It's at Portland on Wednesday

It's road trip time again as San Jose State University plays Portland of the West Coast Conference in the City of Roses on Wednesday night.

Piloted by former Stanford player and assistant coach Eric Reveno, Portland has played quite the interesting schedule thus far:

* a 100-83 home win over UC Davis

* a 79-73 loss to Oregon State in Corvallis

* an 82-67 loss to Michigan State in East Lansing

* an 88-74 home victory over Idaho

* a 69-52 home success versus Columbia

* a 77-72 home double overtime loss to North Texas

Senior forward Ryan Nicholas is Mr. Big for the Pilots. At 6-foot-7 and 245, he's the leading scorer (15.2) and rebounder (9.2) on the team. 6-foot-11 and 235 junior Thomas van der Mars has come on strong of late and is producing 12.0 points and 6.2 rebounds a contest.

Another starter is junior Kevin Bailey, a very athletic wing but a hot-and-cold shooter.

Sophomore Bryce Pressley is not a big scorer at the point but possesses a 3-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. The son of former NBA-er Harold Pressley is also large for the position at 6-foot-4 and 200 and is overall is better suited for an off guard.

The fifth starter is 5-foot-11 Alec Winterling who is deadly at the foul line (his 27 attempts are tied for tops on the team) but woeful elsewhere, at least to date. The hope is that he will become an asset at the point but he currently sports 13/15 assist-to-turnover numbers.

Also, do not leave guard Bobby Sharp unattended as he has taken twice as many trey attempts as any teammate despite coming off the bench.

As a squad, Portland is shooting 32% from long distance and going to the foul line 26 times per game. Reveno likes to play a physical game and has a pair of frontcourters who can do so.

The coaches pre-season poll had the Pilots finishing ninth with no all league selections.

The major key will be how well the Spartans handle the Nicholas/van der Mars duo in the paint. If they are the big points guys for the night, alongside another Portland double figure scorer, then SJSU will have trouble earning the win.