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PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (3-2) vs. STANFORD CARDINAL (3-3)
Wednesday, November 28, 2018, 7 p.m. • Maples Pavilion (7,233), Palo Alto, CA
Television: Pac-12 Network Bay Area • Play-by-Play: Ted Robinson • Analyst: Dan Belluomini
Live Stream: Pac-12.com/live
Live Stats: https://admin.gostanford.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Complete notes and stats in pdf

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THE OPENING TIP
Portland State plays its second and final Pac-12 opponent this Wednesday on the road when the Vikings travel to face Stanford in Palo Alto.
     
The Vikings (3-2) will be looking for their best all-around performance of the season in order to get a win over a quality opponent. Inconsistency on offense has, at times, held them back. Poor shooting was costly in a close loss to UC Santa Barbara last Friday. That was followed by a much better offensive performance in a win over Northwest Nazarene on Saturday.
     
PSU goes into the game averaging over 82 points per contest, but would like to improve their shooting line of .421/.259/.630. The Vikings face a Stanford team (3-3) that has played a rugged schedule including North Carolina, Wisconsin and Florida.
     
No doubt the Cardinal will be looking for revenge after an 87-78 loss last season to the Vikings at the PK80 Invitational. PSU came back from an 11-point second-half deficit. The Vikings forced 28 Stanford turnovers to spark the comeback win.
     
Portland State is now 1-2 in games away from home (0-1 in true road games). The Cardinal will be playing just their second home game (1-0).
     
Wednesday's game airs on the Pac-12 Network Bay Area and be live streamed at Pac-12.com/live. Live stats are available at https://admin.gostanford.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary.
 
COMING UP
Following the game at Stanford, Portland State will play four of its final five non-conference games at home. PSU hosts Portland Bible on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. On Dec. 5, the Vikings battle the University of Portland in a big cross-town rivalry game. It will be the first time the Pilots have played at PSU since 2015, although the Vikings have won the last two seasons at UP.
 
GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. STANFORD
• ALL-TIME SERIES: Stanford leads the all-time series, 2-1. The two wins came in Palo Alto in 2001 and 2009. The Viking win came last year at the PK80 Invitational at Memorial Coliseum in Portland, 87-78.
• LAST YEAR: NOV. 26, 2017, PORTLAND STATE 87, STANFORD 78: The Vikings overcame a nine-point halftime deficit, and 11-point second-half deficit, to pull away for the win. Though the Cardinal out-shot and out-rebounded the Vikings, PSU made 18 steals, forcing 28 turnovers. Deontae North scored 22 points, Bryce Canda had 17, and Holland Woods came off the bench to score 13. Reid Travis scored 28 points with 14 rebounds for Stanford.
• PORTLAND STATE vs. THE PAC-12 CONFERENCE: Portland State is 7-53 all-time against current members of the Pac-12 Conference. Barret Peery is 2-2 as Viking Head Coach, with an 87-78 win over Stanford in the PK80 Invitational, a 106-81 win at Cal, and a 95-84 loss at Oregon last year. Then, an 84-57 loss at Oregon this year... PSU has wins over Oregon (2), Arizona State (2), USC (1), Stanford (1) and Cal (1) - all coming within the past 20 seasons.
• COACHES: Vikings Coach Barret Peery (Southern Utah, 1996) is in his second season on the Park Blocks and has a 23-16 career record. Peery is 1-0 against Standord and 2-2 against Pac-12 schools... Peery's only other head coaching experience is at the junior college level where he was 178-30 in six seasons (2005-08, College of Southern Idaho;  2011-14, Indian Hills (IA) CC)... the Cardinal are coached by Jerod Haase (Kansas, 1997), who is in third second season. Haase is 36-36 at Stanford and 116-89 in seven seasons as a collegiate head coach. He is 0-1 against Portland State.
 
STANFORD CARDINAL
• Stanford is a member of the Pac-12 Conference, located in Palo Alto, CA. 
• The Cardinal were 19-16 last season, reaching the second round of the NIT. Stanford was 11-7 in the Pac-12, placing third.
• Stanford has started the season 3-3, including 1-0 at home. The roster includes 11 freshmen and sophomores among 15 players.
• Sophomore forward KZ Okpala is the team leader with 17.7 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Freshman guard Cormac Ryan averages 11.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and has a team-leading 14 three-point field goals.
• The Cardinal are averaging 67.0 points on .405 shooting from the field. They shoot .325 from three-point range and .706 at the free throw line.
 
SUSTAINABLE AND RECYCLABLE VIKING QUICK NOTES
WINNING LINES
• Portland State is 3-2 on the season, 2-0 at home, 0-1 on the road, 1-1 at neutral sites.
• PSU was 20-14 in 2017-18, 8-5 at home, 10-6 on the road, 2-3 at neutral sites.
• In Big Sky Conference games, PSU was 9-9 (4-5 at home, 5-4 on the road).
• PSU was 9-6 in games decided by five points or less or overtime.
• The Vikings were 2-1 in overtime.
Home Court(s)
• Portland State opens the Viking Pavilion at the Peter W. Stott Center in 2018-19. The Stoller Family Court will be PSU's fifth (and hopefully final) home court since joining the Big Sky Conference in 1996-97. The main home court was the old Peter W. Stott Center. However, the Vikings also used the Rose Garden (now Moda Center) and Memorial Coliseum occasionally over the years. In 2017-18, PSU used Lewis & Clark College's Pamplin Sports Center as a home court while the Viking Pavilion was being completed. Here is the breakdown:
  - Viking Pavilion - 2 games, 2-0
  - Peter W. Stott Center - 233 games, 168-65
  - Rose Garden (Moda Center) - 28 games, 19-9
  - Memorial Coliseum - 19 games, 13-6
  - Lewis and Clark - 12 games, 7-5
  - 23rd season - 294 games, 209-85 at home overall
• Since the start of the 2006-07 season, PSU is 122-46 at home, including 71-38 in Big Sky Conference regular season and tournament games.
• Portland State has lost only eight non-conference home games in the last 12 seasons (51-8). PSU is 27-8 against Division I schools, and 24-0 against lower division schools over that span.
 
WHO IS HOT
• NU-COMERS: Portland State newcomers JR G Michael Nuga and JR C Sal Nuhu are having a big impact off the bench for the Vikings... Nuga is averaging 12.4 points per game in just 17.0 minutes per night. He is shooting .558 from the field and .471 on three-pointers... Nuhu averages 8.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and has a team-leading six blocked shots while shooting .696 from the field, also in 17.0 minutes per game... Nuhu ranks third in the Big Sky Conference in field goal percentage while Nuga ranks 12th... Nuhu has made 12-13 shots (.923) in the last three games, averaging 11.7 points.
• BESTIES: SR G Derek Brown tied his career-high with 16 points against Northwest Nazarene. SO G Holland Woods had a season-best nine assists. SO C Brendan Rumel hauled down a career-high 10 rebounds.
• VIKING DEFENSE: Portland State has forced 100 turnovers (20.0), turning them into 120 points (24.0).
• OFFENSIVE REBOUNDERS: The Vikings have 90 offensive rebounds (18.0). They have converted them to 86 second-chance points (17.2).
 
WHO IS NOT
• THREE-POINT SHOOTING: Portland State had its best three-point shooting night of the season against Northwest Nazarene (11-26, .423). However, the Vikings are still only 35-135 (.259) from long range on the season.
• PARDON ME: The Vikings are averaging 26 fouls per game, including a season-high 36 against UC Santa Barbara.
 
CHEERING FOR BOO BOO: SO G Holland "Boo Boo" Woods is the Vikings' leader in scoring (14.0), assists (4.8) and steals (2.2). He ranks third in the Big Sky in both assists and steals.
• Woods, the Big Sky leader in assists last season (5.6), has led the Vikings in assists in 29 of 39 career games.
• Woods reached 200 career assists in 36 career games. He is now 32 assists short of reaching the Portland State all-time top 10 for assists.
• He had a season-high 22 points (7-12 FG, 2-4 3-pt, 6-6 FT), career-high seven steals and four assists in the win over Willamette.
• Woods went for 16 points, nine assists, three rebounds and two steals in a win over Northwest Nazarene.
 
FINDING HIS F-ORME: A lot is expected SR F Jamie Orme as he steps into the starting lineup this season. So far, he is delivering. Orme averages 11.6 points and a team-leading 6.6 rebounds per game.
• Orme had career-highs of 19 points and 13 rebounds for his first career double-double against Willamette.
 
NEW SEASON, NEW LOOK: Portland State Head Coach Barret Peery has four new starters in his lineup this season, along with returning starter SO G Holland Woods. Also tipping it off are SO C Brendan Rumel (three total starts in the previous two years), SR F Jamie Orme (one start last year), JR F Robert McCoy and SR G Derek Brown.
• In addition to McCoy, also new to the Vikings are JR Gs Michael Nuga and Juwan Williams, JR F Rashaad Goolsby, JR C Sal Nuhu and FR F Filip Fullerton.
 
IF YOU BUILD IT: The crowd of 1,424 that attended the first official game in the Viking Pavilion and Portland State's home opener against UC Riverside was the largest since a sellout crowd of 1,500 attended the Portland State/Oregon State game in the old Stott Center gym on Dec. 12, 2012... PSU had a crowd of 1,010 in the win over Willamette.
 
WHAT IS PEERY PRESSURE?
Portland State Head Coach Barret Peery emphasizes a full-court pressure defense that forces turnovers and creates transition opportunities. Then, on the offensive end, his team relentlessly attacks the offensive glass. The results proved out quite well in 2017-18. Here are the analytics of those two areas.
• The Vikings forced 18.1 turnovers per game and had a +5.4 turnover margin (1st in the nation).
• The Vikings averaged 14.5 offensive rebounds per game (2nd in the nation) while opponents averaged 10.2 offensive rebounds.
• In all, the difference in total turnovers (184) and total offensive rebounds (145) meant 329 extra possessions compared to opponents (9.7).
• It is no wonder the Vikings had 361 more field goal attempts and 199 more free throw attempts than their opponents last year and 85.2 points (3rd in the nation).
 
PEERY PRESSURE, PART II
In 2018-19:
• The Vikings have forced 20.0 turnovers per game and have a +5.6 turnover margin.
• The Vikings average 18.0 offensive rebounds per game while opponents average 8.8.
• In all, the difference in total turnovers (28) and total offensive rebounds (46) is 74 extra possessions compared to opponents (14.8 per game).
• As a result, PSU has 93 more field goal attempts than their opponents. Opponents have 28 more free throw attempts.
 
SEASON HIGHLIGHT REEL
• Nov. 6: #14 Oregon 84, PSU 57: The Vikings opened the season with their usual aggressive approach on defense and the glass, but suffered through a woeful shooting night in a loss to the 14th-ranked Ducks. PSU made only 21-73 shots from the field (.288) compared to 27-50 for Oregon (.540). SO G Holland Woods led the Vikings with 13 points and three assists.
• Nov. 10: PSU 71, UC Riverside 64: The Vikings held the Highlanders without a field goal for eight minutes late in the second half. PSU trailed by four with 8:24 to play but pulled away in the closing minutes leading by as many as 10. SR G Derek Brown scored 12 points with six rebounds and three assists.
• Nov. 16: PSU 125, Willamette 61: PSU needed little time to dispatch Division III Willamette, jumping to a 23-0 lead in the first five minutes and cruising to an easy win. SO G Holland Woods and JR G Michael Nuga each scored 22 points, while SR F Jamie Orme (19 pts, 13 reb) and JR F Robert McCoy (11 pts, 12 reb) each had double-doubles.
• Peery Wins 200th: Portland State Head Basketball Coach Barret Peery captured his 200th career victory on Saturday in a 125-61 win over Willamette. Peery, who is in his second season at Portland State, is currently 22-15 as Vikings' Head Coach. He also won 178 games in six seasons at the junior college level (93-11, Indian Hills CC (IA), 2011-14; College of Southern Idaho, 85-19, 2005-08). His composite record is 200-45.
• Nov. 23: UCSB 76, PSU 69: Portland State shoots .355 from the field, making only 3-23 three-pointers in the game. The Vikings also had 36 fouls, sending the Gauchos to the line 42 times. JR G Michael Nuga came off the bench to score 13 points for PSU.
• Nov. 24: PSU 91, Northwest Nazarene 75: Portland State jumped to a 23-5 lead in the first eight minutes and never looked back. The Vikings held the Nighthawks to .367 shooting and forced 20 turnovers. SR G Derek Brown scored 16 points with five rebounds. SO G Holland Woods had 16 points and nine assists.
 
2018-19 SEASON NOTES
 
PEERY WINS 200TH CAREER GAME
Portland State Head Basketball Coach Barret Peery captured his 200th career victory on No. 17 in a 125-61 win over Willamette. Peery, who is in his second season at Portland State, won his 22nd game as Vikings' Head Coach. He also won 178 games in six seasons at the junior college level (93-11, Indian Hills CC (IA), 2011-14; College of Southern Idaho, 85-19, 2005-08). His composite record is now 201-46.
 
JADEN NIELSEN-SKINNER SIGNS WITH VIKINGS
Portland State Basketball Head Coach Barret Peery has announced the signing of Jaden Nielsen-Skinner to a national letter of intent for the 2019-2020 academic year.
     
"Jaden is an individual that we targeted early on when we came to Portland State. We offered him quickly," said the second-year Head Coach. "He is extremely quick with the basketball and plays fast at both ends of the floor. I love Jaden's knowledge and feel for the game. He fits who we are both on and off the court."
     
A point guard at South Salem High School, Nielsen-Skinner is a two-time first team All-Greater Valley Conference selection. He averaged 22.3 points, 3.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game as a junior. During his sophomore season, he led South Salem to a third-place finish in the Oregon 6A State Tournament while averaging 18.7 points per game.
     
Beginning with his freshman season, Nielsen-Skinner has started every game of his high school career.