NORTHERN COLORADO BEARS (10-9, 5-2) at PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (5-13, 3-7)

Monday, January 31, 2022, 7:30 p.m. • Viking Pavilion (3,094), Portland, OR
Live Stream: ESPN+ • Play-by-Play: Matt Richert • Analyst: Devon Pouncey
Live Stats: www.ViksLive.com
Complete Notes and Stats in pdf

---

THE OPENING TIP

Portland State will ride the high of its best performance of the season into a Monday night contest with Northern Colorado. The Vikings beat Northern Arizona, 97-76, on the road on Saturday, then flew home Sunday to prepare for its eighth game in 16 days. PSU and UNC meet at Viking Pavilion in a 7:30 p.m. contest that is the part of a doubleheader with the Viking women's team. As Monday's game is a makeup of an earlier postponement, the Vikings and Bears will meet again on Thursday in Greeley, CO.
     
The Vikings (5-13, 3-7) broke out of a five-game losing streak in a big way at NAU, posting season-highs with 14 three-point field goals and 23 assists in a shooting clinic. PSU shot .561 from the field overall as it set season-highs for points and shooting percentage against a Division I team.
     
The Vikings have not had a full roster due to injury for any of their 18 games this season. However,  Head Coach Jase Coburn, who has had to start seven different lineups in the last 11 games, at least was able to start the same five in back-to-back contests for the first time in five games. That group found a rhythm.
     
Veteran players led the way for Portland State. SR F Khalid Thomas tied his career-high with 25 points, adding eight rebounds and two steals. JR G Ian Burke had season-highs of 21 points and five assists. And SO F Trey Wood came off the bench for a perfect 4-4 shooting performance and career-high 10 points. That trio, which are top three in career games played on the Viking roster, were a remarkable 22-30 combined from the field (.733), 8-13 from three-point range (.615), and 4-4 at the free throw line.
     
The win was much needed as Portland State had found itself on the short end of a series of close games, including an 85-82 overtime loss to Southern Utah on Thursday night. With the proverbial monkey off their backs, the Vikings will now try to stop a home losing skid that has reached seven games.
     
Northern Colorado (10-9, 5-2) did not play Idaho State on Saturday as the game was postponed due to COVID protocols in the Idaho State program. The Bears enter Monday's contest with a 4-6 road record, including 3-0 in Big Sky road games.
     
UNC features the Big Sky's top scorer, Daylen Kountz (19.7). The Bears are also the league's best three-point shooting team with 10.5 made per game and a .378 team percentage.
     
Monday's game streams live on ESPN+ at 7:30 p.m. It follows the PSU women's game at 5 p.m. Live stats can be found at www.ViksLive.com.
 

COMING UP

The Vikings go to Northern Colorado for a Thursday night game. That one tips at 5 p.m. PT. Then the Vikings are back to play Sacramento State at Viking Pavilion on Saturday at 7 p.m. Both games are live streamed on ESPN+.
 

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. NORTHERN COLORADO

• THE SERIES: Portland State leads the all-time series, 21-12, and the Big Sky Conference series, 17-12... the teams split the season series last year with both games played at Northern Colorado... PSU has won three of the last four meetings... prior to that, UNC won five straight in the series between 2016 and 2019... the Vikings are 8-5 against the Bears in Big Sky games played at Viking Pavilion.
• LAST SEASON: Feb. 25, 2021, at Greeley, CO: UNC 66, PSU 64: Matt Johnson hit a pull-up 15-foot jump shot from the wing with 3.4 seconds remaining to lift Northern Colorado to the win. Johnson's jumper ended a frenetic final few minutes between the teams. It also wiped away a brilliant performance and big shot that tied the game by Viking junior guard Ian Burke in the late-going... PSU was down 60-49 with 5:31 to play but made a run at the Bears in the final moments. It started with a three-pointer by Burke, then a pair of free throws by both senior guard James Scott and senior forward John Hall. When freshman guard Paris Dawson hit a three at the 3:31 mark, the Vikings trailed just 60-59. It was a battle from there. Daylen Kountz scored on a drive with 2:09 to play and UNC was up 64-61. The teams combined for four empty possessions after that. The Vikings had the ball inside the final 30 seconds. Scott tried for a tying three-pointer but missed. Senior forward Khalid Thomas was able to corral the rebound and sling a pass across court to Burke. The junior guard buried a corner three-pointer with 14 seconds to play and tied the game at 64-64... Burke had a season-high 17 points. He hit 4-4 from the field, all of which were three-pointers and made 5-5 at the line while grabbing five rebounds... Kountz led the Bears with 19 points, hitting 7-11 from the field. Big man Kur Jockuch had 11 points and 15 rebounds. Feb. 27, 2021, at Greeley, CO: PSU 73, UNC 65: PSU played a near flawless second half to defeat the Northern Colorado Bears, 73-65. The win avenged a two-point loss at the same venue on a last-second shot by the Bears... James "Monty" Scott led PSU's offensive attack with 19 points, hitting 6-9 shots from the field, and handing off six assists. Khalid Thomas added 14 points on 5-9 shooting, and grabbed six rebounds... As a team, the Vikings shot 26-51 from the field (.510), including 12-22 in the second half (.545)... The Viking defense showed up as usual, holding the Bears to only 22-63 from the field (.349), including 10-35 in the second half (.286), despite the Bears making four three-pointers in the final two minutes.
• COACHES: Vikings Coach Jase Coburn (Arizona State, 2006) is in his first season as Head Coach. He has spent eight previous seasons on the Park Blocks as an Assistant and Associate Head Coach... the Bears are coached by Steve Smiley (Northern State, 2004) in his second season. Smiley is 21-20 overall, 1-1 against the Vikings.

 

NORTHERN COLORADO BEARS

• Northern Colorado is located in Greeley. UNC joined the Big Sky Conference in 2006-07. The Bears program has won one Big Sky Conference title and made one appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
• The Bears were 11-11 last season, 6-8 and seventh place in the Big Sky Conference.
• This season the Bears are 10-9 overall, 5-2 in Big Sky Conference play. They average 76.6 points per game and allow 75.9 points. UNC leads the Big Sky with 10.5 three-point field goals made per game on a league-best .378 shooting percentage.
• Senior guard Daylen Kountz leads the Big Sky Conference with 19.7 points per game. He shoots .508 from the field, .441 from three-point range and .835 at the line.
• Senior guard Matt Johnson averages 12.1 points and 3.8 assists per game.
• Senior forward Bodie Hume averages 11.8 points and 5.3 rebounds.
• Senior Dru Kuxhausen averages 11.0 points and has made 59 three-point field goals to rank second in the Big Sky.

 

WHO IS HOT

• SR F Khalid Thomas tied his career scoring high with 25 points (10-15 FG, 3-6 3-pt, 2-2), eight rebounds and two steals in the win at Northern Arizona... he has averaged 14.3 points in the last eight games.
• JR G Ian Burke scored a season-high 21 points (8-11 FG, 3-5 3-pt, 2-2 FT) with a season-high five assists and two steals at Northern Arizona. In two games back since missing three with illness, Burke is averaging 16.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals. He has made 12-18 field goals (.667) and 6-10 three-pointers (.600)... Burke is shooting .522 from the field this season and .444 from three-point range.
• SO F Trey Wood posted a career-high 10 points (4-4 FG, 2-2 3-pt) with two rebounds, a steal and a block in a clutch 13 minutes off the bench at Northern Arizona... Wood is shooting .545 from the field this season.
• FR G Paris Dawson has picked up his production in the last four games, averaging 11.0 points and 3.7 rebounds. He has made 16-29 from the field (.552) and 7-15 from three-point range (.467)... Dawson is 33-39 at the free throw line this season (.846) to rank fifth in the Big Sky Conference.
• SR G Ezekiel Alley is shooting 29-54 from the field (.537) in the last seven games.
• JR G Damion Squire is 18-19 at the free throw line (.947) in seven games played this season.
• Portland State continues to lead the Big Sky Conference in steals with 9.1 per game and blocked shots with 3.6 per game.

 

TRAVEL WEARY

Not only is Portland State in the midst of a 10-game-in-22-day stretch, this current week involves some crazy travel. The Vikings played at home on Thursday night against Southern Utah, then flew to Northern Arizona for a Saturday afternoon game (approx. 2,500 mile round trip, including a four-hour round trip drive to Flagstaff from Phoenix). After playing Northern Colorado at home on Monday, the Vikings fly to Northern Colorado for a Thursday game, then fly home for a Saturday game with Sacramento State (approx. another 2,500 miles round trip, including a two-hour round trip drive to Greeley from Denver). Next week, PSU goes on the road again for the Montana/Montana State trip.
 

BATTERED AND BRUISED

Portland State has had a rough go of it health-wise this season. While the Vikings have been impacted by COVID-19 like virtually every other program in the country, they have also had a variety of injuries preventing them from fielding a full squad virtually every game this year. Hips, knees, fingers and non-COVID illnesses have all played a role in player availability.

• Just nine of 14 players were available to face Idaho last Monday. PSU has had 11 players in the past two games.
• Only two players, SR F Khalid Thomas and SR G Ezekiel Alley, have been healthy enough to play in every game this season.
• The Vikings have started 11 different players this season.
• Head Coach Jase Coburn has had to start seven different lineups in the last 11 games. He has been able to start the same lineup the past two games, which includes four guards and one forward: Starks, Squire, Carter III, Burke and Thomas.

GRAND LARCENY

Remarkably, Portland State has led the Big Sky Conference in team steals per game for the past seven seasons. The same is true this year under first-year Head Coach Jase Coburn, as the Vikings are currently averaging 9.1 steals per game. Thievery on the basketball was also prevalent during the Barret Peery and Tyler Geving coaching eras. In addition, PSU has had two individual steals leaders. A look:
 
Season, steals per game
2015-16: 8.5
2016-17: 9.9, individual: Calaen Robinson, 2.35
2017-18: 9.8
2018-19: 8.3
2019-20: 8.7, individual: Holland Woods, 2.06
2020-21: 8.2
2021-22: 9.1 (currently)