COMING UP: The Evergreen State College (2-4) opens Cascade Collegiate Conference action this week with a trio of road games. The Geoducks get the CCC slate underway on Tuesday against Northwest University (4-4) in Kirkland before playing Multnomah (3-4) in Portland on Friday and Warner Pacific (3-4) in Portland on Saturday. Tipoff for all three games is scheduled to get underway at 7:30 p.m. In the conference coaches' preseason poll, Warner Pacific was picked to finish third, Northwest eighth, Evergreen ninth and Multnomah 10th.

FOLLOW THE GEODUCKS: Fans can follow all Evergreen men's basketball home games via either live stats or pay-per-view live video at www.stretchinternet.com/evergreen/#. John Hammargren is in his fourth year as play-by-play announcer for the Geoducks.

FOLLOW THE GEODUCKS ON THE ROAD: Geoducks basketball fans can follow their favorite team via live stats and live video stream at two of the three road locations this week.
Northwest: Live stats – http://www.nueagles.com/sports/2013/9/19/WVB_0919131949.aspx; Live video – http://backlighttv.com/northwest-university/.
Multnomah: Live stats – http://sidearmstats.com/multnomah/mbball/; Live Video – http://portal.stretchinternet.com/multnomah/.

ABOUT THE GEODUCKS: Evergreen enters conference play with a 2-4 record and with the experience of playing high-caliber competition during most of the pre-conference schedule. Through those six games, 6-6 post Danny Powell has led the team with 17.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. The junior transfer has posted double-doubles in four of the team's six games. Alix Hernandez, a 6-1 senior swingman, contributes 14.0 points and team highs of 6.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. Brock Otis, a 6-3 senior forward, is the team's other double-figure scorer with 13.0 points per contest. Other noteworthy statistics include 5-8 senior guard Frankie Johnson with 9.5 points per game and 6-1 junior point guard Jarrick Mitchell with 4.1 assists per game. As a team the Geoducks are scoring an average of 85.8 points per game while allowing 93.7. This year's team has made significant improvement in rebounding. After losing the rebound battle by an average of more than 10 per game last year, the 2015-16 Geoducks are much better in that category with 37.0 rebounds per contest compared to 38.7 for their opponents.

MR. RELIABLE: Senior guard Frankie Johnson continues to add numbers to a solid list of four-year accomplishments. Frankie has started 78 of the team's 82 games since the 2012-13 season and has 775 career points and 196 career assists. After scoring 280 points as a freshman, Frankie scored 219 each of the past two seasons.

ABOUT NORTHWEST: The Eagles enter conference play with a 4-4 overall record, which includes an 86-71 loss to the Geoducks at CRC Gymnasium on Nov. 10. Michael Dupree, a 6-1 junior guard, played his first two games of the year last week and averaged 26.0 points and 7.0 rebounds. Other standouts include 6-3 guard Dak Shagren with 18.5 points per game and 41 percent three-point shooting, 6-7 post Ben Tucakovic with 13.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per contest, and 6-5 post Zach Smith with averages of 10.8 points and 5.5 rebounds. The Eagles score61.6 per game while allowing 76.1 and they out-rebound their foes, 38.2 to 35.5 per game.

EARLIER THIS SEASON: Evergreen put an emphatic end to a 14-game losing streak to Northwest University back on Nov. 10, thumping the visiting Eagles, 86-71, in a non-conference game played in Olympia. The previous time Evergreen defeated Northwest was on Dec. 30, 2009. The Geoducks led by as many as 23 points late in the second half before settling for the 15-point victory over the Eagles. Alix Hernandez tallied a double-double for Evergreen with 16 points and 13 rebounds, and in fact had a strong overall floor game with three assists and a game-high four steals. Danny Powell finished with a team-high 17 points and also grabbed nine boards for the Geoducks. Frankie Johnson scored 15 points and Jarrick Mitchell contributed a game-high five assists in the victory. Ben Tucakovic and Zach Smith both recorded double-doubles for the visitors, Tucakovic with a game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Smith with 11 points and 10 boards.
 
ABOUT MULTNOMAH: A newcomer to the Cascade Collegiate Conference, the Lions open their conference slate on Tuesday with a home game against Warner Pacific. Multnomah, 3-4 in non-conference play, likes to get up-and-down the floor in a hurry, at least judging from their statistics through seven games. It averages 93.7 points per game while allowing 97.7, and the three-point shot seems to be a significant mode of scoring the basketball. The Lions average 15.1 three-point baskets per game and are shooting 38 percent as a team from beyond the arc. The team leader is 6-2 senior guard Blake Updike, who averages 27.0 points per game while averaging 4.7 made three-pointers per contest. He shoots 42 percent from beyond the arc and in addition is 36-for-42 at the free throw line. Jordan Paris, a 6-4 senior forward, averages 14.4 points, 11.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game. Thomas Simien, a 6-6, 260-pound junior center, contributes 12.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, and 6-5 guard Ben Grandle is another three-point shooting threat while averaging 11.6 points per game.

ABOUT WARNER PACIFIC: The Knights, picked by coaches to finish third in the 11-team conference race, are 3-4 as they enter the CCC schedule. Earl Jones, a 5-8 senior guard, leads the Knights with 14.3 points and 4.3 assists per game, and he arguably leads the conference in quickness. Other top players include 6-4 senior guard Taylor Young with 13.5 points per game, and 6-6 freshman forward Collin Malcolm with 11.0 points and a team-high 6.0 rebounds per game. And while Evergreen has its Frankie Johnson, the Knights also feature a Franky Johnson, a 6-0 senior guard who averages 10.2 points per game. Warner Pacific offers one of the stingiest defenses in the league, giving up only 62.1 points per game and also limiting opponents to 39 percent field goal accuracy. On the other end of the floor the Knights average 70.7 points and shoot 49 percent.

LAST GAME: Brock Otis scored 20 points to lead six players in double figures as The Evergreen State College defeated visiting Northwest Indian College, 117-87, on Nov. 20. Otis scored his 20 points in 9-for-11 shooting from the field. Joining him in double figures were Danny Powell with 17, Donald Terry with 14, Ryan Quigley and Jonathan Jack-Nixon with 13 each, and Alix Hernandez with 11. Quigley, a freshman post who played a game-high 27 minutes, led all players with 14 rebounds, including nine on the offensive end, and Powell added 11. For Powell it was his fourth double-double of the season, while Quigley recorded his first as a collegiate player.