirou Diabate, who was the only Pilot to start the previous 20 games, was a late scratch due to injury.
• Backup PG Quincy Ferebee also was ruled out, while junior G Malcolm Porter played just 49 seconds before getting injured and did not return. Both players also missed Saturday's game at Pepperdine.
• A total of seven rotation players have missed at least one game due to injury or illness this season, while C Theo Akwuba, who was Portland's starting center last season, missed the first nine games of the year before becoming academically eligible.
• UP has featured eight different starting lineups with zero players starting every game.

DIABATE ERUPTS
• Tahirou Diabate missed Thursday's game at LMU due to an allergic reaction, but returned to the lineup and had a career game on Saturday at Pepperdine.
• The Bamako, Mali native erupted for 25 points and seven rebounds. That bested his previous career-high of 19 points and he was an efficient 9-for-12 shooting from the field, 6-of-7 at the foul line and he drilled his only three-point attempt.
• Diabate has started every game this season besides the LMU contest that he missed.

TRYON FILLS THE STAT SHEET
• Jacob Tryon matched his career-high with 15 points at Pepperdine on Saturday. He also added nine rebounds and four assists.
• Tryon also had a remarkable all-around game at BYU on Jan. 11 with 12 points, six rebounds and a career-high eight assists. His previous high for assists was three.
• The Temecula, Calif. native has had a number of big games this year including a 10-point, eight-rebound, five-blocked shots effort in a Dec. 16 win against Florida A&M.
• 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 recorded his second double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds against Evergreen State on Dec. 13.
• Tryon 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.
• The 7-footer is 16-for-34 from three-point range and ranks fourth in the WCC in blocks (1.0).

DANGEROUS FROM DEEP
• Portland ranks 51st nationally this year in three-point percentage (.362).
• The Pilots have had a much more efficient offense this year compared to last season. Portland is shooting 44.2 percent overall, up from 41.4 percent last year.
• The team is also logging 14.1 assists per game this year compared to 11.5 a year ago.
• UP has shot above 45 percent from the field in all nine wins this season.

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 became the first Pilot to earn the 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 (934) 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 (1.0), 10th in steals (1.3) and 18th in scoring (12.0).

WALKER LEADS THE WAY
• Junior G JoJo Walker 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 (10.9) and has reached double figures 12 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.

ADAMS NAVIGATING
• Chase Adams has been a difference maker at point guard out of the gates and ranks second in the WCC in steals (1.8) and sixth in assists (4.0).
• He tallied a career-high 19 points against Boise State in Hawaii and reached double figures in five of the last 13 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.

PORTER PRODUCES
• Malcolm Porter has had a breakout season averaging 9.8 points per game.
• He recorded back-to-back career highs with 16 points at BYU on Jan. 11 and then 17 points against Pacific on Jan. 16.
• He came up big with 13 points, three rebounds and three steals in the team's win against San Francisco on Jan. 4.
• Porter previously set a personal best with 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.

TAKI TAKES ADVANTAGE OF OPPORTUNITY
• Redshirt sophomore G Takiula (Taki) Fahrensohn has missed six games this year due to injury, but has been effective when available.
• He recorded a career-high of 15 points and seven rebounds 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 seven times in 16 games this year and is shooting 43.0 percent from three-point range with a team-high 34 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.

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 Pilots hail from different states, countries or territories.
• Other Pilots came to The Bluff from Alabama, 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.

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.
joined the Pilots in fall and has acclimated quickly with his unselfish play.