EVERGREEN GEODUCKS (0-2) at PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (0-2)

Wednesday, November 16, 2022, 7 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

The Portland State Vikings host their home opener on Wednesday night in the midst of an extremely challenging start to the 2022-23 season. The Vikings play six of their first seven games away from home and will play four games against Power 5 conference opponents.
     
The Vikings (0-2) come off a pair of road losses against two quality teams to open the season, losing at Portland, 98-91, then at defending WAC regular season champion Seattle, 83-71, last week. Wednesday's game comes against The Evergreen State College (0-2), a NAIA member of the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
     
For the second year in a row Evergreen will serve as Portland State's home-opening opponent. The Vikings trounced the NAIA Geoducks, 100-44, just over a year ago at Viking Pavilion. PSU will go into the game seeking more consistent shooting and rebounding than they had in the first two games. PSU excelled in a familiar area - defensive pressure - against Portland and Seattle. The Vikings had a +8.0 turnover margin which is attributable as much to good ball handling (only 16 turnovers committed in two games) as it is to the defense (32 turnovers forced).
     
Viking fans will see a new-look team under second-year Head Coach Jase Coburn. Ten of the 14 players on the roster are newcomers. SR G Cameron Parker, a native of Portland, had a big impact in the opening week, playing all but two of the 80 minutes contested. Parker is averaging 18.5 points and 4.5 assists to lead the team. JR G Jorell Saterfield scored 19 points at Seattle and is averaging 14.5 points and 4.5 rebounds. Off the bench, JR G Isiah Kirby (11.0 ppg) and JR F Hunter Woods (9.5 ppg, 11.0 rpg) were key players as well.
     
This week's game is one of four non-conference home contests for the Vikings. The other three come after Thanksgiving. PSU and Evergreen will tip it off at 7 p.m. Wednesday night at Viking Pavilion. The game will air on ESPN+ with live statistics at www.ViksLive.com.
 

COMING UP

The Vikings play at Oregon State on Nov. 19. That game tips off at 7 p.m. and is televised on the Pac-12 Network.
     
PSU competes in the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament on Nov. 24-27 at the Moda Center, Memorial Coliseum and Chiles Center in Portland. The Vikings will play Gonzaga on Thanksgiving Night at 9:30 p.m.
     
Portland State plays only four non-conference home games, but due to the matchup at UP and the PKL will play eight non-conference games in the city of Portland.
 

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. EVERGREEN

• ALL-TIME SERIES: Portland State leads the all-time series, 4-0, with all four games played at PSU.
• PSU vs. EVERGREEN LAST SEASON: Nov. 12 at Viking Pavilion: PSU 100, TESC 44: Portland State left no doubt in its home opener against Evergreen State, grabbing a big lead early and rolling to a 100-44 win. PSU built a 25-point halftime lead then coasted to a 56-point win... PSU dominated from the field, shooting .536; on the glass with a 57-32 advantage; and with defensive pressure, forcing 18 turnovers for 22 points... Junior guard Marlon Ruffin scored 18 points in 18 minutes to lead the Vikings. He hit 6-9 from the field and 5-6 at the line. Senior forward James Jean-Marie had 15 points on 6-9 from the field with 10 rebounds... Portland State had 26 assists on 37 field goals as junior guard Mikal Starks and senior guard Ezekiel Alley had five apiece to lead the Vikings... Evergreen State struggled mightily to score in the second half, making only 7-36 shots and missing all 13 three-point attempts. The Geoducks finished the game at 15-65 (.231) from the field.
• PORTLAND STATE vs. LOWER DIVISION SCHOOLS: Portland State is 54-2 all-time against lower division programs since joining the Big Sky Conference and Division I in 1996-97 (27th season)... Evergreen is a NAIA member of the Cascade Collegiate Conference... PSU has one other game against a lower division school, Portland Bible, on Nov. 30.
• COACHES: Vikings Coach Jase Coburn (Arizona State, 2006) is in his second season as Head Coach and is 14-19 overall. Coburn is 1-0 against Evergreen. He spent eight previous seasons on the Park Blocks as an Assistant and Associate Head Coach... the Geoducks are coached by Franklin Johnson (Evergreen) in his first season.

SCOUTING EVERGREEN

• The Evergreen State College is located in Olympia, WA and is an NAIA member of the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
• The Geoducks were 3-23 last season, 3-19 in CCC play. Two starters and six letterwinners return from that team.
• Evergreen has opened the season with losses to Pacific Lutheran (100-67) and Northwest Nazarene (110-77). The Geoducks have shot .453 as a team, but allowed their opponents to shoot .573. They were also out-rebounded by 17.0 per game.
• Junior guard Jourdan Joseph leads the team with 19.0 points per game. He has shot .571 from the field and made all 11 of his free throws. Freshman forward Lauren O'Neill is averaging 15.5 points and 3.0 rebounds.
• A Geoduck is the world's largest burrowing clam. Indiginous to the Puget Sound, a geoduck weighs in at over two pounds on average. It's pronounced "gooey-duck".

WHO IS HOT

• SR G Cameron Parker matched his collegiate career high with 23 points (8-13 FG, 2-5 3pt, 5-7 FT) and six assists at Portland. Parker had previously scored 23 points in a game for Sacred Heart in 2019... Parker is shooting .571 from the field and averaging 18.5 points after two games... after one week of play he leads the Big Sky Conference in scoring, field goal percentage and assist to turnover ratio (9/1).
• JR F Hunter Woods opened his PSU career with a double-double at Portland (11 pts, 14 reb, 3 ast, 3 st, 2 blk). After two games he leads the team in rebounding at 11.0 per game, blocks (3) and steals (4)... after one week of play, he leads the Big Sky in rebounding.
• JR G Jorell Saterfield set a new collegiate career high with 19 points (5-16 FG, 3-7 3-pt, 6-8 FT) and five rebounds at Seattle.
• JR G Isiah Kirby was an impact player in the first two games, scoring 22 points in 28 minutes. He is the team's third-leading scorer at 11.0 points per game.
• PSU has a +8.0 turnover margin after two games.

WHO IS NOT

• Portland State shot .385 from the field and .262 from three-point range in the first two games.
• The Vikings had a -8.0 rebounding margin in the first two games.

PARKER ON THE PARK BLOCKS

It took him a while, but SR G Cameron Parker finally found his way home. Parker is a Portland native who attended Jesuit High School. After graduating, he attended Tilton Prep School in New Hamphire in 2017-18. Parker then played two seasons at Sacred Heart (CT) of the Northeast Conference, then two seasons at Montana. Due to a NCAA COVID-waiver, Parker has one year of eligibility remaining. So, his sixth season after Jesuit, will be on the Park Blocks.

• Entered the 2022-23 season with 895 points and 631 assists in 109 games. Holds the NCAA record for assists in a game (24 while with Sacred Heart in a win over Pine Manor, 12/1/19).
• Now has 932 career points and 640 career assists.
• Parker leads the Vikings in scoring (19.5) and assists (4.5). He is shooting .571 from the field, .500 from three-point range and .714 at the line.
• Had a career-high 23 points (8-13 FG, 2-5 3-pt, 5-7 FT) and six assists at Portland.

AN OUTDOOR NAME... BUT EXCELLING INDOORS

JR F Hunter Woods came to Portland State from Elon with a decidedly outdoors-sounding name. The Vikings are most happy with his work indoors though. Coming off the bench, Woods is averaging 9.5 points, 11.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.5 blocked shots. 

• Woods had a big game at Portland (11/11) with 11 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocked shots.

PORTLAND STATE BASKETBALL SCHEDULE NOTES

• Portland State plays five of its first seven league games on the road. Eight of 12 games in the middle of the schedule will be at home, including a four-game home stand from Jan. 26-Feb. 4.
• All games played in the Phil Knight Legacy 2022 Tournament will take place at The Rose Quarter's Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and the Chiles Center at the University of Portland. The The Vikings open with Gonzaga on Thanksgiving night, then will play on Friday and Sunday. Other possible opponents include Purdue, West Virginia, Duke, Oregon State, Florida and Xavier… The Phil Knight Invitational (PKI) will be running simultaneous to the Phil Knight Legacy 2022 at the same venues. That tournament includes Alabama, Iowa State, Michigan State, North Carolina, Oregon, Portland, UConn and Villanova.
• PSU faces three West Coast Conference opponents, two Western Athletic Conference opponents, two Big West opponents, one Pac-12 opponent and one Mountain West opponent, with two others to be determined in the non-conference schedule.
• The Big Sky Conference schedule is changed from previous seasons. Now a 10-team league, the schedule has moved to an 18-game double-round robin format. It had previously been 20 games, but Southern Utah has left the Big Sky to join the Western Athletic Conference.
• The Big Sky Tourney runs Mar. 4-8 at Boise's Idaho Central Arena. It will also have a change in format with first-round games (9 vs. 10 and 7 vs. 8) on Mar. 4. Games on Mar. 5 will include the top seed vs. the 9/10 winner and the number two seed vs. the 7/8 winner. On Mar. 6, games will feature 4 vs. 5 and 3 vs. 6. Winners of Mar. 5 and 6 games will meet in the semifinals on Mar. 7. The championship game takes place on Mar. 8.
• All home games and Big Sky road games are live streamed on ESPN+. The Phil Knight Legacy Tournament will air on ESPN Networks.