PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (3-2) at
UTAH TECH TRAILBLAZERS (3-4)

Tuesday, November 25, 2025, 7 p.m. MT/6 p.m. PT • Burns Arena (4,779), St. George, UT
Television/Live Stream: ESPN+
Live Stats: utahtechtrailblazers.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
 

OPENING TIP

Portland State will get a preview of the future when it goes to Utah Tech for a Tuesday night non-conference basketball game. The Vikings and the Trailblazers are distant foes now but will be Big Sky Conference opponents beginning next season when UTU joins the league.
     
PSU (3-2) comes off two home wins this past week and will try to extend that modest streak when it meets the Trailblazers. The Vikings beat Cal State Bakersfield of the Big West on Monday, 93-80, then Evergreen State on Wednesday, 90-61.
     
SR G Jaylin Henderson has been on a tear so far this season. He scored a combined 52 points in those two wins, making 17-28 from the field (.607) and 16-16 at the free throw line. With a 21.8 scoring average he leads the Big Sky Conference through five games. In addition, the preseason All-Big Sky selection averages a team-best 5.0 assists and 2.4 steals per game.
     
SR F Terri Miller Jr. has been a solid all-around presence as well. Miller, also a preseason All-Big Sky choice, averages 13.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists. SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott leads the Vikings with 8.6 rebounds per game to go with 10.8 points and a .561 shooting percentage.
     
Portland State has been dominant on offense, averaging 90.8 points while shooting .509/.384/.701 as a team.
     
Utah Tech (3-4) opened its season at a frenetic pace, playing seven games in the span of 13 days. That included five straight on the road. The Trailblazers most impressive win was an 81-79 overtime victory at South Dakota to open the season on Nov. 3.
     
UTU meets Nobel University for only its second home game this Friday before next week's game with the Vikings.
     
The Vikings and Utah Tech faced off for the first time ever last season in Viking Pavilion. That game ended with a 71-68 PSU win.
     
Portland State seeks its first road win of the season, and an end to a five-game road losing streak that dates to last season. Tuesday's game takes place at Burns Arena in St. George. Tip-off is 7 p.m. MT/6 p.m. PT and the game can be seen on ESPN+.
           

COMING UP

The game with Utah Tech begins a stretch of four of the last six non-conference games on the road.  PSU plays Dec. 3 at South Dakota, then hosts Omaha on Dec. 6. Those two games are part of the Big Sky Conference-Summit League Challenge.
     
Non-conference play is rounded out with a Dec. 13 home game against George Fox, followed by road games at Colorado (Dec. 17) and Tulane (Dec. 20).
     
The Big Sky Conference schedule begins on Jan. 1 at Weber State.
 

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. UTAH TECH

• ALL-TIME SERIES: Portland State and Utah Tech met for the first time in history last season. The Vikings took a 71-68 decision at Viking Pavilion... there will soon be many meetings as Utah Tech will be joining the Big Sky Conference in 2026-27.
• LAST SEASON: Nov. 30, 2024 at Viking Pavilion, PSU 71, UT 68: Portland State led for the first 38 minutes against Utah Tech, then nearly gave it all away. PSU never trailed in the game and was up by double digits for a good portion of the contest. But a bad final four minutes let Utah Tech back into the contest. PSU led 68-57 with 3:59 to go then fell apart on its next five possessions with three turnovers and two missed shots. Utah Tech ran off 11 points in a row following those empty Viking possessions. Justin Bieker's three-pointer with 1:42 remaining tied the game at 68-68. Terri Miller Jr. made two free throws with 1:24 left. Still, Utah Tech had a chance. Tennessee Rainwater was fouled on a drive to the basket, but he missed both free throws with 6.7 seconds remaining. Shane Nowell rebounded for the Vikings, was fouled and made one of two shots... Jaylin Henderson led the Vikings with 22 points... Beon Riley posted 22 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Trailblazers... free throws proved to be a major part of the game. Though they didn't shoot particularly well at the line (16-26), the Vikings had a huge advantage over a poor-shooting Utah Tech team (3-11).
• PORTLAND STATE vs. THE WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE: Portland State is 26-20 all-time against current members of the WAC... Vikings Head Coach Jase Coburn is 3-2 against current WAC teams.
• I RECOGNIZE THAT GUY: Utah Tech Assistant Coach Jake Schroeder was a member of the Portland State Vikings program from 2004-06, earning a degree in Health from PSU. A starting shooting guard for the Vikings, Schroeder was part of the 2004-05 Big Sky Conference regular season champion team. He led the Vikings in scoring in 2005-06 at 12.6 points per game.
• COACHES: Vikings Coach Jase Coburn (Arizona State, 2006) is in his fifth 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 65-66. He is 1-0 against Utah Tech... the Trailblazers are coached by Jon Judkins in his 21st season. Judkins has a 341-233 record, including 0-1 against Portland State.

 

SCOUTING THE TRAILBLAZERS

• Utah Tech is a member of the Western Athletic Conference located in St. George, UT... the school was previously named Dixie State, but changed its name in 2022... the Trailblazers were 7-26 last season, 2-14 and ninth place in the WAC... Utah Tech, along with Southern Utah, will join the Big Sky Conference in 2026-27.
• The Trailblazers are 3-4 heading into a Friday night game with Nobel University, including only 1-0 at home... UTU averages 77.4 points per game and allows 77.1 points.
• Senior forward Ethan Potter does it all for the Trailblazers, averaging 17.0 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots per game. He shoots .534 from the field and .804 at the line... sophomore guard Chance Trujillo averages 13.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and leads the team in assists (17) and three-point field goals (17).

 

HOT SHOTS

• WICHITA LINEMAN: Wichita, KS native SR G Jaylin Henderson has been red-hot to start the season with the best line going for the Vikings. Henderson leads PSU in scoring (21.8), steals (2.4) assists (5.0) and is shooting .514 from the field and .853 at the line... Henderson leads the Big Sky Conference in scoring and steals... he scored a combined 52 points in the past two home wins, making 17-28 from the field (.607) and 16-16 at the free throw line. Henderson posted a season-high 28 points (10-17 FG, 1-3 3-pt, 7-7 FT) against Cal State Bakersfield and matched career highs of seven rebounds and seven assists to go with 24 points (7-11 FG, 1-4 3-pt, 9-9 FT) against Evergreen State.
• JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT: SR F Terri Miller Jr. scored a season-high 20 points (7-9 FG, 3-4 3-pt, 3-3 FT) with an excellent shooting line against CSUB. He added five rebounds and five assists... Miller followed with 17 points (8-14 FG, 1-2 3-pt), a career-high 14 rebounds, four assists and two steals against Evergreen State... he averages 13.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists this season... he ranks fifth in assists and ninth in rebounds in the Big Sky.
• A GOOD START: SO G Kelcy Phipps made his first career start in the 33rd game of his Portland State career against Evergreen State. You might say things went pretty well as Phipps posted a career-high 17 points (6-10 FG, 5-8 3-pt) with two rebounds in 23 minutes.
• THE SHIP TURNS 100: When Portland State's Viking Pavilion opened for the 2018-19 season it was a long overdue upgrade for the Viking basketball program. Wednesday night's win over Evergreen State marked the 100th game for the men's basketball program in Viking Pavilion. PSU has gone 70-30 in those games, and more recently has turned "The Ship" into a house of horrors for opponents. PSU has won 14 straight home games and 27 of 30 over the last three years. Big Sky opponents have lost 12 straight games when coming to the Park Blocks.
• MORE GOOD STUFF THAT DOESN'T FIT ANYWHERE ELSE: The Vikings now have two games in which they have shot at least 60%: vs. Northwest Indian (.617) and Cal State Bakersfield (.600). The Vikings shoot .509 for the season... with 13 points (5-11 FG, 3-3 FT) and 10 rebounds against Evergreen State, JR G Keyon Kensie Jr. now has two double-doubles this season. He averages 10.0 points and 7.8 rebounds to rank fourth in the Big Sky... JR F Charles Chukwu is 9-10 from the field this season.

 

NOT SO HOT

• BUMP IN THE ROAD: Portland State has opened the season 0-2 on the road. That extends PSU's road losing streak to five dating to Feb. 8, 2025 of last season.
• INFRACTIONS AND OBSTRUCTIONS: Portland State has played well but also made a number of mistakes in the first four games. The Vikings are averaging 22.6 fouls and 14.8 turnovers... last season the Vikings averaged 17.5 fouls and 12.7 turnovers per game... opponents have shot 7.4 more free throws per game than the Vikings, making 6.0 more per game.

 

SHIP SHAPE

• PSU has a 14-game home court winning streak at Viking Pavilion.
• PSU is 27-3 at home since the start of the 2023-24 season.
• The Vikings have won 12 straight Big Sky Conference home games dating back to the 2023-24 season.
• In three home games this season, PSU has trailed for only 27 seconds with two wire-to-wire wins.
• With a 13-1 home record last season, Portland State trailed in only five of the 14 games, winning wire-to-wire in nine games. In a total of 560 minutes played in Viking Pavilion, the Vikings trailed for only 67 minutes and 59 seconds. And the Vikings' lone home loss came by a single point.
• Portland State's Feb. 19 game with Idaho has been added to the ESPNU schedule. It will be televised nationally with a 6 p.m. tip time. PSU games have been live streamed on ESPN+ in past seasons, but this will be the first nationally-televised basketball game at Viking Pavilion since it opened in 2018. PSU basketball has had one previous home game televised on ESPNU – a Feb. 21, 2009 contest with Boise State (and 93-81 Viking win). That game aired from the old Stott Center gymnasium.

 

STUFF STUFF

• DUNK-O-METER: The Vikings have 29 dunks through five games this season. That is on pace for 174 on the season, which would obliterate the school record of 123 dunks, set last season.
• SEASON HIGH: PSU had a season-high 11 dunks against Northwest Indian (11/7). The school record for the team in a game is 13.
• SEASON HIGH, PART TWO: SR G Jaylin Henderson had five dunks against Northwest Indian (11/7) to tie a school record set by teammate SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott last season in a game against Idaho. Minott tied it again with five dunks against San Francisco (11/2).
• A SLAMTASTIC SEASON: Last year, Portland State set a school record with 123 dunks as a team... SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott set an individual record with 44 dunks.

 

VIKINGS, NEW AND OLD

• At Stanford (11/4), Portland State started its three preseason All-Big Sky Conference selections in SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott, SR G Jaylin Henderson and SR F Terri Miller Jr. Also starting were RS FR G Alex Dupre and JR G Keyon Kensie Jr., a transfer from San Diego... FR G Colt Ness made his first start against Northwest Indian (11/7)... SO G Kelcy Phipps made his first career start against Evergreen State (11/19).
• Seven Vikings made their first-ever appearance in the green and black at Stanford (11/4). They included: RS FR G Alex Dupre, JR G Keyon Kensie Jr., RS JR G Sebastian Tidor, SR G Mozae Downing-Rivers, SR G Brycen Long, FR G Colt Ness and FR F Brayden Barron... JR F Charles Chukwu and SR G Samuel Stewart IV played in their first game against Northwest Indian (11/7).
• EVERYBODY PLAYS, NEARLY EVERYBODY STARTS: On Head Coach Jase Coburn's teams everybody plays... and nearly everybody starts at some point as Coburn routinely adjusts lineups based on a myriad of factors. In his 131 games as head coach, Coburn has started 45 different lineups... of the 66 active players on Coburn's five teams, 44 have started - including 7 of 16 this season.