PORTLAND BIBLE ARROWS (0-10) at PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (3-4)

Wednesday, November 30, 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

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THE OPENING TIP

After a challenging opening month of the season, the Portland State Vikings will come home for two games this week at Viking Pavilion. PSU hosts Portland Bible College on Wednesday in a 7 p.m. game, then Air Force on Saturday at 1 p.m.
     
The Vikings (3-4) come off an 83-71 win over Oregon State on Sunday night in the 7th place game of the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament. It marked the second time in eight days the Vikings had beaten the Beavers. PSU was 1-2 in the PKL, losing in the opening round to then-sixth-ranked Gonzaga, then in the second round to West Virginia.
     
Portland State will be happy to return to The Ship after playing six of their first seven away from home. Among the opponents have been three-Power 5 games (Oregon State, West Virginia, Oregon State), one nationally-ranked team (Gonzaga), and the defending WAC champion (Seattle).
     
The Vikings have won six straight home games dating to last season. PSU is also 55-2 all-time against lower division schools since joining the Big Sky Conference (1996-97).
     
Through three weeks of play the Vikings have established themselves as a team that plays with great intensity, emphasizes pressure defense and enjoys pushing the pace. PSU leads the Big Sky Conference in scoring (83.7) and turnover margin (+3.6).
     
The Vikings are led by JR G Jorell Saterfield who averages 16.3 points per game. SR G Cameron Parker is averaging 14.6 points, a Big Sky-leading 5.6 assists, and is shooting .585 from the field. JR F Hunter Woods is leading the team in rebounding at 6.6 per game while averaging 11.6 points and a Big Sky-best 2.2 steals.
     
Parker also goes into Wednesday's game with 995 points in his collegiate career (116 total games at Stony Brook, Montana and Portland State). He needs five points to reach the collegiate milestone of 1,000 in a career.
     
Portland Bible, a National Christian College Athletic Association program, comes into Wednesday night's game with an 0-10 record. Air Force is 4-3 in non-conference play and has a game at Arkansas-Pine Bluff prior to facing the Vikings.
     
Both games will air on ESPN+ and live stats are available at www.ViksLive.com
 

COMING UP

After this week's games, the Vikings will have a week off from competition. They travel to Cal Poly for a Dec. 10 game, then play at Santa Clara on Dec. 13.
     
PSU is home on Dec. 17 against UC Santa Barbara, then wraps up non-conference play at California Baptist on Dec. 22.
 

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. PORTLAND BIBLE

• ALL-TIME SERIES: Portland State leads the all-time series, 3-0. The Vikings won 125-50 in 2017, 123-40 in 2018, and 101-48 in 2019. All three games were played at PSU.
• COACHES: Vikings Coach Jase Coburn (Arizona State, 2006) is in his second season as Head Coach and is 17-21 overall. He has never faced Portland Bible as a head coach. He spent eight previous seasons on the Park Blocks as an Assistant and Associate Head Coach... the Arrows are coached by Mike Arnold. He is 0-3 against the Vikings.

 

WHO IS HOT

• FREE IS A GOOD PRICE: The Vikings are shooting .786 at the free throw line this season, easily a school-record pace. PSU shot 19-21 (.905) at Oregon State (11/19), then made 15-17 (.882) against Gonzaga (11/24)... SR G Cameron Parker made 13-13 at the line against West Virginia (11/25) - the fifth-most in school history without a miss. Parker shoots .868 at the line this season (33-38)... JR G Jorell Saterfield is shooting .917 (22-24) and leads the Big Sky Conference... six Vikings are shooting .813 or higher.
• SR G Cameron Parker averaged 15.3 points and 5.7 assists in three PKL Tournament games. He led the Vikings with 19 points against West Virginia (3-8 FG, 13-13 FT). Against Gonzaga he had 16 points (6-9 FG, 4-5 FT) and eight assists, then followed with 11 points (4-6 FG, 1-1 3-pt, 2-2 FT), six rebounds and six assists in the win over Oregon State... Parker matched his collegiate career high with 23 points (8-13 FG, 2-5 3pt, 5-7 FT) and six assists at Portland (11/11). Parker had previously scored 23 points in a game for Sacred Heart in 2019... Parker is shooting .585 from the field, .467 from three-point range and .868 at the free throw line. He averages 5.6 assists to lead the Big Sky Conference.
• SR G Mikal Starks tied his career highs of 13 points (6-12 FG, 1-1 FT), five assists and three steals in the win over Oregon State. In three PKL games, Starks averaged 10.0 points, 3.0 assists and 1.3 steals while shooting .476 from the field and .909 at the line.
• THE BENCH: Portland State has had solid bench play all season. They got a bench boost on Sunday against Oregon State from SR G Bobby Harvey (11 pts, 4-8 FG, 3-5 3-pt), JR G Keshaun Saunders (10 pts, 3-4 FG, 4-6 FT) and SO C Hayden Curtiss (6 pts, 3-6 FG, 4 reb, 1 blk). Ironically, all three players played 16 minutes each.
• BIG SKY LEADERS: Portland State leads the Big Sky Conference in several categories. Individually, JR G Jorell Saterfield leads in free throw percentage (.917), JR F Hunter Woods leads in steals (2.14), SR G Cameron Parker leads in assists (5.6) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.0). As a team, the Vikings lead in scoring (83.7), scoring margin (+5.3), assists (14.4), turnover margin (+3.6) and blocked shots (3.14).

ABOUT THOSE WINS OVER OREGON STATE

Portland State earned one of its better wins in some time with a 79-66 victory at Oregon State on Nov. 19. Prior to that game, Portland State had never beaten Oregon State.
     
Well, once was not enough. The Vikings got a rematch against the Beavers in the 7th place game of the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament on Nov. 27. And, I'll be darned, the Vikings did it again. PSU led wire-to-wire in an 83-71 victory.
     
PSU is now 2-16 all-time against Oregon State after coming painfully close to beating the Beavers many times - especially last season when the Vikings led by double digits in the second half. In the previous eight meetings, dating to 1997, seven had 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.
     
The two wins over the "Pac-12" mark the second time PSU has accomplished the feat in one season. The Vikings defeated Stanford and Cal in the 2017-18 season.
     
PSU is 9-58 all-time vs. the Pac-12 with wins over Oregon (2), Oregon State (2), Arizona State (2), USC (1), Stanford (1) and Cal (1) in its history - all coming during PSU's Big Sky Conference era (9-44).
 

PARKER SHOOTS FOR 1,000

SR G Cameron Parker has had a long and successful collegiate career. He is on the cusp of a collegiate milestone: 1,000 career points. It is likely he will reach that standard in his hometown as he goes into this week's games needing just five more points for 1,000.
 
Parker's Career Points
2022-23: 102 in 7 games (Portland State)
2021-22: 291 in 32 games (Montana)
2020-21: 234 in 28 games (Montana)
2019-20: 179 in 18 games (Sacred Heart)
2018-19: 189 in 31 games (Sacred Heart)
Total: 995 points in 116 games
 
Parker's Career Assists
2022-23: 39 in 7 games (Portland State)
2021-22: 145 in 32 games (Montana)
2020-21: 132 in 28 games (Montana)
2019-20: 141 in 18 games (Sacred Heart)
2018-19: 213 in 31 games (Sacred Heart)
Total: 670 assists in 116 games
 

IT'S NOT WHO STARTS...

Portland State's bench has been very effective this season. Starters have logged 837 minutes and reserves have logged 563 minutes. Remarkably, in those minutes, the bench has scored almost has much as the starters, 323 to 263.

• The seven-game numbers: UP (starters 49/bench 42), SU (37/32), TESC (47/66), OSU (37/42), GON (57/21), WV (42/29), OSU (54/29).
• Bench players (97-195, .498) have out-shot the starters (101-256, .395) from the field.