Portland Pilots (8-8, 0-1 WCC) vs. San Francisco Dons (11-5, 0-1 WCC)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 4, 2020
Time: 7:00 p.m. (PT)
City: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center
TV: NBC Sports NW
Radio: 910 ESPN-Portland (KMTT)
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats
Tickets: PortlandPilots.com or 503-943-GOUP (4687)
GAME INFORMATION
• Portland continues West Coast Conference play against the San Francisco Dons on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Chiles Center.
• The Pilots have lost five straight after a hard-fought 85-72 defeat against Gonzaga on Thursday, while the Dons lost their WCC-opener at home to Saint Mary's and have dropped two in a row.
• The game will be televised on NBC Sports NW with Bryan Sleik and Jazmine Dallas 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 tickets, live video, audio and stats for all Portland games can be found at PortlandPilots.com.
TICKETS & PROMOTIONS
• Single-game tickets, group discounts and youth experience packages are available by calling or texting the Pilot Box Office at 503-943-GOUP (4687).
• Tickets for all remaining Portland home games can be purchased online at PortlandPilots.com/Tickets!
LAST GAME
• Portland led No. 1 Gonzaga by seven at halftime and eight early in the second half, but the Bulldogs erupted with an 18-2 run to take control as the Pilots were held scoreless for more than six minutes.
• Junior G JoJo Walker had a team-high 15 points and five assists, while Isaiah White added 12 points.
• The Pilots shot 52 percent from the field and made 8-of-13 three-pointers, but turnovers were the difference. Portland committed 14 turnovers and forced just four, while the Bulldogs gained a 22-8 margin in points off of turnovers. Gonzaga also had a 13-3 edge in second chance points.
PORTLAND NOTES
• Portland's eight wins have already eclipsed last season's total of seven.
• The Pilots rank third in the WCC in FG percentage defense (.405) and three-point defense (.293) while allowing just 66.8 points per game.
• Portland ranks 26th nationally in three-point percentage (.380).
• 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 12th in the WCC in scoring (13.3) and was named the league's Player of the Week on Nov. 25, while Adams ranks fifth in the conference in both assists (4.3) and steals (1.4).
• 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 (10.5).
• 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. Jacob Tryon, Hugh Hogland, Theo Akwuba, Tahirou Diabate, 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.
• Lavar Harewood (South Carolina State) joins White as a grad transfer adding experience as Portland has no true seniors on the roster.
• 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 SAN FRANCISCO
• The Dons dropped their WCC opener at home to Saint Mary's on Thursday by a 69-58 margin.
• Notable wins have come against Cal, Yale, Princeton, Fresno State and UC Davis. Other losses were against Stanford, Arizona State, Hawaii and Harvard.
• Four players are averaging double figures led by Jamaree Bouyea and Charles Minlend at 14.4 per game.
• The Dons are second in the WCC in scoring (80.6), but ninth in scoring defense (71.5).
• Head coach Todd Golden was promoted to head coach last offseason after Kyle Smith accepted the head coaching position at Washington State.
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.
WALKER LEADS THE WAY
• Junior G JoJo Walker had a nice bounceback game against Gonzaga with a team-high 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting. He added five assists and zero turnovers.
• Walker is second on the team in scoring (10.5) and has reached double figures eight times.
• He 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.
• Hugh Hogland and Takiula Fahrensohn each missed three games to injury, while JoJo Walker has missed three games and Quincy Ferebee and Malcolm Porter two each.
• Theo Akwuba missed the first nine games of the year before becoming academically eligible.
• Portland has featured six different starting lineups with Tahirou Diabate the lone Pilot to start all 16 games.
GETTING DEFENSIVE
• The Pilots rank third in the league in field goal percentage defense (.405), three-point defense (.293) and second in blocked shots (4.1).
• Portland is also allowing just 66.8 points per game.
• Opponents have been held below 45 percent from the field in all eight wins.
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 45.2 percent from three-point range with a team-best 28 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.
ADAMS NAVIGATING
• Chase Adams has been a difference maker at point guard out of the gates and ranks fifth in the WCC in both assists (4.3) and steals (1.4).
• He tallied a career-high 19 points against Boise State in Hawaii and reached double figures in four of the last seven 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 fifth in the WCC in blocked shots per game (1.1), ninth in steals (1.3) and 12th in scoring (13.3).
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-18 from three-point range and tied for fifth in the WCC in blocks (1.1).
PORTER PRODUCES
• Malcolm Porter has had a breakout season averaging 9.6 points per game.
• He recorded a career-high 15 points in the win over Incarnate Word.
• 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 previous two years.
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.
SHARING THE BALL
• Portland is also averaging 14.7 assists per game after tallying just 11.5 per game last season.
• The Pilots have shot above 45 percent from the field in all eight wins, including 55 percent versus Maine and 53 percent at Portland State.
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.
