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Portland State Vikings (0-1) vs. Northwest Eagles (0-0)

Tuesday, December 8, 2020, 7:05 p.m. 
Viking Pavilion (3,094), Portland, OR
Live Stream: Pluto TV Channel 1051, Pluto TV (www.pluto.tv), Watch Big Sky (www.WatchBigSky.com)
Play-by-play: Matt Richert • Analyst: Devon Pouncey
Live Stats: StatBroadcast Live Feed (www.ViksLive.com)

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THE OPENING TIP

Portland State will open its home schedule on Tuesday night when it hosts Northwest University in a 7:05 p.m. game at Viking Pavilion. The Vikings will try to bounce back from a season-opening loss to the University of Portland last Saturday.

PSU's game with Northwest is the only scheduled non-conference at home this season. Northwest is an NAIA member of the Cascade Collegiate Conference. The Eagles have played three Division I opponents already - all losses - though all count as exhibitions on the Northwest schedule. 

The Vikings are still trying to put 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. And only recently (Nov. 25) were the Vikings given an exemption by the Oregon Health Authority to begin full-contact, five-on-five practice. 

So, the limited practice time revealed itself at Portland last Saturday. The Vikings played the Pilots close throughout, and actually led with 5:34 to play. However, they finished the night shooting only .381 from the field, committed 20 turnovers, and gave up a 20-5 run to Portland to close out the game. UP won the contest, 86-73.

Still, the Vikings showed great promise with the new talent that Coach Barret Peery has brought to the program. PSU had five first-time starters, all of whom are transfers from other Division I schools. SR G James Scott opened his Viking career with 21 points, four rebounds and three assists. JR G Elijah Hardy took over the point guard role, scoring 16 points with four assists. And GR F Khalid Thomas tallied 13 points, six rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. In all, seven of the 11 players who saw court time were newcomers to the program.

"I like our talent," said Peery after the game. "Tonight doesn't change anything as far as who we are and what we are going to become."

Tuesday's game with Northwest can be a step in that direction for the Vikings. It is one of three currently scheduled non-conference games in this COVID-shortened season. PSU may add another non-conference later this month. 

Tip-off on Tuesday night is 7:05 p.m. 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.

GAME 100 FOR BARRET PEERY

Head Coach Barret, now in his fourth season at Portland State, will be coaching 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 54-45 all-time record with the Vikings, including 31-12 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

The Vikings travel to Washington State for a Sunday, Dec. 13 game that will be televised on the Pac-12 Network. The game tips off at 2 p.m. 

Portland State begins Big Sky Conference play against Weber State on Dec. 18 and 20 at Viking Pavilion. PSU continues league play at Eastern Washington following Christmas (Dec. 31 and Jan. 2).

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. NORTHWEST 

• ALL-TIME SERIES: Portland State leads the all-time series with Northwest, 1-0... the lone game was a 75-50 Viking win on Dec. 2, 1997.
• PORTLAND STATE vs. LOWER DIVISION SCHOOLS: Portland State has won 37 straight games against lower division schools dating back to 2002.... the Vikings are 49-1 against lower division schools in 25 seasons as a member of the Big Sky Conference and Division I (1996-2021)... Head Coach Barret Peery is 8-0 as a Viking Coach against lower division schools.
• COACHES: Vikings Coach Barret Peery (Southern Utah, 1996) is in his fourth season on the Park Blocks and has a 54-45 career record. Peery has never faced Northwest... 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 Jeff Drinkwine (Eastern Oregon) in his fourth season at Northwest after previously being an assistant coach. His record is 46-47. 

NORTHWEST EAGLES

• Northwest University is located in Kirkland, WA. The Eagles are NAIA members of the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
• Last year, Northwest was 18-12 overall, 13-7 in the CCC. The Eagles return two starters and 10 letterwinners from that team.
• Northwest has played three exhibition games against Division I schools. They have lost to California (86-61), Oregon State (114-42) and Portland (74-69). In those games, sophomore guard Pa'Treon Lee led the Eagles with 11.0 points per game and 4.3 assists 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 Eliah 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
• GR 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.

TASTY VIKING TIDBITS

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