PORTLAND STATE AT NORTH DAKOTA
Saturday, January 19, Noon PT • Betty Englestad Center (3,064), Grand Forks, ND

PORTLAND STATE: 5-9 • Big Sky: 3-4 • Home: 5-2 • Road: 0-7
NORTH DAKOTA: 6-10 • Big Sky: 3-4 • Home: 5-3 • Road: 1-7

Television: None
Radio: Freedom 970 AM, www.freedom970.com • Play-by-play: Tom Hewitt • Pregame Show: 11:30 a.m.
Live Video: www.BigSkyTV.org  • Live Stats: http://www.undsports.com//liveStats/liveStats.dbml?

All-Time Series: UND leads 2-0 • PSU in Grand Forks: 0-1
Big Sky Series: first meeting
Last Year: DNP

THE OPENING TIP
Once again, the Portland State Vikings will try to end their road woes when they take on North Dakota in a Big Sky Conference game this Saturday. Tip-off is noon PT at the Betty Englestad Center in Grand Forks, ND.

The game airs on Freedom 970 AM, www.freedom970.com, and a live video stream is available at www.BigSkyTV.org.

The Vikings come off a disappointing performance at Northern Colorado on Thursday night, losing 67-50. It was the lowest point total of the season and, in fact, in more than two seasons. And, it was the first truly poor performance in seven Big Sky games this year for the Vikings. PSU was hindered by an ankle injury to leading scorer Renado Parker, who played only three minutes.

That loss dropped Portland State to 0-7 on the road this year and ended a two-game winning streak. PSU is now 5-9 this season, 3-4 in the Big Sky Conference, but still only one-half game out of third place. 

The Vikings' meeting with North Dakota will be the first-ever as Big Sky adversaries as UND is a first-year member of the league. The last time the teams met was more than 33 years ago. 

North Dakota has a similar record to PSU at 6-10 this season, and is among five teams tied at 3-4 in league play. UND defeated Eastern Washington on Thursday night, 65-47. North Dakota is 5-3 at home, winners of two straight and four of its last six games.

BIG SKY BOG DOWN: Portland State's loss at Northern Colorado was not devastating as the Vikings dropped only from a four-way tie for third place (3-3) to a five-way tie for fourth place (3-4) in the 11-team league. PSU's season record of 5-9 is exactly in the middle of the conference standings at sixth-best.

The Big Sky is a two-horse race with Montana and Weber State both standing at 7-0 and tied for first. The next best record is Montana State's 3-3 in third place. Remarkably, eight of the 11 teams have losing conference records, and there is just a one-and-a-half game gap between teams three through 11 (3-3 to 2-5). Only Sacramento State has a winning season record (8-7). Just as remarkably, the third- through 11th-place teams are a combined 9-62 on the road, 11-69 including neutral site games. So, though the Vikings are 0-7 on the road this year, they aren't much different than most of the teams in the league. 

THE COACHES: Portland State Head Coach Tyler Geving has a 49-59 record in his fourth season. Geving has a 27-32 Big Sky Conference record and has never faced North Dakota... North Dakota Head Coach Brian Jones is in his seventh season. His career record is 92-107.

IT HAS ONLY BEEN 30-SOMETHING YEARS: Portland State and North Dakota will meet in basketball for the first time in more than 33 years. UND won both previous meetings: 69-61 on Dec. 2, 1978 at Memorial Coliseum; and 59-56 on Nov. 30, 1979 in Grand Forks, ND.

NORTH DAKOTA: North Dakota is a first-year member of the Big Sky Conference. UND won the Great West Conference Tournament in 2011-12 and advanced to the Collegeinsider.com post-season tournament... North Dakota was 17-15 overall last year... UND moved up to the Division I level in 2007 from Division II... this year's squad has four returning starters and 13 returning letterwinners... forward Troy Huff is the team's leading scorer at at 16.5 points per game and leading rebounder at 7.5 per game... the only other player averaging double figures is guard Aaron Anderson at 13.8 points and 3.0 assists per game... guard Jamal Webb leads the team with 3.5 assists and the Big Sky with 2.4 steals per game... UND shoots only .400 from the field, which ranks ninth in the league... in conference play, North Dakota shoots .373, which ranks last.

COMING UP: Portland State's four-game road trip continues next week with a Thursday game at Southern Utah. The Vikings play at Eastern Washington on Jan. 28. Following those games, PSU plays seven of its next nine games at home, starting with a Jan. 31 game against Montana.

FAST BREAKS

WINNING LINES
• Portland State is 5-9 this season. The Vikings are 5-2 at home, 0-7 on the road.
• PSU has won nine of 11 at home dating to last season.
• The Vikings have lost their last nine road games dating to last season.
Big Sky Battles
• Portland State is 135-134 all-time in all Big Sky Conference games, including the tournament (8-8).
• PSU is 91-40 in home games, 41-90 in road games and 3-4 in neutral site games.
• PSU is 50-37 in Big Sky games since the start of the 2007-08 season, 56-39 including tournament games.

HOT SHOTS: 
• SR PG Lateef McMullan has 48 assists and only 16 turnovers in the last 10 games.
• SO C Lamont Prosser posted season-highs of six points and eight rebounds at Northern Colorado.
• JR C Brandon Cataldo is averaging 6.0 points in the last three games. He is 8-11 shooting in those games.
• SR G Martin Whitmore had a career-high six rebounds at Northern Colorado.
• SO G Gary Winston is 4-4 from three-point range in the last two games.
• Portland State ranks 31th in the nation in free throw shooting (.743) and 37th in three-point shooting (.374) among 345 Division I schools.
• The Vikings shoot .523 from the field, .495 from three-point range, in the Stott Center.

NOT SO HOT: 
• PSU shot a season-low .339 at Northern Colorado (19-56), including 5-18 from three-point distance (.278), and scored a season-low 50 points. This after shooting .532 in last week's two wins, including 20-31 (.645) from three-point distance.
• As a team, the Vikings shoot .386 on the road, .286 from three-point range.
• After shooting 24-45 (.533) in his first six games, SO G Dre Winston is 14-48 (.292) over the last eight.
• Portland State is 0-7 on the road this season.

THIS INJURY HURTS (OF COURSE): SR F Renado Parker has been troubled by a nagging ankle injury for most of the season. He has been unable to practice for most of the last two weeks. He tried to play on Thursday at Northern Colorado, but came out after only three minutes. The injury certainly hurts Parker, and it definitely hurt the Viking offense as their leading scorer was greatly missed in the poorest offensive outing of the year. Parker's status for Saturday's game at North Dakota is uncertain.

ROUGH ROAD: Portland State's 0-7 road record is a disappointment, but the Vikings still have seven games on the road during the regular season to make amends. This year's road games have been against some formidable opponents, including nationally-ranked Oklahoma State and Oregon, Portland and Loyola Marymount of the West Coast Conference, and Montana and Montana State of the Big Sky... PSU was 7-12 on the road last season. 

HOME AND ROAD? NIGHT AND DAY: The difference in home and road shooting statistics for the Vikings mirrors Portland State's home (5-2) and road (0-7) records. The Vikings shoot .523 from the field and .495 from three-point range at home. On the road, they shoot just .386 from the field and .286 from three-point range. The free throw shooting numbers are consistent at .746 at home and .744 on the road.

BALANCE? YUP: Portland State expected a more balanced offensive attack this season after scoring stars Charles Odum and Chehales Tapscott graduated. As it happens, five Vikings are averaging between 8.1 and 11.4 points per game. And, all five have led the team in scoring at least three times each (including ties): Renado Parker (4), Michael Harthun (3), Aaron Moore (4), Lateef McMullan (3) and Dre Winston (3).

5x10 and 0x10: After having five players in double figures in each of last week's two wins, PSU had no players in double figures for the first time this season against Northern Colorado. JR F Aaron Moore led PSU with nine points. 

GOOD HANDLE: JR PG Lateef McMullan has turned in a remarkable stretch of ball handling over the last month, highlighted by his career-high nine assists with no turnovers against Sacramento State. In his last 10 games, McMullan has 48 assists against just 16 turnovers. For the season, his ratio is 53/25 (2.1 ast/to). That ranks third-best in the Big Sky Conference. He is fourth overall in the Big Sky in assists... for the year, the 5-11 ball-handler averages 10.3 points and 3.8 assists. 

MOORE, MOORE, MOORE: JR F Aaron Moore has played as well as any Viking this season and is in the midst of a hot stretch. In his last six games, Moore has posted three double-doubles and averaged 14.5 points....  currently, Moore is seventh in field goal percentage (.518) and fourth in rebounding (6.6) in the Big Sky Conference. He averages 10.9  points and shoots .791 at the line. 

PARKER'S PART: SR F Renado Parker averages a team-leading 11.4 points and is second in rebounding at 4.9 per game despite being hindered by a nagging ankle injury the last several weeks... he is shooting .462 from the field and .760 at the line... he has scored in double figures in a team-high 11 of 14 games... Parker has led the team in scoring a team-high four times.

THUN-ING UP: SR G Michael Harthun is heating up, having made 8-12 three-pointers in the last three games. His season-high 18 points against Sacramento State (1/10) was a welcome effort. Harthun shot it well, hitting 7-11 from the field and 4-5 from three-point range. That was followed by 13 points (3-4 3-pt FG) and four assists against Northern Arizona... Harthun's increased production this season has been - and will be - vital to the Vikings' success. He is averaging 10.6 points per game, up from 8.6 last year. Harthun is shooting .473 from the field, .420 from distance, and .800 at the line... he ranks 13th in field goal percentage and 11th in three-point percentage in the Big Sky Conference.

NICE COMEBACK: SO G Gary Winston has made a nice comeback from a nightmare shooting game at Montana State on Jan. 3. Winston was 0-9 in that game, 0-8 from three-point distance. In the four games since, he is 12-21 from the field (.571) and 7-10 from three-point range (.700)... Winston has moved into the starting lineup for the last three games.

BENCH PRODUCTION: Viking Head Coach Tyler Geving has seen increased bench production from the Vikings the last two weeks. Against Sacramento State, Geving got a career-high 11 points from SR G Martin Whitmore (3-3 3-pt FG), a career-best four blocked shots and eight points from SO C Brandon Cataldo, and four points, four assists and solid defense from SO G Dre Winston... Cataldo had four more (2-2 FG) points and three rebounds against Northern Arizona... JR C Lamont Prosser responded when SR F Renado Parker was injured at Northern Colorado. Prosser had career-highs of six points and eight rebounds. Cataldo added six points and two blocked shots, and Whitmore scored five points with a career-high six rebounds.