PORTLAND STATE AT MONTANA
Saturday, January 5, 2013, 6:05 p.m. PT • Dahlberg Arena (7,321), Missoula, MT

PORTLAND STATE: 3-7 • Big Sky: 1-2 • Home: 3-2 • Road: 0-5
MONTANA: 7-4 • Big Sky: 3-0 • Home: 4-1 • Road: 3-3

Television: None
Radio: Freedom 970 AM, www.freedom970.com • Play-by-play: Tom Hewitt • Pregame Show: 5:30 p.m. PT
Live Video: www.BigSkyTV.org • Live Stats: http://www.gogriz.com/gametracker/universe/

All-Time Series: UM leads 29-20 • PSU 5-19 in Missoula
Big Sky Series: UM leads 21-11 • PSU 3-13 in Missoula
Last Year: UM 75-64 at UM; UM 69-67 at PSU

THE OPENING TIP
Portland State continues its travels through Montana when it takes on the University of Montana on Saturday in a Big Sky Conference game. The Vikings and Grizzlies meet at 6:05 p.m. PT at Dahlberg Arena. The game is available via live video stream at www.BigSkyTV.org and over the air at Freedom 970 AM and www.freedom970.com.

PSU (3-7, 1-2) will try to pick up its first road win of the season (0-5) against a Montana team that is tied for first place in the Big Sky (7-4, 3-0).

The game with the Griz will be the second in a road-heavy month of January for PSU. The Vikings play six of nine on the road over the course of the next four weeks. That extends to eight of 12 on the road through mid-February.

Portland State will try to end a seven-game losing streak to Montana. PSU has not won in Missoula since late in the 2007-08 season, nor in any game with UM since early in the 2008-09 season. Ironically, those were the two biggest margin-of-victory wins ever by PSU over Montana (108-56 and 72-45, respectively).

The Vikings lost at Montana State 62-59 on Thursday as a second-half comeback from 14 down came up just short. Meanwhile, the Griz won at home against Eastern Washington, 81-66. Montana has won three straight games and is 4-1 at home overall.

THE TOUGHEST TRIP: Portland State's annual journey through the state of Montana is always a difficult one. In fact, on the traditional travel-partner weekends, none have been more challenging to find a win than Montana and Montana State. PSU is 3-15 in Big Sky games (including tourney) at Montana State, 3-13 at Montana. That makes 6-28 overall.

PSU vs. UM LAST YEAR: Portland State lost both games to Montana last season. Despite 27 points from Charles Odum, the Griz beat the Vikings, 75-64, in Missoula. Will Cherry and Kareem Jamar combined for 32 points as Montana shot 53% from the field to just 38% from the Vikings... PSU trailed by 11 with 3:26 to play, but nearly came back on Montana, losing 69-67 in Portland. Cherry again led the way with 20 points as UM shot 50%. Chehales Tapscott scored 14 points with 16 rebounds and five steals for the Vikings.

THE COACHES: Portland State Head Coach Tyler Geving has a 47-57 record in his fourth season. Geving has a 25-30 Big Sky Conference record. He is 0-6 all-time against Montana, including 0-3 in Missoula... Montana Head Coach Wayne Tinkle is 123-75 in seven seasons with the Grizzlies. He is 8-4 all-time against the Vikings.

THE GRIZZLIES: The University of Montana is 7-4 on the season and tied for first at 3-0 in the Big Sky Conference... another original member of the Big Sky, Montana has won six regular season titles, eight tournament titles and made nine appearances in the NCAA Tournament... UM was 25-7 last season, winning the Big Sky regular season and tournament championships. Montana was 15-1 in league play... four starters and eight letterwinners return from that team, including first team All-Big Sky selections Will Cherry and Kareem Jamar. Cherry was the league's Defensive Player of the Year, and Head Coach Wayne Tinkle was the Coach of the Year... Montana is shooting it well this season, hitting .410 from three-point range and a Big Sky-best .767 at the line... the Griz are led in scoring by Mathias Ward, who averages 14.5 points per game while shooting .537 from the field... Jamar averages 13.5 points and leads the team with 6.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game... Cherry has just come back from injury, and in four games is averaging 8.0 points and 4.3 assists, but shooting only .276 from the field... at .567 from three-point range (17-30), Mike Weisner leads the Big Sky Conference.

FAST BREAKS

WINNING LINES
• Portland State is 3-7 this season. The Vikings are 3-2 at home, 0-5 on the road.
• PSU has won seven of nine at home dating to last season.
• The Vikings have lost their last seven road games dating to last season.

Big Sky Battles
• Portland State is 133-132 all-time in all Big Sky Conference games, including the tournament (8-8).
• PSU is 89-40 in home games, 41-88 in road games and 4-4 in neutral site games.
• PSU is 48-35 in Big Sky games since the start of the 2007-08 season, 54-37 including tournament games.

HOT SHOTS: 
• SR PG Lateef McMullan has scored in double figures in five straight games, averaging 15.4 points over that span. He tied a career-high with 20 points against Idaho State. McMullan handed out a career-high eight assists against George Fox, and set a career-high with five three-pointers against Montana State.
• JR F Aaron Moore has back-to-back double-doubles. He posted career-high totals of 19 points and 10 rebounds against Weber State. On Thursday, He logged 17 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. In his last five games, Moore is averaging 13.6 points, 8.8 rebounds and shooting 28-42 from the field (.667). 
• SO G Dre Winston had a season-high four assists at Montana State.
• SR F Renado Parker scored a season-high 18 points against Weber State.
• Portland State has averaged only 8.8 turnovers per game over the last four.

NOT SO HOT: 
• The Vikings had shot .500 from three-point range over their last three games (19-38) before going 7-28 against Montana State (.250).
• SO G Gary Winston had made five straight three-point field goals prior to the game at Montana State, then went 0-8 from distance.
• After getting only two points at Montana State, PSU's bench has averaged just 5.0 points per game over the last three. The Viking bench had averaged 15.9 points over the first seven games. Opponents average 21.1 points off the bench.

ALL ABOUT THE SHOOTING: PSU had a poor shooting performance at Montana State on Thursday, and the result; a loss. The Vikings shot only .375 from the field and .250 from three-point range, and still lost by just three points (62-59). Eight more offensive rebounds (13-5) got the Vikings eight more shot attempts than the Bobcats (21-56 vs. 22-48) keeping PSU in the game... not surprisingly, PSU has shot .565, .492 and .532 in its three wins this season, but not better than .456 in any loss.

THE DEFENSE SHOULD NOT REST: Head Coach Tyler Geving touted an improved defensive team for 2012-13, and that may come to fruition. A strong effort against Idaho State has the Vikings headed the right way. PSU held Idaho State to 49 points on Dec. 20, the fewest by an opponent in 34 games... still, there is room to improve as the Vikings are allowing opponents to shoot .491 from the field and .376 from three-point range. The 70.3 points allowed is down from last year's 73.3 by opponents... the Vikings are forcing 14.2 turnovers per game, up from 11.4 forced last season.

POINTS ON THE POINT: SR PG Lateef McMullan has found his groove. The 5-11 ball-handler is averaging 15.4 points over his last five games (26-48 FG, 12-24 3-pt FG, 13-15 FT). Despite not having an assist at MSU, he has averaged 4.6 assists over the last five games. That has his season averages up to 10.7 and 3.2... McMullan had one of his best games as a Viking, tying a career-high with 20 points (7-9 FG, 3-5 3-pt FG, 3-5 FT) and adding four assists and four steals in the win over Idaho State (12/20)... McMullan has 27 assists and just eight turnovers in his last six games... he handed out a career-high eight assists with no turnovers in the win over George Fox (12/15)... McMullan is 10th in the Big Sky in assists and sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio. 

MOORE, MOORE, MOORE: JR F Aaron Moore has played as well as any Viking this season. He had career-highs of 19 points and 10 rebounds against Weber State (12/22) for his first double-double of the season... that was followed by 17 points and a career-high 12 rebounds at Montana State for two in a row... Moore posted 14 points on 7-7 shooting against Oregon State (12/12), matching the best shooting night by a Viking since the program joined the Big Sky Conference in 1996-97 (Anthony Washington, 7-7 vs. Eastern Washington, Mar. 4, 2006)... Moore ranks fourth in the Big Sky in rebounding (6.9) and third in shooting (.571)... in his last five games, Moore averages 13.6 points and 8.8 rebounds...  Moore, a 6-8 forward, has started all 10 games for the Vikings this season, averaging 10.1 points, a team-best 6.9 rebounds, while shooting .571 from the field and .750 at the line.... Moore averages a league-leading 9.7 rebounds in conference games only.