---

PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (16-11, 6-8) vs.
SOUTHERN UTAH THUNDERBIRDS (10-15, 4-10)
Thursday, February 22, 2018, 5:30 p.m. PT • The Centrum (5,300), Cedar City, UT
Live Video and Audio: www.WatchBigSky.com, www.Pluto.tv 
Live Stats: www.ViksLive.com
Complete notes and stats in pdf

---

THE OPENING TIP
The final regular season road trip provides two new opponents and at least a little post-season intrigue for Portland State as it plays at Southern Utah and Northern Arizona this week.
           
PSU (16-11, 6-8) has not played either team this season, and this will be the only regular season meeting with those opponents in the Big Sky's unbalanced schedule. Both teams rank near the bottom of the Big Sky (Southern Utah, 4-10, 10th; Northern Arizona, 1-13, 12th) but at least one could play a prominent role in the Vikings' post-season.
           
Portland State is in seventh place in the 12-team league. If the season were to end today, they would take on the 10th-seeded team in first round of the Big Sky Tournament. That opponent right now would be Southern Utah. If PSU can finish the season in a flurry of wins and climb as high as fifth, it would play the 12th-seeded team in the first round. That opponent right now would be Northern Arizona.
           
Those of course are projections, but as things stand in the Big Sky, PSU appears to have a reasonable chance of facing one of those opponents in the tournament.
           
The Vikings go on the road on a high note after a strong performance in a 91-77 win over Idaho State on Saturday. SR C Ryan Edwards scored a career-high 21 points, JR G Deante Strickland had 18 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, SR F Brandon Hollins registered 13 points and 16 rebounds, and SR F Braxton Tucker scored a season-high 14 points. That follows a trend of a variety of different Vikings making big contributions in recent games. Portland State has had six different leading scorers in the last six games.
           
With 16 victories this season, the Vikings have already improved on last year's record (15-16) and are destined for their most wins since at least 2013-14 (17-15).
           
What the Vikings would really like is to go on a run like they did in non-conference play when they compiled a pair of four-game winning streaks. As it stands, the Vikings have not won back-to-back games since Jan. 6-11. 
           
Southern Utah (10-15, 4-10) lost a pair of road games last week. However, the Thunderbirds have played well at home this season with an 8-4 record. Their most recent home game was an 84-80 win over Idaho State on Feb. 3.
           
Portland State has proven to be a strong road team, with an 8-5 road mark. The Vikings hope to keep the offense flowing in Cedar City as SUU allows over 81 points per game.
           
Thursday's game is a 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time start. A live video stream is available at www.WatchBigSky.com and www.Pluto.tv. Live stats are available at www.ViksLive.com.
 
Current Big Sky Conference Standings (upcoming PSU opponents)
Montana, 13-2
Weber State, 12-2
Idaho, 11-3
Eastern Washington, 9-5
Northern Colorado, 9-6 (vs. PSU, 3/1)
Idaho State, 7-7
Portland State, 6-8
Montana State, 6-9
North Dakota, 5-10 (vs. PSU 3/3)
Southern Utah, 4-10 (PSU @ SUU, 2/22)
Sacramento State, 3-11
Northern Arizona, 1-13 (PSU @ NAU, 2/24)
 
COMING UP
Portland State plays at Northern Arizona on Saturday night in another 5:30 p.m. PT game. Then, the Vikings close out the regular season at home, hosting Northern Colorado (Mar. 1) and North Dakota (Mar. 3). The Big Sky Conference Tournament runs Mar. 6-10 in Reno, NV.
           
All Viking home games take place at Lewis and Clark College this season as construction on the new Viking Pavilion is being completed. Thursday games tip at 8 p.m. with Saturday games at 1 p.m.
 
GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. SOUTHERN UTAH 
• ALL-TIME SERIES: Portland State leads the all-time series, 9-1, and the Big Sky Conference series, 8-1... the Vikings have won eight in a row in the series, but the last seven games have been decided by an average of less than six points per game, with the largest margin being 11 points last season... PSU is 3-1 all-time in Cedar City.
 • Jan. 14 in Cedar City, UT, PSU 88, SUU 77: Portland State pulled away to a double-digit lead in the second half as five Viking players scored in double figures. Bryce Canda and Zach Gengler each scored 16 points while De'Sean Parsons had 13 points and 13 rebounds. Matthew Johnson scored 18 for Southern Utah. Feb. 23 in Portland, PSU 93, SUU 86: The Vikings need a 13-4 run to close out the game and pull out a victory. Six players were in double figures, led by 16 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots from De'Sean Parsons. Randy Onwuasor had 30 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Thunderbirds.
• COACHES: Vikings Coach Barret Peery is in his first season on the Park Blocks. His 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 Thunderbirds are coached by Todd Simon. In his second season, Simon has a 16-42 record. He is 0-2 against the Vikings.
• YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN: Portland State Head Coach Barret Peery returns to coach against his alma mater for the first time. Peery played at Southern Utah from 1993-95. He was part of two conference championships for the Thunderbirds and earned Academic All-League honors. Peery was a graduate assistant with the program in 1995-96. Peery the returned to be an assistant coach at Southern Utah from 1998-2002. The 2000-01 team won the Mid-Continent Conference title, reaching the NCAA Tournament, and compiled a 25-6 record. 
 
SOUTHERN UTAH THUNDERBIRDS
• Southern Utah joined the Big Sky Conference in 2012-13. The program has never won a Big Sky title, but has made one previous appearance in the NCAA Tournament (2000-01).
• The Thunderbirds were 6-27 last season, 3-15 and tied for 11th in the Big Sky Conference. Southern Utah was picked to place 12th in the Big Sky Conference preseason coaches and media polls.
• Southern Utah has shown improvement this season with a 10-15 record thus far, and a 4-10 mark in Big Sky Conference play. The Thunderbirds have lost their last two games and five of their last seven.
• SUU averages 75.3 points per game while allowing 81.3. The T-Birds rank 11th in the Big Sky in points allowed, opponent field goal percentage (.480) and opponent three-point shooting (.385).
• Junior guard Jadon Cohee leads the Thunderbirds with 13.0 points and 3.4 assists per game.
• Senior forward Jamal Aytes is averaging 12.7 points and 5.3 rebounds.
• Junior forward Dwayne Morgan is averaging 12.3 points and a team-leading 6.7 rebounds.
 
SUSTAINABLE AND RECYCLABLE VIKING QUICK NOTES
WINNING LINES 
• Portland State is 16-11 this season, 7-4 at home, 8-5 on the road, 1-2 at neutral sites.
• In Big Sky Conference games, PSU is 6-8 (3-4 at home, 3-4 on the road). 
• The Vikings have won two of their last three, and three of their last five games. 
• PSU is 6-5 in games decided by five points or less or overtime.
Big Sky Battles
• Portland State is 181-196 all-time in all Big Sky Conference games, including the Big Sky Tournament (11-12). 
• PSU is 119-62 in home games, 57-125 in road games and 5-9 in neutral-site games.
 
WHO IS HOT
• SR F Brandon Hollins had a career-high 22 points (10-12 FG, 1-2 3-pt, 1-1 FT) with 11 rebounds against Weber State. He followed that with 13 points (5-9 FG, 3-5 FT) and a career-high 16 rebounds - the most by a Viking in two years - against Idaho State... Hollins now has double-doubles in three straight games with a total of five double-doubles this season... in the last three games, he has averaged 17.0 points and 13.7 rebounds while making 21-32 shots (.656). He leads the Big Sky Conference with a .591 shooting percentage.
• JR G Deante Strickland posted a career-high of 18 points (6-11 FG, 4-7 3-pt, 2-4 FT) with seven rebounds and eight assists in the win over Idaho State. He has hit 17 of his last 31 threes (.548) and is shooting a team-best .433 from distance.
• SR C Ryan Edwards scored a career-high 21 points (9-11 FG, 3-4 3-pt) against Idaho State in just 18 minutes of action.
• SR F Braxton Tucker had a season-high 14 points (7-11 FG) in 18 minutes against Idaho State.
• The Vikings matched their season-low with just five turnovers against Idaho State.
• FR G Holland Woods has made 19 free throws in a row, and 36 of his last 40 free throws (.900). 
 
WHO IS NOT
• Amongst all the good shooting against Idaho State, SR G Bryce Canda and JR G Michael Mayhew combined to make only 3-17 field goals.
• In Portland State's eight Big Sky losses, it has been easy to point at shooting as the downfall. PSU has shot .392 from the field and .265 from three-point range in seven Big Sky losses. PSU has shot .500 from the field in six Big Sky wins.
• Portland State averages 22.4 fouls per game, ranking 348th in the nation (among 351).
 
THE COMEBACK: Portland State's come-from-behind victory at Idaho State marked the eighth time this season that Portland State has erased a second-half deficit (four by double digits) and pulled out a win. Five of those have been on the road, two at Memorial Coliseum. Here is a list of the comebacks: 
• Beat Portland, 80-75, on Nov. 11 (R) - trailed by seven with 2:33 remaining.
• Beat Utah State, 83-79, at Memorial Coliseum on Nov. 20 - trailed by three with 7:16 remaining.
• Beat Stanford, 87-78, at Memorial Coliseum on Nov. 26 - trailed by 11 with 18:10 remaining (trailed by 14 in first half).
• Beat Santa Clara, 87-84, on Dec. 9 (R) - trailed by 17 with 14:51 remaining/trailed by 10 with 7:08 remaining.
• Beat Idaho, 73-72, on Jan. 6 (R) - trailed by five with 2:59 left.
• Beat Idaho State, 87-83, on Jan. 18 (R) - trailed by 16 with 18:30 remaining.
• Beat Montana State, 80-77, on Feb. 10 (R) - trailed by 10 with 12:12 remaining.
• Beat Idaho State, 91-77, on Feb. 17 (H) - trailed by seven with 19:46 remaining.
 
IT'S A TEAM GAME: Portland State has had six different players lead the team in scoring over the last six games (Mayhew, Woods, Brown, Canda, Holllins, Edwards).
• PSU has had a total of 108 double-figure scorers through 27 games (4.0 per game).
• Eight players are averaging 6.6 points or more, 12 players average 4.2 points or more.
• 11 players have averaged double figures in minutes.
• 10 players have made starts with 12 different starting lineups... only SR G Bryce Canda has started every game.
 
THE ROAD - NOT AS ROUGH AS IT SEEMS: Portland State is 8-5 in road games this season (3-4 in Big Sky road games). That is the most road wins for a Viking team in 22 seasons in the Big Sky Conference except for the two NCAA Tournament teams (2007-08, 10-9; 2008-09, 11-9).
 
MORE ABOUT WINS: With 16 wins so far this season, the Vikings now rank eighth in the win column in 22 seasons as a Big Sky member (with at least seven games remaining)... PSU's 16 wins are the most since the 2013-14 season (17-15)... Here is a list of PSU's Big Sky teams with the most wins:
 
Most wins in a season, Big Sky era:
2007-08: 23-10
2008-09: 23-10
2004-05: 19-9
2006-07: 19-13
1998-99: 17-11
2011-12: 17-15
2013-14: 17-15
2017-18: 16-11 
 
HUSTLE CHART: Portland State Head Coach Barret Peery has emphasized that his team's full-court pressure style of play will be about forcing turnovers, creating fast breaks and getting to the offensive glass. Here is a look at PSU's hustle chart and the points they produce:
• Turnovers forced: 506 (18.7 to lead the Big Sky and rank second in the nation) for 600 points (22.2 per game)
• Fast break points: 300 (11.1 per game)
• Offensive rebounds: 390 (14.4 to lead the Big Sky and rank second in the nation) for 403 second chance points (14.9 per game)
 
PUTTING THE BISCUIT IN THE BASKET: Portland State is averaging 86.9 points per game this season. That is the most by a Viking team since 1976-77 (91.0) when Freeman Williams trod the (former) Stott Center hardwood. Here is a look at PSU's top scoring averages in 22 seasons as a member of the Big Sky Conference.
 
Year               PPG
2017-18         86.9
2016-17         85.3
1998-99         79.1
2006-07         78.2
 
OTHER TASTY TIDBITS
• MORE QUICK STATS: FR G Holland Woods' 157 assists already ranks as sixth-most for a season in Portland State history... SR C Ryan Edwards' 47 blocked shots ranks as fifth-best in a season in PSU history... the Vikings are 9-0 when they out-shoot an opponent, 7-11 when they don't.
• GAME-WINNERS: When FR G Holland Woods hit a game-winning shot with 0.6 points left against Idaho (73-72) it marked the first time a PSU player has made a clincher in the final five seconds of a game since Feb. 27, 2016. On that date, Calaen Robinson made a three-pointer with two seconds left to win at Northern Colorado, 89-86... although they didn't come in the last five seconds, SR G Bryce Canda hit decisive three-pointers on two occasions this season, with both coming on the road. His three at Portland with 34.3 seconds left broke a 75-75 tie in and 80-75 win. Later in the season, Canda hit a three with 18.9 seconds left to break a 77-77 tie in an 80-77 win at Montana State.
 
BIG SKY LEADERS: The Vikings lead the Big Sky Conference in:
• Scoring, 86.9
• Steals, 10.3
• Assists, 17.1
• Turnover Margin, +6.3
• Assist-to-Turnover Ratio, 1.4
• Offensive Rebounds, 14.4
• 3-pt FG Made, 9.5
• Assists, Holland Woods, 5.8
• Field Goal Percentage, Brandon Hollins, .591