Game Presented by Les Schwab Tires

PORTLAND PILOTS (3-2) at PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (5-1)

Tuesday, November 28, 2023, 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

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LISTEN: THE VIKING PODCAST WITH COACH JASE COBURN

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OPENING TIP

Portland State returns home to one of its biggest games of the season on Tuesday, Nov. 28 when the Vikings host crosstown rival University of Portland.
     
PSU has played well in the non-conference schedule, winning its first five games, and currently stands at 5-1. The 5-0 start was the best undefeated start in Portland State's Big Sky era. PSU had four 4-0 starts in the previous 27 seasons. Currently, the Vikings are ranked 22nd in The Field of 68 Media Network's mid-major poll.
     
The Vikings have wins against teams from the Mountain West, Big West and Western Athletic Conferences. They would like to add West Coast Conference to that list when they play the Pilots.
     
A balanced offense and tenacious defense have been Portland State's trademarks so far. PSU is giving up just 63.3 points per game. Meanwhile, six players average between 12.3 and 7.3 points per game. SR F KJ Allen was recently named to the All-Tournament team of the Lancer Joust Tournament where the Vikings went 2-1, beating California Baptist and Cal Poly, and losing to St. Thomas. Allen averaged 12.3 points and 8.3 rebounds in the three games. He leads the team at 12.3 points with 5.8 rebounds per game on the season. SR G Jorell Saterfield (10.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.3 spg) and JR F Isaiah Johnson (10.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg) have also played big roles in the early season. Meanwhile, SO G Ismail Habib (8.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.2 apg) has the highlight of the season thus far with his half-court, game-winner at the buzzer to beat California Baptist, 66-63, on Nov. 17.
     
Portland currently has a 3-2 record with a game against Willamette University to come on Saturday. The Pilots have played a more up-tempo game than the Vikings so far this year, averaging 78.2 points per contest while allowing 78.6.
     
The Vikings will try to end a string of four straight losses to the Pilots. PSU's last win in the series was an 87-78 decision on Dec. 5, 2018 in the first season of the new Viking Pavilion.
     
Tuesday's game, presented by Les Schwab Tire Centers, will be live streamed on ESPN+ and tips off at 7 p.m. Live statistics are available at www.ViksLive.com.
 

SECOND ANNUAL TEDDY BEAR TOSS HIGHLIGHTS HALFTIME

Portland State Athletics will once again host a Teddy Bear Toss at halftime of the game against the University of Portland as part of the Fox 12 Les Schwab Tire Centers Toy Drive.
     
Viking fans are encouraged to bring a teddy bear or stuffed animal to the game and participate in the halftime toss. All of the stuffed animals will be donated to Fox 12 Les Schwab Tire Centers Toy Drive.
     
This marks the second year in a row that Portland State has had a halftime Teddy Bear Toss. Last year's toss provided more than 500 teddy bears to the Toy Drive.
     
"Last year's Toy Drive helped 137 Non-profits and charities by supplying 35,000 toys, plus 130 bicycles and nearly 14,000 stuffed animals to local children throughout the greater Portland metropolitan area," said Jason Gale of Les Schwab. "As an important principle of our founder, we at Les Schwab find it extremely important to give back to the communities we are part of."
     
Portland State Athletics will be giving away 150 Nike/Portland State basketball jerseys to PSU students at the game. In addition, fans that bring a stuffed animal for the Teddy Bear Toss will receive a voucher for a $6 ticket to a future game.
 

COMING UP

After the game with Portland, the Vikings have six more non-conference games, two at home and four on the road. The Vikings will travel to Washington State for a Saturday, Dec. 2 game televised on the Pac-12 Network at 2 p.m. PSU's next home game is Dec. 6 against Lewis and Clark College.
 

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. PORTLAND

• ALL-TIME SERIES: Portland leads the all-time series, 41-20. The Pilots lead the series 16-10 since Portland State resumed its program in 1996-97 and joined the Big Sky Conference (PSU did not have basketball from 1981-96)... PSU is 6-7 in home games against the Pilots and 4-9 in games played at the Chiles Center since '96-'97.
• LAST SEASON: Nov. 11 at Chiles Center: UP 98, PSU 91: PSU led 83-81 with less than four minutes remaining. But the final swing of momentum went the way of the Pilots as they pulled out a 98-91 win over the Vikings... The foul-shooting discrepancy was stark. The Pilots shot 31 more free throws than the Vikings (44-to-13), including a 36-to-8 advantage in the second half. The Pilots' leading scorer, Tyler Robertson, scored 22 of his game-high 32 points from the free-throw line, and 20 of those 22 came in the second half alone... Cameron Parker scored 23 points for the Vikings while Isiah Kirby had 14.
• PORTLAND STATE vs. THE WEST COAST CONFERENCE: Portland State is 41-81 all-time against current members of the West Coast Conference... The Vikings will also play San Diego of the WCC in December.
• COACHES: Vikings Coach Jase Coburn (Arizona State, 2006) is in his third season as Head Coach and is 31-37 overall. Coburn is 0-2 against Portland. He spent eight previous seasons on the Park Blocks as an Assistant and Associate Head Coach... the Pilots are coached by Shantay Legans (Fresno State, 2004) in his third season. Legans is 36-36 at Portland and 111-85 in seven seasons as a collegiate head coach. He was 5-2 against the Vikings while coaching the Pilots and Eastern Washington.

 

SCOUTING PORTLAND

• The University of Portland is a member of the West Coast Conference. The Pilots were 14-19 last season, 5-11 and eighth in the WCC.
• Portland is 3-2 on the season, including 3-1 at home and 0-1 on the road. The Pilots have averaged 78.2 points per game, but also commit more than 16 turnovers per game.
• Freshman guard Tyler Harris is averaging 17.8 points and 9.0 rebounds per game while shooting .630 from the field. Senior guard Tyler Robertson averages 16.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game. Sophomore guard Vukasin Masic averages 13.8 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.

 

WHO IS HOT

• SHOOTING STAR, PART ONE: SO G Ismail Habib went viral on Friday night when he hoisted a half-court shot at the buzzer against California Baptist that banked home for the win, 66-63. Habib went on to average 9.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals in the tournament as the Vikings' starting point guard.
• SHOOTING STAR, PART TWO: JR F Isaiah Johnson averaged 12.0 points in just under 20 minutes per game at the Lancer Joust. He shot 15-23 from the field for a stellar .653 mark. Johnson leads the Vikings with a .595 mark for the season.
• ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: SR F KJ Allen was named to the Lancer Joust All-Tournament team on Sunday. He averaged 12.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists while shooting .458/.556/.667 as the Vikings won two of three games.
• 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 as PSU has 160 bench points (26.7) so far this season... SR G Bobby Harvey had 11 points and JR F Isaiah Johnson had 10 points off the bench in the Vikings' most recent game against St. Thomas.
• IN A HURRY: Portland State is averaging 13.2 fast break points per game... 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 29-37 at the charity stripe this season (.784), ranking 12th in the nation in both FTM and FTA.

 

THE 411 ON KJ

A key player in the TV series Last Chance U a few years back, SR F KJ Allen brought a bit of notoriety with him to Portland State. Allen has over 137,000 followers on Instagram and another 18,000 on X. But it's his play on the court that matters to the Vikings. And, it has been excellent.

• Allen leads the Vikings in scoring (12.3) and rebounds (5.8)... led the team in scoring twice and rebounding three times.
• Has scored in double figures four times and has one double-double.
• Had 18 points (6-8 FG, 6-7 FT), seven rebounds and five steals in a win over Linfield (11/12).
• Posted a double-double with 15 points (5-9 FG, 1-3 3-pt, 4-7 FT) and 10 rebounds in a win over Cal Poly (11/18).
• Named to the Lancer Joust All-Tournament team.

 

VIKING MAINSTAY

SR G Jorell Saterfield has started all 37 games of his Viking career. 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 three times and averages 10.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists.
• Saterfield has made 79 three-pointers in 37 games as a Viking (79-229, .346).
• He scored 16 points with five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block against St. Thomas (11/19).

 

IT'S NOT WHO STARTS...

JR F Isaiah Johnson has only five starts in 37 career games as a Viking. But he has proven to be one of the most valuable players on the team.

• Johnson is averaging 10.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steals in 22 minutes per game.
• Has four double-figure scoring games... led the team in scoring once and rebounding twice.
• Grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds to go with seven points at Air Force (11/6).
• Posted a season-high 16 points (7-10 FG, 2-5 FT) with four rebounds in the win over California Baptist (11/17).

 

ON POINT

SO G Ismail Habib has filled the need at point guard for the Vikings, ranking second in minutes played so far this season.  

• Habib averages 8.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. He has also made 11 three-pointers and has seven steals.
• Habib hit a half-court shot at the buzzer to lift the Vikings to a 66-63 win over California Baptist (11/17).

 

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 11 threes in the first six games.

• Averages 7.8 points, 2.0 rebounds in 20 minutes per game.
• Harvey has made 68 three-pointers in 36 games as a Viking (68-180, .378).
• Had a streak of 31 straight games with a made three-point field goal - four shy of the school record.

 

READY WHEN YOUR NUMBER IS CALLED

Continuing the trend of last season, Head Coach Jase Coburn went deep into his bench in the first three games. The Vikings have 465 bench minutes out of 1200 total minutes, getting 160 points and 81 rebounds from the backups.

• The bench is shooting better than the starters. PSU shoots 61-130 (.469) off the bench and 85-214 (.397) 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.
• Nov. 12, PSU 70, Linfield 53: SR F KJ Allen sparked a sluggish Vikings team in the first half with back-to-back three-point plays and went on to lead the team to its third straight win. Allen had 18 points (6-8 FG, 6-7 FT), seven rebounds and five steals in the game. PSU made 12 steals and blocked seven shots in holding Linfield to 53 points.
• Woods Gets 1,000: SR F Hunter Woods reached 1,000 points in his collegiate career in the win over Linfield (11/12). Woods scored nine points in the game on three three-point field goals giving him 327 points in 34 games at Portland State and 676 points in 84 games at Elon.
• Nov. 17, PSU 66, California Baptist 63: SO G Ismail Habib buried a half-court shot at the buzzer to give the Vikings their fourth straight win to open the season. It was part of a 14-point comeback in the final nine minutes of the game. PSU took a 63-61 lead with 30 seconds left on a JR F Isaiah Johnson spin move inside. The Lancers tied it with 2.4 seconds left on a short jumper. Johnson inbounded to Habib who raced up court and let the shot go just before the buzzer. Johnson led the Vikings with 16 points (7-10 FG, 2-4 FT) as he, Habib and SR F KJ Allen sparked a 22-5 rally down the stretch.
• Nov. 18, PSU 73, Cal Poly 57: Portland State won its fifth game in a row for the best start in the Big Sky era and matching the best start ever for the program (5-0). The Vikings jumped to a double-digit lead early, pushed it as high as 25 in the second half and cruised to the win. SR F KJ Allen had the first double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds. PSU out-rebounded the Mustangs, 43-31, and held them to .373 shooting.
• Allen Named Lancer Joust All-Tournament: SR F KJ Allen was named to the Lancer Joust All-Tournament team on Sunday. He averaged 12.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists while shooting .458/.556/.667 as the Vikings won two of three games.