PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (6-13, 4-7) at NORTHERN COLORADO BEARS (10-10, 5-3)

Thursday, February 3, 2022, 5 p.m. PT • Bank of Colorado Arena (2,955), Greeley, CO
Live Stream: ESPN+
Live Stats: https://uncbears.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Complete notes and stats in pdf

THE OPENING TIP

Small ball is working for the Vikings.
     
Portland State (6-13, 4-7) started its small lineup for a third straight game on Monday night and came away with a 79-76 win over Northern Colorado at Viking Pavilion in a makeup of a Jan. 10 scheduled contest. Now PSU must travel to UNC for a rare back-to-back contest with the Bears on Thursday. The teams meet at 5 p.m. at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley.
     
Since going to a four-guard, one-forward lineup three games ago, Head Coach Jase Coburn has to like what he sees. The Vikings are 2-1, with the loss being an overtime contest with Southern Utah in which PSU led by four points in the final minute. The small lineup has come about due to a variety of injuries and illness, but the results are undeniable. PSU has shot .481 from the field after spending much of the season shooting sub-40%. Moreover, PSU has made 25-52 three-pointers (also .481) in the wins over Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado.
     
Perhaps best of all, a number of  players have gotten hot at the same time. During the three-game stretch SR F Khalid Thomas (15.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 2.0 spg), SR G Ezekiel Alley (14.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 2.7 apg, .531 FG%), JR G Ian Burke (14.3 ppg, 3.0 apg, .640 FG%, .692 3-pt FG%) and JR G Damion Squire (10.0 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.7 apg) have all produced big numbers.
     
Portland State's win on Monday moved the Vikings up from eighth place to seventh in the Big Sky standings. PSU is one game behind sixth-place Eastern Washington as teams begin the February battle for the best possible seeding in the Big Sky Conference Tournament in March.
     
Thursday's game will no doubt be a war with the Bears, who have to be smarting from Monday's loss. PSU will need to come up with an answer for guard Daylen Kountz, who had 30 points and four assists for Northern Colorado. Kountz is the Big Sky's leading scorer at 20.2 points per game.
     
Northern Colorado (10-10, 5-3) is a potent offensive squad that leads the Big Sky in three-point shooting (10.5 per game, .377 3-pt FG%).
     
Northern Colorado is 5-2 at home this season. The Vikings are 3-6 on the road with all three wins coming in conference games (3-2).
 
Thursday's game streams live on ESPN+ at 5 p.m PT.
 

COMING UP

The Vikings are back to play Sacramento State at Viking Pavilion on Saturday at 7 p.m. PSU beat the Hornets, 67-62, on Jan. 15 in Sacramento. Next week Portland State will travel to Montana State (Feb. 10) and Montana (Feb.12). All games are live streamed on ESPN+.
 

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. NORTHERN COLORADO

• THE SERIES: Portland State leads the all-time series, 22-12, and the Big Sky Conference series, 18-12... the teams split the season series last year with both games played at Northern Colorado... PSU has won four of the last five meetings... the Vikings are 8-7 against the Bears in Big Sky games played in Greeley.
• THIS SEASON: Jan. 31, 2022, at Viking Pavilion: PSU 79, UNC 76: Portland State played its best half of the season at Viking Pavilion in the opening 20 minutes then the Vikings had to hang on for dear life over the final 20 minutes to pull out the win... Ezekiel Alley led the way with a season-high 22 points as well as the biggest defensive play of the game. The senior guard was effective on offense all night, hitting 7-13 shots, 3-7 from three-point range and 5-5 at the line. But his most important play was the charge he drew from the Big Sky Conference's top scorer Daylen Kountz when PSU was clinging to a 78-76 lead with 6.1 seconds left... The Vikings got the ball back after Alley's play. Damion Squire drew a foul on the ensuing in-bound and made one of two free throws at the other end. With five seconds remaining the Bears raced up court but a last-ditch three-point attempt by Matt Johnson was wide... In the first half, Portland State picked up where it left off in its' last win at Northern Arizona (97-76 on Saturday). The Vikings were on fire from the field, and in particular at the three-point line. PSU shot 19-37 in the half (.514) and made 9-16 threes (.563)... Northern Colorado did not have an answer, shooting .417 with 11 turnovers. Only Daylen Kountz, with his flurry of runs at the rim, gave the Bears any life. He had 16 points by halftime, but the Vikings led 51-30... Northern Colorado came out of halftime on a heater. The Bears scored 11 points in the opening two minutes, forcing a PSU timeout. Later in the half, Johnson scored eight points in a 9-0 UNC run, including back-to-back three pointers that trimmed the PSU advantage to only 65-63... Kountz was finally able to tie the game at 67 on a pair of free throws with 5:19 to play... But the Vikings were resilient. Khalid Thomas came back with an emphatic driving dunk. Then Ian Burke, a hero in the Northern Arizona game, hit a clutch three-pointer from the corner and PSU led 72-68. The teams traded scores the rest of the way... The Vikings led 78-73 when the Bears' Dru Kuxhausen was fouled shooting a three-pointer. He made all three shots to close it to 78-76 with 42 seconds left. After a Viking miss with 12 seconds to play, Kountz raced up the court and drove baseline trying to tie the contest. But Alley was already there. He drew the charge and the Vikings were able to hang on for the win... Despite being outscored 46-28 in the second half, Portland State still came out on top... Squire had 19 points for the Vikings, adding five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Marlon Ruffin came off the bench to score a dozen points for the Vikings... Kountz hit 11-17 from the field on a myriad of drives to the basket, and hit 8-9 at the line for 30 points. Johnson scored 17 for UNC... PSU never trailed in the game and it was only tied once at 67-67.
• 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 21-21 overall, 1-2 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 10-10 overall, 5-3 in Big Sky Conference play. They average 76.6 points per game and allow 76.1 points. UNC leads the Big Sky with 10.5 three-point field goals made per game on a league-best .377 shooting percentage.
• Senior guard Daylen Kountz leads the Big Sky Conference with 20.2 points per game. He shoots .517 from the field, .423 from three-point range and .841 at the line.
• Senior guard Matt Johnson averages 12.4 points and 3.7 assists per game.
• Senior forward Bodie Hume averages 11.5 points and 5.4 rebounds.
• Senior Dru Kuxhausen averages 11.2 points and has made 63 three-point field goals to rank second in the Big Sky.

WHO IS HOT

• SR G Ezekiel Alley scored a season-high 22 points (7-13 FG, 3-7 3-pt, 5-5 FT) with six rebounds and two assists in the win over Northern Colorado. He is shooting 36-67 from the field (.537) in the last eight games... Alley is averaging 14.7 points in the last three games.
• JR G Damion Squire scored a season-high 19 points with five rebounds, three assists and two steals in the win over Northern Colorado.... he is 21-23 at the free throw line (.913) this season but has not played enough games to qualify for league leadership.
• 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. He had 11 points (4-7 FG, 3-3 3-pt) in the win over Northern Colorado. In three games back since missing three with illness, Burke is averaging 14.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.7 steals. He has made 16-25 field goals (.640) and 9-13 three-pointers (.692)... Burke is shooting .527 from the field this season and .487 from three-point range… Burke has not had a turnover in the last four games while averaging 35 minutes per game, and has only six all season.
• 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 13.1 points in the last nine games.
• FR G Paris Dawson is 35-41 at the free throw line this season (.854) to rank third in the Big Sky Conference... in the last five games, he has made 16-29 from the field (.552) and 7-15 from three-point range (.467).
• Portland State continues to lead the Big Sky Conference in steals with 8.8 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 last 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 flew 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 week. PSU has had 11 players in the past three 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 12 games. He has been able to start the same lineup the past three 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 8.8 steals per game. Thievery on the basketball court 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: 8.8 (currently)