PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (7-8, 1-2) at EASTERN WASHINGTON EAGLES (8-5, 1-1)
Saturday, January 4, 2020, 2:05 p.m. • Reese Court (5,000), Cheney, WA
Television: None
Live Stream: Pluto TV Channel 534, pluto.tv, WatchBigSky.com
Live Stats:
www.ViksLive.com
Complete notes and stats in pdf
THE OPENING TIP
Featuring a pair of teams that want to run and shoot, Saturday's basketball game in Cheney, WA may as well be labeled a track meet. Portland State, which prefers to increase the tempo of every game it plays, will take on Eastern Washington, which ranks second in the nation in scoring.
The Vikings (7-8, 1-2) enter the contest coming off a pair of losses. In fact, PSU scored its fewest points of the season in a 72-61 defeat at Idaho on Thursday. But that was more about turnovers and poor shooting than lack of pace. Still, Portland State ranks second in the Big Sky in points at 78.1 per game.
Eastern Washington goes into the game with an 8-5 record. The Eagles are 1-1 in the Big Sky Conference after winning at Weber State, then losing at Idaho State last weekend. They are 5-0 at home this season. Most significantly, the Eagles average a Big Sky-best 87.1 points and features three of the top 12 scorers in the league.
The series between EWU and PSU has featured nothing but home-court wins for the past four seasons. The last time a team won on the others' home court was Feb. 14, 2015 when Portland State won 68-66 at Reese Court. It looked like the Vikings might break through again last season, but Kim Aiken Jr. hit a three-point field goal at the buzzer to lead Eastern Washington to (ironically) a 68-66 win.
Saturday's game will be the fourth in eight days for the Vikings, and the second against an opponent that has had an off-date prior to facing the Vikings. Eastern Washington last played on Monday. It will also be a tie-breaker game as the extremely close Big Sky Conference series between the schools is tied 24-24 entering its' 24th season.
The game will tip off at 2:05 p.m. at Eastern's Reese Court. A live stream is available on Pluto TV Channel 534, www.pluto.tv and www.WatchBigSky.com. Live statistics can be found at www.ViksLive.com.
COMING UP
Portland State will have a seven-day lay-off, then continue action on the road. PSU travels to Montana State for a Saturday, Jan. 11 game, then Montana on Monday, Jan. 13. Both games will be televised on SWX-TV in Montana. The Vikings' next home game is Jan. 18 against Idaho State.
GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. EASTERN WASHINGTON
• THE SERIES: An extremely close series over the years, PSU has the all-time advantage at 27-25. The Big Sky Conference series is tied 24-24... Eastern Washington leads 16-8 in Big Sky games played in Cheney... the home team has won seven straight games in the series, with EWU winning on a neutral site Big Sky Tournament game in 2018 in the midst of that run.
• LAST YEAR: Jan. 24, 2019 at Viking Pavilion, PSU 78, EWU 65: Portland State shot a season-high .604 from the field, including 17-25 (.680) in the second half as it broke open a close game. Five Vikings scored in double figures, including
Holland Woods, who went for 15 points and 11 assists. Jacob Davison scored 26 points, and Mason Peatling had 15 points and eight rebounds. The Vikings bench out-scored Eastern's, 24-2.
Mar. 2, 2019 at Cheney, EWU 68, PSU 66: In a tight game featuring seven ties and 13 lead changes, the final lead change came when Kim Aiken Jr. hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Eagles the win. Aiken led the Eagles with 19 points and nine rebounds.
Deante Strickland had 20 points and four assists off the bench for the Vikings.
• COACHES: Vikings Coach
Barret Peery (Southern Utah, 1996) is in his third season on the Park Blocks and has a 43-38 career record. Peery is 2-3 all-time against Eastern Washington... Peery's 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 Eagles are coached by Shantay Legans (Fresno State, 2004) in his third season. Legans, a former Eagles' assistant, is 44-38 overall. He is 3-2 against the Vikings.
EASTERN WASHINGTON EAGLES
• Eastern Washington University is located in Cheney. The Eagles' program has won two Big Sky Conference Championships and made two appearances in the NCAA Tournament. The most recent came in 2015.
• The Eagles were 16-18 last season, 12-8 and tied for third in the Big Sky Conference. Four starters and nine letterwinners return from that team. Mason Peatling was a second team All-Big Sky Conference selection last year, Jacob Davison earned third team honors.
• This season, Eastern Washington is 8-5 overall, 1-1 in the Big Sky. The Eagles average 87.1 points to rank second in the nation. They allow 75.5 points per game. Eastern also leads the Big Sky in assists (18.1) and averages 9.9 three-point field goals per game.
• Junior guard Jacob Davison averages a team-leading 16.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.
• Sophomore forward Kim Aiken Jr. averages 16.5 points and 10.8 rebounds to lead the Big Sky Conference.
• Senior forward Mason Peatling averages 15.1 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.
• Freshman guard Ellis Magnuson leads the Big Sky Conference with 5.7 assists per game.
SUSTAINABLE AND RECYCLABLE VIKING QUICK NOTES
WHO IS HOT
• SR G
Lamar Hamrick has shot 26-43 over the last six games (.605), averaging 10.3 points off the bench... he is 5-8 from three-point range in the last three games (.625)... Hamrick is shooting a team-best .548 from the field and .436 from three-point range.
• SR F
Alonzo Walker grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds at Idaho. It was his third double-digit rebounding performance of the season... Walker also has 12 blocked shots in his last eight games.
• PSU leads the Big Sky Conference and the nation in offensive rebounding (15.6 per game)... the Vikings average 14.4 second-chance points per game.
WHO IS NOT
• The Vikings have shot 49-82 from the free throw line over the last five games (.598).
• Portland State was 5-25 from three-point range at Idaho (.200).
• PSU has lost two games in a row.
HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE
The completion of the Viking Pavilion prior to the 2018-19 basketball season was transformative for the entire Portland State Athletic Program. So far, the results on the court have been better than ever. PSU is 16-6 in the Viking Pavilion (.727 winning percentage). The previous main home court, the old Peter W. Stott Center gym, produced a .721 winning percentage after reinstating basketball and joining the Big Sky Conference between 1996-97 and 2017-18. In all, PSU's four different home venues prior to the Viking Pavilion produced a .709 winning mark.
A LOOK AT LOSSES
Portland State is in the midst of its longest stretch of road games in Big Sky Conference play (4). The Vikings are 2-6 overall on the road and now 0-1 in Big Sky games after their loss at Idaho. Despite the eight losses this season, the Vikings have been in every game into the final minutes.
• The 11-point loss (72-61) was the largest deficit of the season for the Vikings, matching 11-point losses at Indiana and UC Santa Barbara.
• PSU's average loss in eight games is by 7.6 points. Conversely, the average win is by 17.5 points, 9.0 points against Division I opponents.
• PSU is one game better than last season after 15 games (6-9).
