complete notes and stats in pdf

PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (9-5, 2-1) vs.
SOUTHERN UTAH THUNDERBIRDS (4-13, 2-2)
Saturday, January 14, 5:30 p.m. PT, The Centrum (5,300), Cedar City, UT

Television: None
Live Streaming Video and Audio: www.GoViks.com/Live
Live Stats: www.ViksLive.com

PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (9-5, 2-1) vs.
NORTHERN ARIZONA LUMBERJACKS (3-13, 0-3)
Monday, January 16, 2:30 p.m. PT, JL Walkup Skydome (7,300), Flagstaff, AZ

Television: Fox College Sports (FCSP Xfinity Channel 415)
Live Streaming Video and Audio: www.GoViks.com/Live
Live Stats: www.ViksLive.com

THE OPENING TIP
A snowstorm changed the course of Portland State's travel plans, but doesn't change the course of the season or even the immediate challenge ahead. The Vikings missed a Thursday night matchup with Northern Arizona when their plane was unable to leave Portland due to a snowstorm that dumped a foot of snow on the Rose City. But the Vikings will still get their chance with the Lumberjacks in Flagstaff as the game has been moved to Monday afternoon.

In the meantime, the Vikings will play their regularly scheduled game with Southern Utah on Saturday night. PSU instead will fly to Salt Lake City, then bus to Cedar City for that game. Then on to Flagstaff for Monday's matchup.

As a result, PSU will play four games in a total of eight days. It is part of the most challenging portion of the Portland State basketball schedule. The Vikings are beginning a stretch of five out of seven Big Sky Conference matchups on the road.

Portland State has itself in good position so far, going 2-1 over the first two weeks of the Big Sky schedule. The Vikings are currently in fifth place in the 12-team league. PSU is 9-5 overall, has won six out of seven and eight of its last 10 games. Perhaps more important, the Vikings won their last two road contests, non-conference games at San Francisco and Portland. That has them at 3-4 overall on the road this season.

Southern Utah is 4-13 on the season, 2-2 in Big Sky Conference games. The Thunderbirds are 2-3 at home. On Thursday night they lost a shootout with Sacramento State, 88-83, at the Centrum in Cedar City.

The T-Birds have been productive on offense, scoring over 78 points per game, but rank last in defense, allowing 84.1 points per game. 

PSU has won six straight games against Southern Utah dating back to 2013.

The game with Southern Utah tips off at 5:30 p.m. PT on Saturday. A live video stream is available at www.GoViks.com/Live. 

Portland State's matchup with Northern Arizona now comes on Monday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. PT. The game will be televised on the Fox College Sports Network and live streamed at www.GoViks.com/Live.

NAU has struggled out of the gate this year, going only 3-13 so far. The Lumberjacks are 0-3 in Big Sky play, with losses to Southern Utah, North Dakota and Northern Colorado. Remarkably, the 'Jacks are still winless at home (0-4). They have lost four straight overall heading into Saturday game with Sacramento State. 

Both teams give up a similar number of points (PSU, 78.2; NAU 78.1), but the Vikings have a distinct advantage on offense (87.9 to 68.8 points per game) as they are the highest-scoring team in the league. Portland State will need to exploit that edge as Northern Arizona ranks last in shooting in the Big Sky (.380 from the field).

But it is never easy to win in Flagstaff. The Vikings have lost in their last three trips to the Walkup Skydome. NAU has a 13-6 lead in the Big Sky series at home.

COMING UP
The Vikings return home next week to host Montana (Jan. 19) and Montana State (Jan. 21). They will play on the road the following two weeks at Sacramento State (Jan. 28), Idaho (Feb. 2) and Eastern Washington (Feb. 4).

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. SOUTHERN UTAH
• ALL-TIME SERIES: Portland State leads the all-time series with Southern Utah, 7-1, and the Big Sky series, 6-1... the Vikings are 2-1 in Big Sky games in Cedar City... PSU has won six straight in the series.
• LAST SEASON: The teams met only once due to the unbalanced Big Sky Conference schedule. Mar. 5, 2016 in Portland: PSU 88, SUU 86: Portland State shot .544 from the field and needed to as the Thunderbirds nearly matched them at .508. Cameron Forte scored 25 points to lead the Vikings to the win. Five Thunderbirds were in double figures with 17 from James McGee. 
• COACHES: Vikings Coach Tyler Geving (106-122/8th season) is 6-1 all-time against Southern Utah... Thunderbirds Head Coach Todd Simon is in his first season at SUU. He is 13-21 all-time as a head coach.

SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY
• Southern Utah, located in Cedar City, joined the Big Sky Conference in 2012-13.
• The Thunderbirds were 5-24 last season, 3-15 and tied for 11th in the Big Sky. 
• Todd Simon took over as the new head coach this season.
• SUU is averaging 78.6 points per game, but gives up a league-high 84.1 points per game.
• Junior guard Randy Onwuasor ranks second in the Big Sky Conference in scoring at 23.6 points per game. He has averaged 28.8 points in four Big Sky games. Onwuasor also averages team-highs of 6.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists. He is the brother of former Portland State football star (and now Baltimore Raven) Patrick Onwuasor. 
• Junior guard James McGee is averaging 15.5 points and has made 56 three-point field goals, shooting .448 from the arc.

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. NORTHERN ARIZONA
• ALL-TIME SERIES: Portland State leads the all-time series with Northern Arizona, 23-22. The Big Sky Conference series is tied 21-21.... the Vikings have lost three in a row in Flagstaff and are 6-13 there in Big Sky games.
• LAST SEASON: The teams met only once due to the unbalanced Big Sky Conference schedule. Mar. 3, 2016 in Portland: PSU 89, NAU 81: Portland State led by as many as 27 points in the second half before settling for an eight-point win. The game also marked the first triple-double in PSU history as Cameron Forte had 20 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists. Isaiah Pineiro added 31 points and 12 boards in the win. Kris Yanku scored a game-high 32 points, while Ako Kaluna added 17 points and 18 rebounds for the Lumberjacks.  
• COACHES: Vikings Coach Tyler Geving (106-122/8th season) is 4-9 all-time against Northern Arizona... Lumberjacks Head Coach Jack Murphy (57-91/5th year) is 5-2 all-time against Portland State.

NORTHERN ARIZONA LUMBERJACKS
• Northern Arizona, located in Flagstaff, joined the Big Sky Conference in 1970.
• The Lumberjacks have won four Big Sky Conference regular season titles, two tournament titles and made two appearances in the NCAA Tournament. NAU most recently won the Big Sky in 2005-06 and reached the NCAA Tournament in 1999-2000. 
• Northern Arizona was 5-25 last season, 3-11 in the Big Sky and tied for 11th. 
• This season, the Lumberjacks are 3-13, 0-3 in the Big Sky. They have lost four games in a row.
• NAU ranks last in the Big Sky Conference in field goal percentage at .380 on the season. The 'Jacks are getting outscored by 10 points per game.
• Sophomore guard Mike Green is the team's leading scorer at 12.0 points per game. He has made 32 three-point field goals.
• Senior forward Jordyn Martin averages 11.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.
• Sophomore guard Marcus DeBerry has made a team-high 34 three-point field goals and averages 10.2 points per game.

SUSTAINABLE AND RECYCLABLE VIKING QUICK NOTES
• Portland State is 9-5 this season, 6-1 at home, 3-4 on the road. 
• The Vikings have won six of their last seven and eight of their last 10 games.
• PSU has won two in a row on the road.
• Portland State won five straight earlier this season (Dec. 13-29). It was the longest winning streak since winning six in a row late in the 2008-09 season.

WHO IS HOT?
• The Vikings are shooting .503 from the field and averaging 87.9 points per game - both of which are best in the Big Sky Conference.
• PSU ranks first in the Big Sky in assists (18.0), steals (10.4), scoring margin (+9.1), turnover margin (+4.9) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.6).
• JR C Traylin Farris has shot 50% or better in each of his last seven games. He shoots .607 from the field. Farris had 19 points (5-9 FG, 9-11 FT) and a season-high 13 rebounds in the win over Sacramento State.
• JR C Traylin Farris has only six turnovers in 13 games and 270 minutes of play for the season.
• Despite coming off the bench, JR G Deontae North has scored in double figures in nine of the last ten games (eight PSU wins). His only non-double-digit game was nine points.
• SR G Calaen Robinson has scored in double figures in 10 straight games and made at least one three-pointer in every game this season.

BURN POINTS: Portland State had an amazing 51 points off turnovers (or burn points) against North Dakota (12/29). That continued a season-long trend of burning opponents for their mistakes. The Vikings have scored 304 burn points this season (21.7 per game) to 174 for the opponents (12.4). Ironically, that +9.3 margin of difference is pretty close to PSU's scoring margin for the season (+9.6). 

IT TAKES A THIEF: Portland State set a school record for steals last season with 263 in 31 games (8.48). With 147 steals already this year (10.4), the Vikings are on pace to break that mark again. 
• The Vikings currently rank fourth in the nation in steals.
• Four Vikings ranks in the top 10 in steals in the Big Sky: SR G Calaen Robinson, JR G Bryce Canda, SR F De'Sean Parsons and SR G Zach Gengler.
• SR G Calaen Robinson ranks 10th in the nation in steals (2.64) and set a career-high with six against North Dakota (12/29).
• PSU had a season-high 19 steals in a win over North Dakota (12/29).

HOT SHOTS: Portland State is averaging 87.9 points per game - the most of any team in the Big Sky Conference. The Vikings have 99 or more points in five games this season. The scoring can be attributed to good shooting, an up-tempo pace, and an ability to force opponent turnovers. 
• The Vikings shot .530 or better in seven of their wins. They shot .435 and .484 in wins at San Francisco and Portland.
• Portland State shoots .503 from the field overall and has failed to score at least 70 points only twice this season.
• PSU is forcing 16.4 turnovers per game while making 10.4 steals per game.
• PSU posted the most points in 38 years with a 118-59 win over Walla Walla (12/22), posting a school-record 21 three-point field goals. The last time PSU scored more was a 133-110 win over Rocky Mountain on Feb. 5, 1978 - a game in which Freeman Williams scored a PSU-record 81 points. 
• The Vikings shot .655 from the field in a 113-81 win over George Fox (11/17) and .571 in a win over UTRGV (12/3), including 13-22 from three-point range.
• Last year, PSU averaged 77.7 points. The last time PSU averaged over 82 points was 1976-77 when the Vikings averaged 91.0 points per game.

DOUBLE-DIGIT DYNAMICS: Portland State currently has six players averaging in double figures this season: JR F Braxton Tucker (16.8), SR G Calaen Robinson (14.8), SR F De'Sean Parsons (11.9), JR G Bryce Canda (11.5), JR G Deontae North (11.1) and JR C Traylin Farris (10.5). 
• SR G Zach Gengler (9.2) has also spent a portion of the seaosn averaging double figures. 
• PSU has had at least five players score in double figures in 10 of 14 games this season.
• Portland State has had 68 double-figure scoring games this season, an average of 4.8 players per game.

BIG SKY CONFERENCE LEADERS: Portland State leads the Big Sky Conference in:
• Scoring, 87.9 points per game
• Field Goal Percentage, .503
• Assists, 18.0 per game
• Steals, 10.4 per game
• Scoring margin, +9.6
• Turnover margin, +4.9
• Assist-to-turnover ratio, 1.6 (252/160)
• SR G Zach Gengler leads in assist-to-turnover ratio, 3.1 (43/14)

VIKINGS IN THE NATIONAL STATISTICAL RANKINGS (top 30): 
• Portland State ranks 4th in steals per game, 10.4
• Portland State ranks 10th in assist-to-turnover ratio, 1.58
• Portland State ranks 10th in scoring, 87.9 per game 
• Portland State ranks 10th in turnover margin, +4.9 
• Portland State ranks 11th in field goal percentage, .503
• Portland State ranks 12th in assists per game, 18.0
• Portland State ranks 25th in turnovers forced, 16.4
• SR G Calaen Robinson ranks 10th in steals, 2.64 per game
• SR G Zach Gengler ranks 26th in assist-to-turnover ratio, 3.07 (43/14)