PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (13-8, 5-3)
AT MONTANA STATE BOBCATS (9-13, 4-5)

Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, 6 p.m. MT/5 p.m. PT, Worthington Arena (6,772), Bozeman, MT
Live Stream: ESPN+
Live Stats: www.ViksLive.com
 

OPENING TIP

Portland State continues its trip through the state of Montana on Saturday when the Vikings meet up with the Montana State Bobcats at Worthington Arena in Bozeman. Game time is 6 p.m. MT/5 p.m. PT and it can be seen on ESPN+.
     
The Vikings (13-8, 5-3) will try to earn a weekend split with a win over the Bobcats. PSU dropped the first game of the road trip, 92-78, on Thursday at Montana. Two weeks ago, PSU pulled off the feat when, following a loss at Northern Colorado, it picked up a victory at Northern Arizona.
     
Portland State saw its run of excellent play (9 wins in 11 games) screech to a halt in Missoula. The Grizzlies shot a blistering .636 from the field in scoring the most points against the Vikings in 20 games. Prior to that, PSU's hot streak was predicated on defense (just 59.5 points and .369 shooting for opponents over 11 games). But Montana seldom missed a shot against the Vikings. So much so that PSU was 19-27 from the field in the second half of the game (.704) and lost ground on the Griz in the 14-point defeat.
     
The high notes for the Vikings in an otherwise lost evening were team shooting (.554) and brilliant performances for SR G Qiant Myers (28 points, 11-18 FG, 4 assists) and SR F Terri Miller Jr. (25 points, 10-15 FG, 6 rebounds). Both players had Division I career scoring highs.
     
Most important for the Vikings is, despite the loss, they maintain third place in the Big Sky Conference, and can continue to do so with a win at Montana State. PSU is now 4-6 in road games this season.
     
Montana State (9-13, 4-5) is the three-time defending Big Sky Tournament Champion. The Bobcats are the first program to accomplish that feat in over 40 years.
     
MSU is currently in seventh place in the Big Sky but has played well in recent weeks, winning four of its last six games. Included is a 70-58 victory over Sacramento State on Thursday night in Bozeman.
     
Montana State has won three in a row at home and is 7-2 at Worthington Arena this season.
     
This will be the second of four straight road games for the Vikings.
 

COMING UP

Next week, Portland State continues its four-game road swing with games at Idaho and Eastern Washington.
     
PSU returns home for five of its final seven regular season games starting with Northern Arizona on Feb. 13.
 

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. MONTANA STATE

• ALL-TIME SERIES: Montana State leads the all-time series, 41-28, and the Big Sky series, 34-25.... the teams split the season series last year. It marked PSU's first win in the series in four seasons... Montana State leads 23-6 in Big Sky games played in Bozeman... Portland State has beaten the Bobcats in all four meetings in the Big Sky Tournament.
• ROUGH ROAD: The annual Montana/Montana State road trip has always been the most difficult for the Portland State Vikings. PSU is 10-45 all-time against the two teams in Big Sky road games. The only year PSU swept the UM/MSU trip in the previous 28 seasons was 2007-08 when the Vikings went on to become Big Sky Champions.
• LAST SEASON: Jan. 27, 2024 at Viking Pavilion, PSU 94, MSU 91: With 4:25 remaining in the game, the Portland State Vikings were done. Robert Ford of Montana State had just buried another three-point field goal and the Bobcats were ahead 85-70. But the Vikings' players felt differently. Portland State mounted a 24-6 run, including the final 11 points of the game to close out as 94-91 victors in one of the most improbable turnarounds ever... PSU did everything right down the stretch, making 7-11 field goals, holding the Bobcats without a field goal (0-3) and forcing them into four turnovers. It was a remarkable stretch of play as the Vikings scored points on their final eight possessions of the game... PSU was down 12 with 2:01 to play, and trailed by eight with 1:06 left. But a three-pointer by KJ Allen, a dunk by Isaiah Johnson and another three from Ismail Habib (with the help of two MSU turnovers) had the game tied at 91-91 with 40 seconds left... The Bobcats were looking for a go-ahead basket as the clock ticked down, but Johnson came up with a steal. He was fouled and with 7.5 seconds left in the game he made his first free throw. PSU was ahead for the first time since the 8:28 mark of the first half, 92-91... Johnson then missed his second free throw. But the junior forward got his own offensive rebound. Eventually, Allen was fouled with three seconds left and made both free throws for a 94-91 Viking lead. The Bobcats heaved a desperation tying three-pointer at the buzzer but it fell away... It was a crazy game of physical play, leading to 45 fouls and five technical fouls. But both teams were up to the challenge. MSU shot a remarkable 30-55 from the field (.545) while the Vikings were 30-62 (.484). Both teams made 20 free throws, but the Vikings hit a season-high 14-25 threes (.560) to make the difference... Allen had a huge game for the Vikings with 26 points, hitting 7-12 from the field, 4-4 from deep and 8-10 at the line. Isiah Kirby posted a career-high 20 points on 6-11 from the field, 3-4 from three-point range and 5-6 at the line. Johnson went for 16 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals and a blocked shot... Ford finished with 26 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals to lead the Bobcats. Mar. 22, 2024 at Bozeman, MSU 72, PSU 67: Portland State wasn't coming back on Montana State this time. MSU gave up an 11-point second half lead and the game was tied with under eight minutes to play. But PSU made only 5-14 shots down the stretch while Montana State made 5-9 and tacked on 7-10 free throws. The Vikings never trailed by more than six points in the closing moments but were unable to string together consecutive baskets... Eddie Turner finished with a game-high 27 points for MSU, including 17 in the second half. Brandon Walker added 14 points and nine rebounds... Isiah Kirby paced the Vikings with 16 points, making 7-14 shots from the field. Bobby Harvey had 12 points on 4-9 three-point field goals.
• 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 56-59. He is 1-5 against Montana State... the Bobcats are coached by Matt Logie (Lehigh, 2003) in his second season. Logie is 26-31, including 1-1 against the Vikings.

 

SCOUTING THE BOBCATS

• Montana State is an original member of the Big Sky Conference. The Bobcats have won five regular season Big Sky Championships, five Big Sky Tournament titles and made seven NCAA Tournament appearances.
• The Bobcats were 17-18 last season, 9-9 and fifth place in the Big Sky Conference. They won the Big Sky Tournament for the third season in a row, advancing to the NCAA Tournament.
• This season, Montana State is 9-13 overall, 4-5 and seventh place in the Big Sky. The Bobcats average 71.7 points and allow 69.9 points per game. MSU shoots .448 from the field, .341 from three-point range and .727 at the line. The Bobcats make 8.6 three-pointers per game, but have a -3.5 rebound margin.
• Junior forward Brandon Walker leads the team in scoring at 15.2 points per game while shooting .538 from the field. Senior forward Max Agbonkpolo averages a team-high 11.6 points and a team-leading 4.9 rebounds.

 

HOT SHOTS

• NO DOUBTING THIS DEFENSE: Portland State's defense took a hit on Thursday night at Montana when the Griz shot .636 from the field on the way to their 92 points. But prior to that, in the Vikings' 11-game run of nine wins, they held opponents to 59.5 points per game, .369 field goal shooting, .221 three-point shooting and forced 15.6 turnovers per game. Only three of those opponents shot above .400 from the field. The Vikings averaged 9.3 steals and 5.2 blocked shots with a +8.0 rebounding margin in those games... the two losses were by a combined six points... PSU still leads the Big Sky in defense in conference games with 65.8 points allowed and .425 shooting.
• SHOOT YOUR SHOT: Portland State is shooting .488 as a team this season to rank second in the Big Sky behind Northern Colorado... SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott leads the way at .697 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 .545 (including .378 on three-pointers), SR F Hayden Curtiss is shooting .592 (including .423 on three-pointers) and JR F Isaac Brice is at .615.
• Q RATING: SR G Qiant Myers went for a PSU career-high 28 points at Montana on Thursday (he scored 30 in a game while playing at D-II Western Oregon) to continue his recent run of hot play. Myers made 11-18 from the field and added four assists. Myers has averaged 16.0 points and 7.0 assists while shooting .515 from the field over the last six games... Myers has four points-assists double-doubles this season.
• MILLER TIME: SR F Terri Miller Jr. logged a career-high 25 points at Montana on 10-15 from the field, 3-5 three-pointers and 2-2 at the line. He added six rebounds, an assist and a blocked shot. Since joining the starting lineup seven games ago, Miller has averaged 14.0 points and 6.4 rebounds.
• BLOCK PARTY: Portland State had a season-high nine blocked shots in the win at Pacific (12/18) and has three games of eight blocks this season. PSU currently averages 5.2 send-backs per game to lead the Big Sky... SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott has had a career-high four blocked shots three times this season (Wofford, Denver, Weber State) and ranks second in the Big Sky at 1.76 per game.
• FRONT RUNNERS: With an 8-1 home record, Portland State has trailed in only three of nine home games this season, winning wire-to-wire in six games. In a total of 360 minutes played in Viking Pavilion, the Vikings have trailed for only 30:09.
• LEADERS: Portland State currently leads the Big Sky Conference in turnovers forced (15.0), turnover margin (+2.0), steals (8.4), blocks (5.2) and bench points (24.4), fast break points (12.6) and ranks second in four other categories... SR G Qiant Myers leads the Big Sky in assists (6.7) and ranks ninth in the nation.

 

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 .638 at the line and has had only two games better than .688... the Vikings rank last in the Big Sky in free throw shooting.
• SHORT BENCH: Portland State has missed SR F Hayden Curtiss for the past five games due to ankle sprain. The 6-11 Curtiss is averaging 6.8 points and 3.4 rebounds in 16 minutes per games.