PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (1-2) at OREGON STATE BEAVERS (3-0)

Saturday, November 19, 2022, 7 p.m. • Gill Coliseum (9,301), Corvallis, OR
Television: Pac-12 Network
Live Stream: www.pac12.com/live
Live Stats: www.ViksLive.com
Complete notes and stats in pdf

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THE OPENING TIP

Coming off an easy and expected home-opening win, the Portland State Vikings enter the most challenging part of their non-conference schedule beginning this Saturday at Oregon State. The Vikings and Beavers will meet in a 7 p.m. game at Gill Coliseum.
     
PSU routed NAIA Evergreen on Wednesday night at Viking Pavilion, 113-40. Seven players scored in double figures in a game that spoke to the Vikings' depth for the third straight contest. Although Evergreen isn't the best measuring stick for a Division I program, Head Coach Jase Coburn can take away a lot from his team's performance.
     
"We have a lot of depth and a lot of talent on this team, and guys that can do different things. We feel really confident playing anyone on our team," said Coburn after the game.
     
That proved out on Wednesday as PSU's bench scored 66 of the 113 points (the most points by a Viking team in four years). In PSU's other two games against Portland and Seattle, the bench scored 76 points compared to 86 by the starters.
     
JR G Isiah Kirby led the Vikings off the bench with 16 points (6-8 FG, 4-5) and grabbed seven rebounds. SR G Cameron Parker (15 pts, 7 ast) and JR G Jorell Saterfield (15 pts, 10 reb) also had big games. PSU shot .547 from the field, made 15 three-point field goals and out-rebounded Evergreen, 59-26.
     
Those numbers all sound good but mean little going into a contest at OSU, a 3-0 member of the Pac-12 Conference. The game opens a challenging nine days for the Vikings as they will play four straight games against powerhouse programs. After Oregon State is second-ranked Gonzaga on Thanksgiving Day at the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament. On Nov. 25, the Vikings will meet either Purdue or West Virginia, then on Nov. 27 will face one of four potential opponents: Duke, Oregon State, Florida or Xavier. PSU has never played Purdue, West Virginia or Florida, has played Duke twice (once at the PK80 Tournament) and Xavier once (in the 2009 NCAA Tournament).
     
PSU's appearance in the PK80 Tournament (2017), a forerunner to this year's Phil Knight Legacy Tournament, ended in a 1-2 record. The Vikings put up a game challenge before losing to #1 Duke on Thanksgiving that year, missed a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer to Butler, then took down Stanford, 87-78. With Gonzaga leading off as the Vikings' opponent this year, the competition will look similar.
 

COMING UP

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. on ESPN.
     
The Vikings' next home games are Nov. 30 vs. Portland Bible, then Dec. 3 against Air Force.
     
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. OREGON STATE

• ALL-TIME SERIES: Portland State has never beaten Oregon State (0-16). The Vikings are 0-12 all-time at Gill Coliseum... PSU is 0-10 against OSU since reinstating basketball and joining the Big Sky Conference in 1996-97.
• PSU vs. OREGON STATE LAST SEASON: Nov. 9 at Gill Coliseum: OSU 73, PSU 64: Portland State led by 11 points with 13:01 to play. Then OSU turned it on. The Beavers made a 12-0 run, finally grabbed the lead and pulled away in the final minutes. PSU led for 25 of the first 30 minutes in the contest. However, they made only six of their final 23 shots in the game. Oregon State countered by making 12 of their last 16... Portland State was led by 16 points from senior forward Khalid Thomas. James Jean-Marie had a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards. Marlon Ruffin added 11 points for PSU... Warith Alatishe scored 21 points with eight rebounds for the Beavers.  Jarod Lucas added 16 points... Oregon State made 5-9 three-pointers in the second half after making only 1-5 in the first half... A Maurice Calloo jumper with 9:45 remaining finally gave the Beavers the lead at 48-47, and they never gave it back... PSU was 23-60 from the field (.383) and OSU hit 26-62 (.419). The Beavers won the battle on the glass, 45-38. The Vikings finished with 17 turnovers, leading to 17 OSU points.
• CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR: Portland State may never have beaten Oregon State, but they have been painfully close many times - especially last season when the Vikings led by double digits in the second half. In the last eight meetings, dating to 1997, seven have been decided by single digits with one outlier blowout in 2011. The other seven games, starting from last season going backward, were decided by 9, 5, 6, 5, 3, 5, and 4. Oregon State won the game in 2002 on a Brian Jackson three-pointer at the buzzer from 35 feet. The Vikings led that one by nine at halftime.
• FAMILIAR SURROUNDINGS: SO F Isaiah Johnson will have to be directed to the correct locker room when he enters Gill Coliseum on Saturday. Johnson spent the last two seasons at OSU, playing in 32 games for the Beavers. He transferred to PSU over the summer.
• PORTLAND STATE vs. THE PAC-12 CONFERENCE: Portland State is 7-58 all-time against current members of the Pac-12 Conference... 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 (7-44).
• COACHES: Vikings Coach Jase Coburn (Arizona State, 2006) is in his second season as Head Coach and is 15-19 overall. Coburn is 0-1 against Oregon State. He spent eight previous seasons on the Park Blocks as an Assistant and Associate Head Coach... the Beavers are coached by Wayne Tinkle (Montana, 2005) in his ninth season. Tinkle has a 119-137 record at Oregon State and is 277-228 in 17 seasons as a collegiate coach... Tinkle is 3-0 against Portland State as an OSU coach, and was 11-6 against the Vikings in eight seasons at Montana.

 

SCOUTING OREGON STATE

• Oregon State is a member of the Pac-12 Conference located in Corvallis, OR.
• The Beavers were 3-28 last season, 1-19 and 12th in the Pac-12 Conference.
• Oregon State returns two starters, three letterwinners and has 12 newcomers on the roster.
• OSU has started the season 3-0, beating Tulsa, 73-70, Florida A&M, 60-43, and Bushnell, 83-66.
• Freshman guard Jordan Pope leads the team in scoring at 16.0 points per game. He also averages 5.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.7 steals.
• Sophomore forward Glenn Taylor Jr. is averaging 13.3 points and junior guard Dexter Akanno averages 12.3 points. Senior forward Rodrigue Andela is the top rebounder at 7.7 per game.
• The Beavers are shooting .479 from the field while holding opponents to .337 shooting through three games. OSU has blocked 21 shots in three games.

 

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 .621 from the field and averaging 17.3 points and 5.3 assists... he is tied for the lead in scoring and assists in the Big Sky Conference, and ranks second in field goal percentage and assist-to-turnover ratio (16/5).
• JR F Hunter Woods opened his PSU career with a double-double at Portland (11 pts, 14 reb, 3 ast, 3 st, 2 blk). He leads the team in rebounding at 9.3 per game and steals at 2.7... he ranks third in the Big Sky in rebounding and leads in steals.
• 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. He set a new collegiate high for rebounds against Evergreen with 10.
• JR G Isiah Kirby was an impact player in the first three games, scoring 38 points in 48 minutes. He is the team's third-leading scorer at 12.7 points per game while coming off the bench.
• SO F Isaiah Johnson is leading the team in field goal shooting at 7-9, .778.
• JR F Jacob Eyman leads the Big Sky in blocked shots (1.7).
• The Vikings shot .547 from the field and made 15 three-point field goals against Evergreen. It was the most three-pointers made in five seasons.... the 113 points scored were the most by a Viking team since Dec. 1, 2018.

 

IT'S NOT WHO STARTS...

Portland State has played all 13 players in the first three games of the season. Starters have logged 335 minutes and reserves have logged 265 minutes. Remarkably, in those minutes, the bench has outscored the starters, 142-133.

• It has been consistent over three games: UP (starters 49/bench 42), SU (37/32), TESC (47/66).
• Bench players (53-108, .491) have out-shot the starters (45-115, .391) from the field.