PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (9-4, 0-1)
at IDAHO VANDALS (7-6, 1-0)

Saturday, December 30, 2023, 2 p.m. • ICCU Arena (4,200), Moscow, ID
 
Live Stream: ESPN+
Live Stats: https://govandals.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary

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OPENING TIP

A startling result and a chance for a redemption will be a part of week one of Big Sky Conference play for the Portland State Vikings. PSU took a big loss at Eastern Washington on Thursday night to open the Big Sky season, but have a chance to get one back on the road when the Vikings play at Idaho on Saturday afternoon.
     
PSU went into Cheney riding high after winning nine of 12 non-conference games. But the defending Big Sky regular season champions rolled all over the Vikings, 91-57. The loss was not as startling as the manner. The Vikings had never trailed in a game by more than 15 points this season, but found themselves down by 19 at halftime and would not recover. PSU scored a season-low points and took its worst loss in nearly two years.
     
Now 9-4, Portland State will seek road redemption at Idaho. The Vikings can still get a split in the opening week of the league season, then look forward to six of the next eight Big Sky games at home. PSU will face a much-improved Idaho program. Winners of nine games last year, the Vandals are already 7-6 this season, including a 61-58 victory over Sacramento State on Thursday when Quinn Denker banked home a three-point field goal at the buzzer. So, PSU is one of four teams currently 0-1 in league play while Idaho is one four tied for first place at 1-0.
     
The Vikings are 4-3 in true road games this season while Idaho is 5-2 at home. The Vikings have won three straight in the series, six of the last seven and eight of the last 10. PSU has also won three in a row in Moscow.
     
Saturday's game tips off at 2 p.m. in ICCU Arena on the Idaho campus. The game will air on ESPN+.
 

COMING UP

The Vikings will travel to Kansas City on Jan. 6 as part of the Big Sky Conference-Summit League Challenge. It will be a first-ever meeting between the programs and PSU's final non-conference game of the season.
     
The Vikings return home on Jan. 11 to face Idaho State. That begins a span of six out of eight games in Viking Pavilion.
     

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE VS. IDAHO

• ALL-TIME SERIES: Portland State leads the all-time series, 20-17, and the Big Sky Conference series, 10-7... the Vikings are 5-4 in Big Sky games played in Moscow... PSU swept the season series last year, has won three in a row and six of the last seven games in the series.
• LAST SEASON: Jan. 7, 2023 at ICCU Arena, PSU 74, UI 58: Cameron Parker scored 16 of his game-high 18 points to lead Portland State's second-half surge. PSU's second half, in which it shot .696 from the field, including 6-7 from three-point range and 9-11 at the free throw line, had to be one of its best of the season.  PSU was 16-23 from the field after halftime, outscoring the Vandals 47-28... Parker's 18 points came on 7-11 from the field, 1-1 from three-point range and 3-4 at the line. He added a team-high six rebounds, three assists and a steal. After intermission, he was 6-8 from the field, 3-3 at the line, had four rebounds and two assists... Jorell Saterfield scored 13 points, hitting 5-7 shots and all three of his three-pointers... The Vikings shot 26-50 (.520) from the field and 9-14 (.643) from three-point range. Perhaps just as impressive was holding Idaho, the second-leading scoring team in the Big Sky behind the Vikings, to 58 points... Idaho shot .396 from the field and had 13 turnovers. The Vikings, with eight steals, turned those turnovers into 23 points. Feb. 2, 2023 at Viking Pavilion, PSU 69, UI 66: PSU's top three scorers all had big games as Cameron Parker, Jorell Saterfield and Hunter Woods combined for 56 of the Vikings' 69 points. Their performance trumped the 30-point, 11-rebound effort of Jones, the Vandals' 6-9 post and the second-leading scorer in the Big Sky... The difference for PSU came in virtually every other area of the game as they out-rebounded the Vandals, 36-31, forced 17 turnovers, held them to only 1-9 from three-point range and blocked five shots... In a game typical of the Big Sky at mid-season, PSU and Idaho battled every possession in a grind-it-out affair. The Vikings led for more than 26 minutes of the game, including the last nine minutes, but never by more than seven points. The Vandals held leads for six minutes, but never by more than four points.
•  COACHES: Vikings Coach Jase Coburn (Arizona State, 2006) is in his third season as Head Coach and is 35-40 overall. Coburn is 3-1 against Idaho. He spent eight previous seasons on the Park Blocks as an Assistant and Associate Head Coach... the Vandals are coached by Alex Pribble (California, 2007) in his first season.

 

SCOUTING IDAHO

• The University of Idaho is located in Moscow, ID. The Vandals have been members of the Big Sky Conference from 1963 to 1996 and 2014 to present. Idaho has won four Big Sky regular season championships, four Big Sky Tournament championships, and made five appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
• Idaho was 9-22 last season, 6-14 and ninth in the Big Sky Conference.
• This year, Idaho has started 7-6 overall and is 1-0 in Big Sky play. The Vandals average 71.7 points and allow 68.5 points per game.
• Junior guard Quinn Decker leads four players scoring in double figures with 12.2 points per game. He has a team-high 22 three-point field goals. Junior forward Julius Mims is averaging 11.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and leads the Big Sky with 20 blocked shots. He also shoots .600 from the field. Senior guard D'Angelo Minnis averages 10.9 points and a team-leading 3.8 assists per game.

 

WHO IS HOT

• THE BENCH BUNCH: The Vikings have been producing all season when they make substitutions. PSU has scored 379 bench points (29.1 per game) to rank 39th in the nation and second in the Big Sky... last year, the Vikings averaged 27.9 points per game off the bench to rank 12th in the nation.
• LEADER OF THE BUNCH: JR F Isaiah Johnson is not a starter, but he is the team scoring leader at 10.3 points per game. He ranks second in rebounding at 5.0 and leads the team with a .573 field goal percentage.
• THIS SEASON, THE VIKINGS HAVE NEVER LOST WHEN...: Playing at home (4-0)... leading at halftime (6-0)... out-shooting an opponent from the field (5-0)... out-rebounding an opponent (6-0)... scoring 80 or more points (3-0).
• BIG SKY LEADERS: Portland State leads the Big Sky Conference in blocked shots (4.2) and winning percentage (.692).
• ON THE BLOCK: JR C Hayden Curtiss has blocked 14 shots in the last five games (2.8) and now has 17 on the season (1.3). He ranks third in the Big Sky Conference.

 

GAME WINNERS: THEY ARE BECOMING A HABIT

Portland State already has three game-winning shots among its nine wins this season. This comes after the Vikings had three late-game-winners last season - twice at the buzzer and one with eight seconds left.

• Four of the six game-winning shots flipped the lead, while two broke a tie.
• Notably, the Vikings also scored in the flow of the game in four of the six contests, not calling a timeout to set up a last-second play as is common, including both of this season's last-second winners.
• HABIB'S HEAVENLY HEAVE: SO G Ismail Habib banked home a half-court heave at the buzzer to beat California Baptist, 66-63 (11/17). It was part of a 14-point comeback in the final nine minutes of the game. The Vikings had trailed, 58-44, but went on a 22-5 run down the stretch. 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, Habib and SR F KJ Allen led the Vikings comeback.
• LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE: As cool as could be, SO G Ismail Habib put the ball between his legs, sized up the defense, then sliced through four Portland Pilot defenders to the basket for a game-winning lay-in with 0.8 seconds on the clock. And for the second time in two weeks, Habib delivered his Portland State team the deciding basket at the end. The Vikings came away with a thrilling, come-from-behind 75-74 victory in the crosstown rivalry game at Viking Pavilion (11/28). Big contributions in a comeback from 12 points down came from SR G Bobby Harvey (13 points in the second half), JR F Isaiah Johnson (12 points, six rebounds in the second half) and Habib, who hit a pair of three-point field goals in the final two minutes before his scramble to the rim for the game-winner.
• KJ MAKES ALL THE PLAYS: SR F KJ Allen's gamer capped a 10-point run in overtime for another comeback win, 75-72, over Fresno State. Allen came alive in overtime, scoring eight of the Vikings' 10 points on 3-3 shooting, and grabbing a key offensive rebound with 20 seconds left to set up the game winner. Down 72-65, Allen hit a three-point field goal with 2:05 left. After a Bulldogs miss, Allen scored again on a turnaround jump shot with 1:25 to play. After another Fresno State miss, JR F Isaiah Johnson scored inside and was fouled with 20 seconds left. With the game tied at 72-72, Johnson missed the go-ahead free throw. The ball was tipped around and Allen came up with it. PSU called timeout and set up a pick-and-roll play with SO G Ismail Habib and Allen. Allen screened, flared to the wing in front of the Viking bench, took a Habib pass and drilled a three-pointer with 0.2 seconds to play.

 
READY WHEN YOUR NUMBER IS CALLED

Continuing the trend of last season, Head Coach Jase Coburn continues to go deep into his bench. The Vikings have 1,032 bench minutes out of 2600 total minutes, getting 379 points and 180 rebounds from the backups.

• The bench is shooting better than the starters. PSU shoots 141-310 (.455) off the bench and 196-493 (.398) from the starters.
• PSU gets 40% of its points and 37% of its rebounds off the bench.
• 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%).