STORYLINES
• The Western Oregon men's basketball team returns to action hosting the WOU/Doubletree by Hilton D2 Shooutout on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 18-19 at the New P.E. Building. With Concordia in the same tournament, the Wolves will open at home against San Francisco State on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and face the team they defeated in the West Regional Final to advance to last year's Elite Eight, UC San Diego, on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
• All four games in the Shootout will have live stats and video coverage at WOUWolves.com/Live.
 
LAST TIME OUT
• Western Oregon opened the regular season this past weekend with two games at the PacWest/GNAC Challenge in Fresno, Calif.
• The Wolves won 64-62 over Point Loma on Friday, holding off a late PLNU rally to cut a 13-point lead down to one. On Saturday, WOU connected on 16 3-pointers to defeat host Fresno Pacific, 85-54.
 
WOU IN THE SHOOTOUT
• Since 2008, Western Oregon is 12-2 in its own D2 Shootout tournaments held early in the season.
• Western Oregon won both games in last year's Shootout: 79-67 over Cal State Monterey Bay and 87-68 over Warner Pacific.
• Western Oregon's last loss in the Shootout came in 2014 when the Wolves fell 81-74 to eventual West Region champion, Azusa Pacific.
• The longest win streak of wins for Western Oregon in the Shootout is six, from 2011-2013 (wins over Cal State East Bay, Augustana, Notre Dame de Namur, Emporia State, Willamette and Corban).
 
ABOUT WESTERN OREGON
• The Wolves won two very different matchups last weekend in Fresno. WOU built a 13-point lead in the second half and held off a hard-charging Point Loma squad for a 64-62 win on Friday night. Ali Faruq-Bey led Western Oregon with 19 points while Tanner Omlid posted a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. On Saturday, the nets were on fire as the Wolves shot 50 percent from the field and hit 16 of 31 attempts from distance to cruise to an 85-54 win over Fresno Pacific. Demetrius Trammell had five makes from downtown scoring 16 points off the bench. Omlid had another double-double (12/10) while Faruq-Bey and Yanick Kulich also chipped in 12 points each.
• Head coach Jim Shaw is in his second season at Western Oregon. Shaw was the 2015-16 GNAC and NABC West Region Coach of the Year. His previous assistant coaching stops include Saint Mary's, Washington, Oklahoma, Portland, Montana State, Southern Utah, Oregon State, Chemeketa and Idaho State.
• New faces also appear on Shaw's bench with the addition of Gage Aker, Zach Payne and Jalen James to the coaching staff. Josh Reber is the only assistant coach to carry over from the 2015-16 staff.
• Western Oregon was picked to finish sixth in the 2016-17 GNAC regular season title race by the league's coaches.
 
ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO STATE
• San Francisco State started the season 2-0 defeating Academy of Art (84-69) and Dominican (91-67) at home in a weekend tournament. The Gators shots 56 percent from the floor for the weekend while holding the Urban Knights and Penguins to a combined 37 percent.
• San Francisco State was selected to finish fifth in the CCAA preseason coaches' poll and garnered a first-place vote.
• The Gators have four players averaging 10 or more points through the opening two games – Coley Apsay (18.0), Warren Jackson (18.0), Nick Calcaterra (14.0), Parker U'u (11.5).
• Head coach Paul Trevor is in his seventh season at San Francisco State. He led the Gators to a 16-win season in 2015-16 and a berth in the CCAA Tournament.
 
ABOUT UC SAN DIEGO
• Ranked #15 in the D2SIDA National Top 25 and receiving votes in the NABC Preseason National Poll, the Tritons of UC San Diego enter the weekend at 3-0 after defeating Point Loma at home on Tuesday, 82-68.
• UC San Diego was picked second in the CCAA preseason order of finish after last year's run to the West Region Championship game against Western Oregon.
• The Tritons are led offensively by returners Adam Klie (16.3) and Chris Hansen (14.0) through three games.
• Eric Olen is in year number four at UC San Diego. He led the Tritons to program highs in overall wins and CCAA victories last season.