PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (1-0) at
UC SANTA BARBARA GAUCHOS (0-0)

Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023, 7 p.m. • UCSB Events Center (5,600), Santa Barbara, CA
Television: None
Live Stream: ESPN+
Live Stats: www.ViksLive.com

---

OPENING TIP

Portland State continues its big opening week of basketball on the road with a game against defending Big West Conference Champion UC Santa Barbara. The Vikings and Gauchos meet Thursday night at 7 p.m. The contest will be televised on ESPN+.
     
UCSB will be playing its opening game of the year. The Gauchos come off a 27-8 season and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2022-23. One of those 27 wins came at Portland State last December, 85-73. UCSB was picked in preseason polling to win the Big West again this season. The Gauchos are led by reigning Big West Player of the Year Ajay Mitchell.
     
PSU's game at UC Santa Barbara will be the second in four days and is part of a six-game in 14-day stretch to open the season. The Vikings come home briefly to host Linfield on Sunday afternoon, then next week play three games in The Lancer Joust Tournament in Riverside, CA.
     
Portland State got things started right in 2023-24 with a 62-55 road win at Air Force on Monday. PSU led most of the game, though never by more than nine points in a tightly-battled game. The Vikings won with grit. They out-rebounded the Falcons, 41-34, including a 14-rebound effort on the offensive glass that produced 16 points. Despite shooting only .360 from the field, PSU got up 10 more free throws and made 10 more than Air Force. SR G Jorell Saterfield led a balanced scoring effort by the Vikings with 10 points and seven rebounds. JR F Isaiah Johnson scored seven points and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds.
     
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.
 

COMING UP

Portland State will have its home-opener against Linfield on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Viking Pavilion.
     
The Vikings compete in The Lancer Joust on Nov. 17-19, playing California Baptist, Cal Poly and St. Thomas over three days.
 

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. UC SANTA BARBARA

• ALL-TIME SERIES: UC Santa Barbara leads the all-time series, 4-0... UCSB is 2-0 in home games against the Vikings... last season, the Gauchos beat the Vikings, 85-73, in Portland.
• LAST SEASON: Dec. 17 at Viking Pavilion, UCSB 85, PSU 73: UC Santa Barbara took the lead early and never gave it back. Portland State was always close in this game and tied it on seven occasions in the first half, but never held a lead... the Gauchos out-rebounded PSU, 42-29... Jorell Saterfield scored a team-high 23 points for the Vikings... Ajay Mitchell had game-high scoring honors with 25 points for the Gauchos. He made 10-17 from the field and 5-7 at the line, adding seven rebounds and five assists... UC Santa Barbara shot 28-55 from the field (.509) compared to 24-56 for Portland State (.429).
• PORTLAND STATE vs. THE BIG WEST CONFERENCE: Portland State is 29-42 all-time against current members of the Big West Conference. The Vikings will also play Cal Poly of the Big West this season... Head Coach Jase Coburn is 0-4 all-time against the Big West.
• COACHES: Vikings Coach Jase Coburn (Arizona State, 2006) is in his third season as Head Coach and has a 27-36 record overall. He is 0-1 against UCSB. Coburn spent eight previous seasons on the Park Blocks as an Assistant and Associate Head Coach... the Gauchos are coached by Joe Pasternack (Indiana, 1989), who is in his seventh season. Pasternack has a career record of 131-52, including 3-0 against the Vikings.

 

SCOUTING UC SANTA BARBARA

• UC Santa Barbara is a member of the Big Sky Conference located in Santa Barbara, CA. The Gauchos were 27-8 last season, 15-5 and first in the Big West. The Gauchos won the Big West Tournament, reaching the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to Baylor in the first round.
• The reigning Big West Player of the Year and Big West Tournament MVP returns for the Gauchos. Ajay Mitchell averaged 16.3 points and 5.1 assists per game while shooting .506 from the field last year.

 

BIG CITY LINEUP

Head Coach Jase Coburn's starting lineup against Air Force included only one full-time starter from last season: SR G Jorell Saterfield. Also starting were SR G Bobby Harvey (five starts last year), SO G Ismail Habib and SR F KJ Allen (playing in their first game as Vikings) and JR F Kendall Munson (first career start as a Viking)... ironically, Coburn's three-man backcourt all come from Chicago (Saterfield, Harvey, Habib)... the two big men also come from big cities, Los Angeles (Allen) and Seattle (Munson).
 

VIKING MAINSTAY

SR G Jorell Saterfield started his 32nd consecutive game as a Viking in the season opener. 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 led the Vikings with 10 points in the win over Air Force. Saterfield has made 67 three-pointers in 32 games as a Viking (67-196, .342).
 

BOBBY 3-BALL

SR G Bobby Harvey has kept his three-point shooting consistent over his one-plus seasons at Portland State. Harvey hit a pair of threes at Air Force. That makes 28 consecutive games he has made a three-pointer. He is seven games shy of the PSU record of 35 straight games with a three, held by Brian Towne (1997-98). Harvey has made 59 three-pointers in 31 games as a Viking (59-153, .386).
 

IT'S NOT WHO STARTS...

JR F Isaiah Johnson did not start at Air Force, and in fact has only started four of his 32 games as a Viking. But he has proven to be one of the most valuable players on the team. Johnson played 23 minutes at AFA, second-most on the team. He grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds - the most by a Viking since last year's season-opener - to go with seven points and a blocked shot... last year Johnson averaged 7.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, had 28 steals and 23 blocked shots while coming off the bench.
 

SPEAKING OF BENCH PLAY

Continuing the trend of last season, Head Coach Jase Coburn went deep into his bench against Air Force. The Vikings had 90 bench minutes out of 200 total, getting 24 points and 21 rebounds from the backups. 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%).
 

2023-24 FAST BREAKS

• Jase Coburn begins his third season as Head Coach of the Vikings. He was named Portland State's new head basketball coach on April 16, 2021. He is the 14th men's basketball coach in Portland State history and the seventh since PSU joined the Big Sky Conference in 1996-97. Coburn is in his 11th season at PSU after serving as an assistant coach then associate head coach (2013-21)… Coburn is assisted by associate head coach Matt Dunn and assistant coaches Quinton Upshur and Nate Laing.
• PSU has nine players returning from last season, including eight letterwinners and one redshirt. Starters Jorell Saterfield (6-5, SR, G, 13.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 65 3-pt FG) and Hunter Woods (6-6, SR, F, 9.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 45 steals, 45 3-pt FG) are among the top returners… the Vikings also feature SRs Bobby Harvey (6-4, 7.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 57 3-pt FG), Isiah Kirby (6-4, 5.7 ppg) and Keshaun Saunders (6-5, 4.5 ppg) in the backcourt… in addition is RS FR Cole Farrell (6-5)… other front court returners include JRs Isaiah Johnson (6-6, 7.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg, .556 FG%, 23 blk), Kendall Munson (6-8, 2.5 ppg, .541 FG%, 18 blk) and Hayden Curtiss (6-11, 2.1 ppg, .588 FG%).
• The Viking program has added four newcomers for 2023-24, two portal transfers, one from junior college player and one from high school… SR F KJ Allen (6-6, 2.4 ppg, 2.0 rpg) transferred to PSU from Texas Tech, while JR C Tre-Vaughn Minott (6-9, 1.8 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 12 blk, .685 FG%) comes from South Carolina… SO G Ismail Habib (6-0, 11.5 ppg, 3.5 apg, 3.7 rpg) is a junior college signee from South Plains College (TX)… FR G Kelcy Phipps (6-2) comes from the same high school (Bishop Montgomery) in Torrance, CA as teammate Isaiah Johnson.
• SR G Jorell Saterfield was picked to the preseason All-Big Sky Conference team in a vote of league coaches.
• SR G Bobby Harvey enters the 2023-24 season with a streak of 27 straight games with a made three-point field goal.
• SR F Hunter Woods ranked third in the Big Sky Conference in steals (45) last season... SR G Jorell Saterfield was sixth in the Big Sky in three-point field goals made (65).
• Remarkably, Portland State has led the Big Sky Conference in team steals per game for eight straight seasons. Thievery on the basketball court has been prevalent during the Barret Peery, Tyler Geving and Jase Coburn coaching eras. In addition, PSU has had two individual steals leaders. League-leading 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: 9.3; 2022-23: 7.1
• The Vikings were picked fifth in the Big Sky Conference Preseason Coaches Poll and sixth in the Big Sky Conference Preseason Media Poll.
• In the era of the portal, Portland State's roster includes 10 players who have played Division I basketball at other schools. Entering the 2023-24 season, Portland State has 674 games of Division I experience among 10 players: Keshaun Saunders (117), Hunter Woods (115), Kendall Munson (75), Jorell Saterfield (64), Isaiah Johnson (63), Hayden Curtiss (61), Bobby Harvey (53), Isiah Kirby (52), KJ Allen (45), Tre-Vaughn Minott (29). The only players that have not played a Division I game are RS FR Cole Farrell, FR Kelcy Phipps and SO Ismail Habib.