LINFIELD WILDCATS (0-0) at
PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (2-0)

Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023, 2 p.m. • Viking Pavilion (3,094), Portland, OR
Live Stream: ESPN+
Live Stats: www.ViksLive.com

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OPENING TIP

The Portland State Vikings are riding high going into their home opener this Sunday after picking off two road games to open the 2023-24 campaign.
     
The Vikings took down defending Big West Conference Champion UC Santa Barbara, 82-76, on the road Thursday night elevating their record to 2-0 in the young season. It marks the first time the Vikings have started 2-0 since 2017-18 when they opened 4-0.
     
PSU will take that momentum into the Sunday home game with Linfield. The Vikings and Wildcats meet in a 2 p.m. matinee at Viking Pavilion. This will be Portland State's sixth season in the (no longer new) Viking Pavilion at the Peter W. Stott Center. The game can be seen on ESPN+ with live statistics at www.ViksLive.com.
     
Linfield, an NCAA III program, opens its season on Friday night at Bushnell University before taking on the Vikings.
     
PSU has gotten off to a strong start with excellent team play. Contributions have come from all around as evidenced by the five Vikings scoring in double figures at UCSB. PSU also received 37 points off the bench, made 12 steals and forced 18 Gaucho turnovers. That led to 19 points off turnovers and 22 points on the fast break.
     
After two games, SR G Jorell Saterfield leads a balanced Viking attack with 12.0 points per game. JR F Isaiah Johnson is averaging 9.5 points and 10.5 rebounds. Six players average 8.0 points or more and nine are averaging double-digit minutes played.
     
Sunday's game will mark a midpoint to an opening stretch of games. The Vikings are playing six games in 14 days to start the season. Later next week, they travel to Southern California to play in The Lancer Joust Tournament where they will take on California Baptist, Cal Poly and St. Thomas.
     
Notably, only one of the first six games are at home. But so far, that hasn't mattered to the Vikings.
 

COMING UP

After the opening stretch of six games, PSU will get a week's rest. The Vikings follow with six more non-conference games - three at home - leading into the Christmas holiday. In all, Portland State plays 13 non-conference games (one comes in January), with four at home, seven on the road and two neutral site contests.
 

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. LINFIELD

• ALL-TIME SERIES: Portland State leads the all-time series with Linfield 14-11... the two programs met 20 times between 1962-1971 with Linfield winning 11 of those games... PSU is 5-0 against the Wildcats since reinstating basketball and joining Division I in 1996-97... the most recent meeting was Dec. 16, 2017, a 116-71 Viking victory.
• PORTLAND STATE vs. LOWER DIVISION SCHOOLS: The Vikings are 56-2 against lower division schools in the previous 27 seasons as a member of the Big Sky Conference and Division I (1996-2023). Head Coach Jase Coburn is 4-0 against lower division schools.
• COACHES: Vikings Coach Jase Coburn (Arizona State, 2006) is in his third season as Head Coach and has a 28-36 record overall. He has never faced Linfield. Coburn spent eight previous seasons on the Park Blocks as an Assistant and Associate Head Coach... the Wildcats are coached by Levi Sieg in his first season at Linfield.

 

SCOUTING LINFIELD

• Linfield is an NCAA III member of the Northwest Conference located in McMinnville, OR. The program was 10-15 last season, 7-9 and tied for fifth in the NWC.
• Levi Sieg was named the new head coach in the off-season. The Wildcats return eight letterwinners from last season.
• Linfield lost an exhibition game at Oregon State, 82-46, earlier this week. They open the season on Friday night at Bushnell.

 

WHO IS HOT

• THE BENCH BUNCH: Portland State averaged 27.9 points per game off the bench last season to rank 12th in the nation. Nothing has changed so far this season as PSU got 24 points and 37 points, respectively, in the first two games of the season... the bench was 15-28 from the field (.536) and 4-4 at the line in the win at UCSB... despite not starting a game, JR F Isaiah Johnson leads the way with 9.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in 24.1 minutes per game off the bench.
• IN A HURRY: Portland State has 30 fast break points in two games... last year, PSU averaged 15.1 points on the break to rank 11th in the nation.
• KJ's FTs: SR F KJ Allen knows how to get to the free throw line. And he knows how to make free throws. Allen is 13-15 at the charity stripe through two games (.867).
• BOARDS, NOT BORING: JR F Isaiah Johnson grabbed a team and career-high 13 rebounds at Air Force. He came back to grab a team-high eight boards against UC Santa Barbara.

 

VIKING MAINSTAY

SR G Jorell Saterfield started his 33rd consecutive game as a Viking at UCSB. He is the Vikings' top returning scorer at 13.1 points per game last year and was named to the preseason All-Big Sky Conference team this fall.

• Saterfield has led the Vikings in scoring in each of the first two games and averages 12.0 points.
• Saterfield has made 68 three-pointers in 33 games as a Viking (68-200, .340).

 

BOBBY 3-BALL

SR G Bobby Harvey has kept his three-point shooting consistent over his one-plus seasons at Portland State. Harvey has made four threes in the first two games. That makes 29 consecutive games he has made a three-pointer. He is six games shy of the PSU record of 35 straight games with a three, held by Brian Towne (1997-98).

• Harvey has made 61 three-pointers in 32 games as a Viking (61-159, .384).

 

IT'S NOT WHO STARTS...

JR F Isaiah Johnson did not start in the first two games, and in fact has only started four of his 33 games as a Viking. But he has proven to be one of the most valuable players on the team.

• Johnson is averaging 9.5 points, 10.5 rebounds in 24 minutes per game off the bench.
• Last year Johnson averaged 7.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, had 28 steals and 23 blocked shots while coming off the bench.

 

READY WHEN YOUR NUMBER IS CALLED

Continuing the trend of last season, Head Coach Jase Coburn went deep into his bench in the first two games. The Vikings have 178 bench minutes out of 400 total minutes, getting 61 points and 35 rebounds from the backups.

• The bench is shooting better than the starters. PSU shoots 24-47 (.511) off the bench and 24-68 (.353) from the starters.
• Last season, PSU's bench logged 36% of the total minutes and 37% of the points. The Vikings ranked 12th in the nation in bench scoring at 27.9 points per game. Bench players (330-698, .473) out-shot the starters (505-1,167, .433) from the field and had 52 of the team's 105 blocked shots (49%).

 

SEASON HIGHLIGHT REEL

Saterfield Gets Preseason Honors: SR G Jorell Saterfield was picked to the six-man Preseason All-Big Sky Conference team. Saterfield averaged 13.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and made 65 three-point field goals last season.
Nov. 6, PSU 62, Air Force 55: The Vikings opened the season with a seven-point win on the road, beating Air Force for the second straight season. The Vikings out-rebounded the Falcons, 41-34, including 14 on the offensive glass for 16 second-chance points. SR G Jorell Saterfield had 10 points and seven rebounds. JR F Isaiah Johnson grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds.
Nov. 9, PSU 82, UC Santa Barbara 76: Portland State knocked off defending Big West Conference Champion and preseason favorite UC Santa Barbara. After a close first half, the Vikings led for virtually the entire second half. Five players scored in double figures as PSU got 48 points in the paint and 22 on the fast break. The Vikings made 12 steals, forcing 18 turnovers.