EASTERN WASHINGTON EAGLES (14-8, 8-1) at
PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (14-8, 5-4)
Monday, February 5, 2024, 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
Game Presented by OnPoint Community Credit Union
OPENING TIP
Portland State will try to make a clean sweep of its four-game home stand on Monday night when the Vikings take on first-place Eastern Washington at Viking Pavilion.
Both teams sport 14-8 overall records, but the Eagles have an 8-1 Big Sky Conference record compared to 5-4 for the Vikings. Eastern also won the first meeting of the season between the teams on Dec. 28 in Cheney, 91-57.
The Vikings have momentum and the home court on their side though. PSU has won the first three games in its season-long, four-game home stand, and four straight at home overall. The Vikings are 8-1 when playing in The Ship this season.
The Eagles have had a great run during the Big Sky season, with their only loss coming on Thursday at Montana State. Eastern is the best shooting team in the Big Sky at .492 from the field, .370 from three-point range and leads the league with 8.8 three-point field goals per game, while averaging 78.4 points. The Eagles also hold opponents to a league-low .421 from the field.
Portland State will need to find a way to match the Eagles' offense this time around. After two solid offensive showings in wins over Montana and Montana State, the Vikings struggled a bit against the Sacramento State before pulling out a 58-51 win on Saturday. SR F
KJ Allen and SR G
Jorell Saterfield came off the bench to score 15 points each and ignite the slumbering offense. JR C
Hayden Curtiss ignited a 20-4 second-half run with four blocked shots in a span of 77 seconds.
The Vikings were without SO G
Ismail Habib against Sacramento State due to an ankle injury. His status for Monday is uncertain.
If the Vikings can get a win Monday they would move from fifth place into a tie for third with Montana and Montana State. Monday's game tips off at 7 p.m. It can be seen on ESPN+ with live statistics at www.ViksLive.com.
COMING UP
Portland State travels to Weber State next Thursday, then Idaho State on Saturday. PSU's next home game is Feb. 15 against Northern Colorado. Five of the Vikings' final eight regular season games will be played on the road.
GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. EASTERN WASHINGTON
- ALL-TIME SERIES: Eastern Washington leads the all-time series, 32-27, and the Big Sky Conference series, 31-24. The Eagles have won the last eight meetings in the series.. PSU is 15-10 in Big Sky games played in Portland.
- Dec. 28, 2023 at Reese Court, EWU 91, PSU 57: After a slow start, the Eagles got going offensively and eventually pulled away from the Vikings. The Vikings raced to a 12-2 lead in the opening four minutes. But that was short-lived as Eastern Washington came back with a 20-2 rally, led by 13 points from Cedric Coward. Eastern Washington made eight shots in a row and 11 of 12 over a stretch, extending their rally to 34-9 over the span of 11 minutes. By halftime, the Vikings trailed 46-27. Eastern continued to grow the lead in the second half.. PSU finished the game with a season-high 21 turnovers that the Eagles turned into 26 points. The Vikings were 20-50 from the field (.400) and got out-rebounded 34-25... Isaiah Johnson was the only Viking in double figures, scoring 10 points with four rebounds... Eastern Washington ended the night at 31-58 from the field (.534). The Eagles also made 11-19 from behind the arc for a .579 mark... Coward finished with 21 points. Dane Erikstrup had 18 points and five steals.
- COACHES: Vikings Coach Jase Coburn (Arizona State, 2006) is in his third season as Head Coach and is 40-44 overall. Coburn is 0-5 against Eastern Washington. He spent eight previous seasons on the Park Blocks as an Assistant and Associate Head Coach... the Eagles are coached by David Riley in his second season. Riley is 55-34 overall, 5-0 against the Vikings.
SCOUTING EASTERN WASHINGTON
- Eastern Washington is located in Cheney, WA. The Eagles program has won three Big Sky Conference regular season titles and three Big Sky Tournament titles, making three appearances in the NCAA Tournament since joining the Big Sky in 1987. The most recent came in 2021... Eastern was 23-11 last sea- son, 16-2 in the Big Sky, winning the regular season title.
- This season, Eastern Washington is 14-8 overall, including 7-8 on the road. Eastern is the best shooting team in the Big Sky at .492 from the field, .370 from three-point range and a league-leading 8.8 three-point field goals per game while averaging 78.4 points. The Eagles also hold opponents to a league-low .421 from the field.
- Junior forward Cedric Coward is one of five Eagles scoring in double figures. He leads the team in scoring (13.8) and rebounding (6.7). Senior guard Ellis Magnuson tops the team with 4.0 assists per game. Junior forward Ethan Price averages 12.0 and shoots .508 from the field.
WHO IS HOT
- BLOCK PARTY: JR C Hayden Curtiss had the biggest shot-blocking performance of his career in the win over Sacramento State with six. That was just one shy of the school record and he did so in 13 minutes of action. In fact, he blocked four shots in the span of 77 seconds in the second half, spurring the Vikings to a 20-4 run that led to a comeback victory. Curtiss leads the Big Sky Conference in blocked shots at 1.6 per game, 2.4 per game in league games... PSU is also the team leader with 3.91 blocks per game.
- GOOD DECISIONS: Lately, when SR G Isiah Kirby has the ball in his hands, good things happen. Kirby has averaged 12.0 points over the last six games on 29-54 from the field (.537). Kirby also has 19 assists in those six games (3.2), and leads the Vikings in assist-to-turnover ratio at 50/24... Kirby scored a career-high 20 points (6-11 FG, 3-4 3-pt, 5-6 FT) with four assists in the win over Montana State (1/27)... against Sacramento State (2/3) he had a career-high seven assists... he shoots .491 from the field this season to rank third on the team.
- KJs TRIUMPHANT RETURN: The absence of SR F KJ Allen from the lineup two weeks ago coincided with a pair of bad losses for the Vikings. With Allen back the Vikings have now won three in a row. Allen had 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench in the win over Montana, then posted a career-high 26 points (7-12 FG, 4-4 3-pt, 8-10 FT) and seven rebounds in the win over Montana State. He followed with 15 points and a team-high six rebounds in the win over Sacramento State... Allen has averaged 17.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and notably made 8-11 three-point field goals in those wins (.727)... Allen leads the Vikings in scoring (11.7) and rebounding (6.8) this season.
- WELCOME BACK: SR G Jorell Saterfield has struggled mightily with his shot in recent weeks. But he was back on form in the win over Sacramento State, scoring a team-high 15 points (6-9 FG, 3-5 3-pt). It was his best scoring output in six games.
- ZAY'S DAY: JR F Isaiah Johnson may have turned in his most complete game of the season in the win over Montana State (1/27) with 16 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals and a blocked shot... and those dunks! He had four in the game, and all were of the highlight-reel variety... Johnson is second in scoring (9.7) and rebounding (4.7) for the Vikings and has moved into the starting lineup for the past six games.
- THE BENCH BUNCH: The Vikings have been producing all season when they make substitutions. PSU has scored 605 bench points (27.5 per game) to rank 36th 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.
- STRONG INDICATORS: Portland State is 8-1 when playing at home... 8-1 when leading at halftime... 8-0 when out-rebounding an opponent... 7-1 when out-shooting an opponent... 10-1 when scoring 70 or more points... 8-1 when starting a new lineup.
- LATE GAME HEROICS: Once again this season Portland State has had numerous close games and game-winning shots. Through 22 games, 13 have been decided by seven points or less. The Vikings are 10-3 in those games. PSU is 5-0 in games decided by three points or less.
