University Credit Union West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament – First Round
Portland Pilots (9-22, 1-15 WCC) vs. Santa Clara Broncos (19-12, 6-10 WCC)
Date: Thursday, March 6, 2020
Time: 8:00 p.m. (PT)
City: Las Vegas, Nev.
Arena: Orleans Arena
TV: ROOT Sports NW, Spectrum SportsNet, NBC Sports Bay Area+, BYUtv, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain
Radio: 910 ESPN-Portland (delayed)
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio I Stats

GAME INFORMATION
• Portland opens the UCU WCC Basketball Tournament with a first round matchup against Santa Clara on Thursday at 8 p.m. at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The winner will advance to Friday's second round game against No. 6 Pepperdine at 8 p.m.
• The game will be televised live on a number of regional sports networks in the West, including ROOT Sports NW, as well as online via the WCC Network. Roxy Bernstein, Dan Belluomini and Dave Rose will be on the call.
• A live radio stream will be available via 910 ESPN-Portland (KMTT) on Radio.com. Pregame coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. with Jason Swygard providing the commentary.
• All live coverage links for Portland games can be found at PortlandPilots.com.
• Follow @PilotHoops on Twitter for in-game updates.

LAST GAME
• Portland dropped a 73-68 decision at Santa Clara on Saturday. Jacob Tryon led the way with 15 points and nine rebounds for the Pilots, but the Broncos rode DJ Mitchell for 25 points and numerous clutch plays late.
• Tryon was 5-for-7 from three-point range, while JoJo Walker added 11 points and a career-high eight assists, while Quincy Ferebee added a season-high 11 points.
• Portland led by one at halftime, but Santa Clara opened the second half and pushed to a 10-point lead. Tryon drilled a three-pointer to spark a 7-0 run to pull back within three. Tahirou Diabate made a driving layup with 1:20 remaining followed by two Ferebee free throws to cut the margin to 67-65 with 35 seconds left.
• After two made SCU free throws, the Pilots had two looks at three-pointers, but both missed and Mitchell made two more free throws to ice the game.
• Both teams shot 45 percent from the field for the game. Portland was 10-for-24 from three-point range and made 12-of-15 free throws. The Broncos gained a 16-7 edge in fast break points after forcing 16 Pilot 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.
• Newcomers Isaiah White (grad transfer) and Chase Adams (freshman) have been impact contributors. White ranks 16th in the WCC in scoring (12.2) and was named the league's Player of the Week on Nov. 25, while Adams is second the WCC in steals (1.7) and ranks eighth in assists (3.7). White eclipsed the 1,000-points mark for his career at the Division I level at Pacific on Feb. 13, while Adams is 14 assists short of tying the UP freshman record. White has missed the last three games due to an ankle injury.
• 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 (11.4).
• Due to injuries/absences, UP has used ten different starting lineups and no Pilots have started all 31 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.
• 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 SANTA CLARA
• The Broncos (19-12, 6-10 WCC) finished alone in seventh place in the WCC standings.
• Like Portland, Santa Clara has endured a number of injuries to key players of late. The team was 13-2 in non-conference play with notable wins against Washington State, California, San Jose State and Sacramento State. Losses were to Stanford and Nevada.
• Josip Vrankik (12.4) and Trey Wertz (12.2) are the team's leading scorers, but both missed Saturday's game against the Pilots due to injury. DJ Mitchell adds 10.4 points per game.
• Head coach Herb Sendek is in his fourth year at the helm after previous head coaching stints at Arizona State, NC State and Miami (OH).
• The Broncos lead the all-time series with Portland by a 68-33 margin and have won 10 straight.

PILOTS AT THE WCC TOURNAMENT
• Portland is 12-31 all-time at the WCC Championships and 5-11 in Las Vegas.
• The Pilots are 2-3 against Santa Clara in WCC tournament games with the last meeting a 74-70 UP win in Las Vegas on Feb. 29, 2012.
• The Pilots won the 1996 WCC Tournament to earn the automatic NCAA bid and were
defeated in the finals of the 1995 tournament by Gonzaga, the only two finals appearances in school history.
• Portland has reached the semifinals five times, most recently in 2015.

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.
• UP has featured ten different starting lineups with zero players starting every game. Only Chase Adams and Jacob Tryon have appeared in all 31 games.
• Junior G Malcolm Porter missed five games late in the season with a knee injury. He returned on Feb. 20 vs. Pepperdine, but then Isaiah White went down late in the same game with an ankle injury and has not returned.
• Sophomore G Takiula Fahrensohn has missed six games due to injury this year.
• A total of eight 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.

WHITE RECORDS 1,000TH POINT
• Isaiah White scored his 1,000th career point at the Division I level late in the first half at Pacific on Feb. 13. White scored 683 total points in two years at Maine before transferring to the Pilots as a grad student this year.
• 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. He became the first Pilot to earn the weekly honor since Alec Wintering on Jan. 2, 2017.
• 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.
• He ranks eighth in the WCC in blocks per game (0.8), 15th in steals (1.2) and 16th in scoring (12.2).
• White went down with an ankle injury late in the game against Pepperdine on Feb. 20 and has not returned.

WALKER LEADS THE WAY
• Junior G JoJo Walker has been on a tear of late with 20 points at Pacific on Feb. 13 and 19 points at San Diego on Feb. 8. He has reached double figures in 10 of the last 12 games and 19 times overall this year. In Saturday's game at Santa Clara he finished with 11 points and a career-best eight assists.
• The Puerto Rico native 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.
• Walker 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.

TRYON FILLS THE STAT SHEET
• Jacob Tryon matched his career-high with 15 points on 5-of-7 three-point shooting at Santa Clara on Saturday. He added nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Tryon previously had 15 points and nine boards at Pepperdine on Jan. 25.
• 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 24-for-59 from three-point range, ranks fourth in the WCC in blocks (0.9) and is leading the team in rebounding (5.2).

DIABATE CONTINUES TO SURGE
• Tahirou Diabate is averaging 12.0 points and 5.9 rebounds over his last 12 games.
• He missed the Jan. 23 at LMU due to an allergic reaction, but returned to the lineup and had a career game at Pepperdine on Jan. 25 with 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.
• He followed that with 18 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots at Saint Mary's on Thursday, going 7-for-8 from the field.
• Diabate finished with 14 points and eight rebounds vs. Santa Clara on Feb. 1 and 16 points and seven boards at San Diego on Feb. 8.
• He has also moved into the ninth place in UP history for career blocked shots (73).

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.
 
ADAMS NAVIGATING
• Chase Adams has been a difference maker at point guard and is second in the WCC in steals (1.7) and ranks eighth in assists (3.7).
• His 114 assists put him on pace to challenge the UP freshman single-season record of 128 held by Darwin Cook (1977).
• He tallied a career-high 19 points against Boise State in Hawaii.
• 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 9.4 points per game. He returned to the lineup on Feb. 20 after missing five straight games with a knee injury.
• 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.

SENIOR DAY RECOGNITION
• Portland recognized three players on Feb. 22 as part of the Senior Day pre-game recognition.
• Graduate transfers Isaiah White and Lavar Harewood will be completing their eligibility, while redshirt junior Malcolm Porter is scheduled to graduate in May. All three were joined by friends and family as part of the pre-game celebration.