Portland State Vikings (1-1) at Washington State Cougars (4-0)

Sunday, December 13, 2020, 2 p.m. • Friel Court (11,671), Pullman, WA

Television: Pac-12 Network
Live Stream: www.Pac-12.com
Live Stats: www.ViksLive.com

THE OPENING TIP

Portland State will see a dramatic change in the level of competition this Sunday when the Vikings travel to take on Washington State in a game televised on the Pac-12 Network.

PSU comes off an 88-48 win on Tuesday over NAIA Northwest University. That puts the Vikings at 1-1 on the season. Meanwhile, Washington State has started well, going 4-0 with four straight home wins, including two over Big Sky schools Eastern Washington and Idaho.

The Vikings will look for some level of consistency on offense to match their level of intensity on defense when they meet up with the Cougars. Nothing less than a strong offensive performance will give them a chance for victory at the Pac-12 school. 

Portland State was limited in the amount of preseason practice it was able to undertake and that has reflected in its offense over two games. The Vikings are shooting only .404 from the field and .226 from three-point range.

Interestingly, Washington State has faced the same challenges on offense, shooting .359/.310, but still coming away with wins, including a Pac-12 Conference opening victory over Oregon State. The wins have come about due to WSU's superior size and defensive ability. The Cougars have held opponents to .360/.295 shooting and a mere 58.3 points per game. The four wins have come by a combined 14 points.

The Vikings will seek their first road win of the year in an abbreviated nonconference schedule. PSU is 0-8 all-time against the Cougars, including 0-6 on the road. 

After a sluggish offensive start on Tuesday against Northwest, the Vikings turned on the jets in the second half, scoring 52 points after intermission on .514 shooting. The result was an easy and expected  win. All of the Vikings got into the act, with all 15 getting court time and 14 players scoring. GR C Amari McCray, SR G Charles Jones and FR G Paris Dawson each scored 11 points to lead the Vikings. SR G James Scott had eight points, a game-high 12 rebounds and four assists. RS FR G Jaden Nielsen-Skinner got the start at point guard and had five points, four assists and two steals.

PSU held the Eagles to .291 from the field, out-rebounded them 60-29, and forced 18 turnovers for 28 points. Portland State also had 21 assists on 33 made baskets.

"I was really pleased with how the ball was moved and shared tonight," said Viking Coach Barret Peery afterward. "I thought we were very unselfish and guys played for each other. The guys did a good job on the glass at both ends and we got the pace going our way in the second half. That was a big difference from our first game."

The win extended Portland State's Viking Pavilion winning streak to five games, dating to last season.

Sunday's game at Washington State tips off at 2 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network. It can also be live streamed at www.pac-12.com. Live stats are available at www.ViksLive.com.

GAME 100 FOR BARRET PEERY

Head Coach Barret, now in his fourth season at Portland State, coached his 100th game on the Park Blocks Tuesday night. He is the eighth coach among 13 in PSU history to reach the 100-game milestone. Peery has a 55-45 all-time record with the Vikings, including 32-12 at home. Only Arba Ager (1948-53), Sharkey Nelson (1953-65), Ken Edwards (1972-78) and Ken Bone (2005-09) won more games in their first 100 starts. 

COMING UP

Portland State begins Big Sky Conference play against Weber State on Dec. 18 and 20 at Viking Pavilion. Tip-off on Friday night is 7:05 p.m., then 12:05 p.m. the following Sunday. PSU is unable to host fans for home games at this time. However, all home games and Big Sky Conference road games are available via live stream at www.pluto.tv, www.WatchBigSky.com and Pluto TV Channel 1051.

PSU continues league play at Eastern Washington following Christmas (Dec. 31 and Jan. 2).

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. WASHINGTON STATE 

• ALL-TIME SERIES: Washington State leads the all-time series with the Vikings, 8-0. The most recent meeting was on Dec. 6, 2015, a 91-67 Cougars' win in Pullman... WSU is 6-0 against the Vikings at home.
• PORTLAND STATE vs. THE PAC-12 CONFERENCE: Portland State is 7-55 all-time against current members of the Pac-12 Conference. Barret Peery is 2-4 as Vikings Head Coach... PSU has wins over Oregon (2), Arizona State (2), USC (1), Stanford (1) and Cal (1) in its history - all coming during PSU's Big Sky Conference era.
• COACHES: Vikings Coach Barret Peery (Southern Utah, 1996) is in his fourth season on the Park Blocks and has a 55-45 career record. Peery has never faced Washington State... 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 Cougars are coached by Kyle Smith (Hamilton College, 1982) in his second season. Smith is 20-16 at WSU and 184-138 in 11 years as a collegiate head coach. He has not faced PSU while at Washington State, but was 1-0 against PSU while coaching San Francisco. 

WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS

• Washington State is a member of the Pac-12 Conference located in Pullman, WA. The Cougars were 16-16 last season, 6-12 in the Pac-12.

• The Cougars return two starters and seven letterwinners from last season.

• Washington State has started the season 4-0 with wins over Texas Southern, Eastern Washington, Oregon State and Idaho. 
• The Cougars average 61.8 points per game and allow 58.3 points. They shoot only .359 from the field, but have held opponents to .360 shooting.
• Senior guard Isaac Bonton is averaging 17.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. However, he is shooting only .270 from the field.
• Sophomore guard Noah Williams averages 12.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.

NEW LOOK VIKINGS

Portland State had five new starters in its opening game at the University of Portland. Those five are all transfers from other Division I programs. Here is how they lined up:

• JR G Elijah Hardy, 6-2, 16 pts, 4 reb, 4 ast, 2 st
• SR G Charles Jones, 6-2, 6 pts, 3 reb
• SR G James Scott, 6-5, 21 pts, 4 reb, 3 ast
• SR F Khalid Thomas, 6-10, 13 pts, 6 reb, 2 blk
• GR C Amari McCray, 6-10, 6 pts, 2 reb

The sixth Division I transfer was SR F John Hall, 6-7, who came off the bench for 27 minutes - the second-most minutes of anyone on the team. Hall had two points, five rebounds and a blocked shot... JR G Ian Burke, 6-5, came off the bench for 23 minutes, grabbing a career-high 10 rebounds to go with three points and two assists... SO G Kyle Greeeley, 6-6, played 14 minutes, scoring six points.

In PSU's second game of the season against Northwest, RS FR G Jaden Nielsen-Skinner started at point guard in place of JR G Elijah Hardy... all 15 Vikings saw court time, with 14 of them scoring. 

EVERYBODY REBOUNDS

Portland State has excellent size on the roster in 2020-21, with three players in the rotation standing at 6-10. The Vikings, who have always been a good rebounding team under Coach Barret Peery - particularly on the offensive glass, are showing it again. They out-rebounded Portland, 42-39, and much smaller Northwest, 60-29.

PSU has 38 offensive rebounds in two games for 39 second-chance points.

A pair of guards led the Vikings in rebounding in the first two games, both by establishing career highs. JR G Ian Burke grabbed 10 off the glass at Portland. SR G James Scott had 12 against Northwest.

THE FULL MONTY

The sample size is very small, but SR G James "Monty" Scott has proven to be a solid transfer for the Vikings. He scored 21 points at Portland in his first game as a Viking. After two games, he leads the team in scoring (14.5), rebounding (8.0) and assists (3.5). Scott played at Temple last season.

TASTY VIKING TIDBITS

• Portland State's Dec. 5 season-opener at Portland was the latest start to a season for PSU since 1963-64.

• The Vikings are still putting all the pieces in place for the 2020-21 campaign. PSU got a late start to its practice schedule after an eight-month layoff due to the COVID pandemic. Portland State did not start practice until November and only recently (Nov. 25) were the Vikings given an exemption by the Oregon Health Authority to begin full-contact, five-on-five practice.