PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (10-7, 2-2)
at NORTHERN ARIZONA LUMBERJACKS (11-7, 2-3)

Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, 6 p.m. MT/5 p.m. PT, JL Walkup Skydome (3,300), Flagstaff, AZ
Live Stream: ESPN+ • Play-by-play: Mitch Strohman
Live Stats: www.ViksLive.com
 

OPENING TIP

A road split is the goal for the Portland State Vikings as they roll into Flagstaff, AZ for a Saturday evening game with Northern Arizona. The Vikings lost a tightly-contested game at Northern Colorado on Thursday night, 72-69, but can still salvage a 50-50 weekend against the Lumberjacks.
           
PSU (10-7, 2-2) meets NAU for the first time this season and seeks to remain in third place in the Big Sky Conference. Despite the 2-2 record, the Big Sky is top-heavy behind UNC (5-0) and Montana (4-1) as four teams are tied for third at .500.
           
The Vikings battled first-place Northern Colorado to the wire on Thursday, losing by just three points on the road. PSU has still won six of its last eight games, with both losses by a mere three points each.
           
Eleven three-point field goals kept PSU close with the Bears throughout the game, but Northern Colorado shot .500 overall as the two teams traded baskets down the stretch. The 72 points allowed came against the league's top scoring team (83.4) and were the most allowed by the Vikings in six games.
           
SR G Qiant Myers led the Vikings with 19 points and seven assists at UNC. SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott continued his fine play with another double-double, logging 14 points (6-8 FG, 2-3 FT), 11 rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
           
Despite a loss last year at NAU, the Vikings have won five of the last six games against the 'Jacks. PSU is 3-5 on the road this season.
           
Northern Arizona (11-7, 2-3) is in seventh place in the Big Sky, but only a half-game behind the Vikings. NAU had the best non-conference record (9-4) of any team in the Big Sky.
           
The Lumberjacks walloped Sacramento State, 77-53, on Thursday night at JL Walkup Skydome and are 8-1 at home this season.
           
NAU features some of the Big Sky's top talent. Guard Trenton McLaughlin is the Big Sky's top scorer, and ranks second in the nation, at 22.7 points per game. He has hit 57 three-point field goals this season to also lead the Big Sky. Forward Carson Towt is the Big Sky's top rebounder at 11.8 per game and also ranks second in the nation.
           
Saturday's game is a 6 p.m. MT/5 p.m. PT tip off. The game can be seen on ESPN+
 

COMING UP

Portland State returns home for a pair of games next week. The Vikings will host Weber State on Thursday at 7 p.m., then Idaho State on Saturday at 2 p.m. Both games are at Viking Pavilion and can be seen on ESPN+.
 

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. NORTHERN ARIZONA

• ALL-TIME SERIES: Portland State leads the all-time series with Northern Arizona, 33-27, and the Big Sky Conference series, 31-26...the team's split last year's series with each winning on their home court... PSU has won five of the last six games and 10 of the last 14 in the series... the Vikings are 9-17 all-time in Big Sky games at Flagstaff.
• LAST SEASON: Jan. 18, 2024 at JL Walkup Skydome, NAU 84, PSU 65: Carson Basham had a career night in leading the Lumberjacks to an 84-65 win over Portland State. Basham had career-highs of 23 points, 10 rebounds and six blocked shots as the 'Jacks led start to finish. He made 9-13 from the field and 5-8 from the free throw line. Trent McLaughlin added 19 points and Oakland Fort scored 15 for NAU... Portland State struggled on both offense and defense from start to finish. The Vikings fell behind early and trailed by double digits for almost 30 minutes of the contest... Ismail Habib had 14 points to lead the Vikings. Isiah Kirby scored 12 points and Hunter Woods had 10 in another strong performance by the PSU bench. Feb. 17, 2024 at Viking Pavilion, PSU 83, NAU 68: A career-high 27 points by KJ Allen highlighted an all-around quality performance for Portland State. His 27 points came on 8-12 shooting from the field and 11-13 at the line. The senior forward added nine rebounds, two assists and a steal... Allen was one of five Vikings to score in double figures as Kendall Munson, Cole Farrell, Isaiah Johnson and Jorell Saterfield all tallied 10 points each... The Vikings shot 29-58 from the field (.500), out-rebounded the Lumberjacks, 36-29, made 12 steals on defense and never trailed in the game... Northern Arizona also had five players score in double figures, led by 14 points each from Jayden Jackson and Trenton McLaughlin.
• COACHES: Vikings Coach Jase Coburn (Arizona State, 2006) is in his fourth season as Head Coach. He spent eight previous seasons on the Park Blocks as an Assistant and Associate Head Coach. Coburn's overall record is 53-58. He is 5-1 against Northern Arizona... the Lumberjacks are coached by Shane Burcar (Ottawa, 2004) in his fifth season. He has a 68-102 career record, including 3-6 against the Vikings.

 

SCOUTING THE LUMBERJACKS

• Northern Arizona joined the Big Sky Conference in 1970. NAU has won four Big Sky regular season championships and two Big Sky Tournament titles, making two appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
• This year, the Lumberjacks are 11-7 overall, 2-3 in the Big Sky Conference... NAU ranks second in the league in scoring at 79.5 points per game while allowing 70.4 points. The team shoots .468 from the field while holding opponents to .429... the 'Jacks have a +7.4 rebounding margin.
• Senior guard Trenton McLaughlin ranks second in the nation in scoring at 22.7 points per game. He has 57 three-point field goals, a team-high 31 steals and averages 3.5 assists per game... junior forward Carson Towt averages 13.6 points, 11.8 rebounds and shoots .568 from the field. He ranks second in the nation in rebounding... junior guard Jayden Jackson is averaging 13.3 points, 3.5 assissts and shoots .503 from the field and .817 at the free throw line.

 

HOT SHOTS

• NO DOUBTING THIS DEFENSE: In the Vikings' seven-game run of six wins, they held opponents to 56.9 points per game, .354 field goal shooting and .205 three-point shooting. Only one opponent shot better than .382 from the field, and only one scored more than 63 points... on Thursday, Northern Colorado broke that run with .500 shooting and 72 points. Still the Vikings held the Bears 11 points under their average (83.4) and slightly below their season shooting mark (.515).
• SHOOT YOUR SHOT: Portland State is shooting .485 as a team this season to rank second in the Big Sky behind Northern Colorado... SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott leads the way at .731 (49-67) from the field. He is currently on a school-record pace (Julius Thomas, .671, 2009-10)... SR F Isaiah Johnson has also been excellent at .569 (70-123), SR F Hayden Curtiss is shooting .592 (45-76, including .423 on three-pointers) and JR F Isaac Brice is at .600 (15-25).
• TV RATINGS ARE HIGH: SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott continues to impress with his improved play this season and his last three games are his best yet. Minott has averaged 14.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in those games. Remarkably, he is 18-21 from the field (.857) to go with 7-9 free throws (.778)... Minott is averaging 7.5 points this season and a team-high 6.2 rebounds in only 18.9 minutes per game... in Big Sky games, he averages team highs of 12.4 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and shoots .870 from the field and .750 at the line.
• Q RATING: SR G Qiant Myers had a Portland State career-high 19 points with seven assists at Northern Colorado. In the last two games he has averaged 15.0 points, 7.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds.
• FINDING HIS RANGE: SO G Cole Farrell has begun to shoot - and hit - from outside. Farrell has made 10-18 three-pointers in his last seven games (.556) and is now shooting .462 from distance... he has averaged 11.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in those seven games.
• BLOCK PARTY: Portland State had a season-high nine blocked shots in the win at Pacific (12/18) and currently leads the Big Sky with 5.3 send-backs per game... SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott has had a career-high four blocked shots twice this season (Wofford, Denver) and ranks second in the Big Sky at 1.7 per game.
• LEADERS: Portland State currently leads the Big Sky Conference in turnovers forced (15.7), turnover margin (+1.9), blocked shots (5.5), steals (8.9) and bench points (27.5) and ranks second in six other categories... SR G Qiant Myers leads the Big Sky in assists (6.6) and ranks 11th in the nation... Tre-Vaughn Minott is shooting .870 from the field in league games to lead the Big Sky.

 

NOT SO HOT

• YOU'VE GOT TO MAKE YOUR FREE THROWS: While Portland State's field goal shooting has been strong, the free throw shooting has floundered. For the season, PSU shoots .624 at the line and has had only one game better than .688... the Vikings rank last in the Big Sky in free throw shooting.
• SHORT BENCH: Portland State has been impacted by injuries at mid-season. SR G Shane Nowell (knee), SO G Cole Farrell (illness) and SR F Hayden Curtiss (ankle) have all missed games since the start of Big Sky play.

 

DUNK YOU VERY MUCH

Stuff, slam, smash, cap, flush... whatever you call it, the dunk is always the highlight of a college basketball game. This season, the Vikings are poised to obliterate the Portland State dunk record in the Big Sky Conference era (29 seasons, no such records were kept prior).
           
For the season, the Vikings have 83 throw-downs (4.9 per game) led by SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott (30) and SR G Jaylin Henderson (21). Last season, the Vikings had 58 total dunks in 32 games.
           
Here are the best seasons for slams in PSU history:
 
2018-19: 84 - Sal Nuhu with a school-record 40
2024-25: 83 in 17 games
2019-20: 76
2015-16: 75
2021-22: 73
2004-05: 72