PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (11-5, 5-0) at
EASTERN WASHINGTON EAGLES (4-14, 2-3)

Thursday, January 22, 2026, 6 p.m. • Reese Court (5,000), Cheney, WA
Live Stream: ESPN+
Live Stats: www.ViksLive.livestats.us
 

OPENING TIP

It will be "different venues, same mission" for the Portland State Vikings as they go on the road this week to take on Eastern Washington and Idaho. The Vikings took advantage of the home court over the last two weeks, extending their winning streak to five games and maintaining their first-place position in the Big Sky Conference. Now, they will try to extend a two-game road winning streak against the Eagles, then the Vandals.
     
PSU (11-5, 5-0) has gotten off to the best start in league play in the program's history. A win over Northern Arizona last Saturday got them to a perfect 5-0 for the first time in 30 seasons as a member of the Big Sky. That win also allowed Portland State to tie a record for consecutive Big Sky home wins (15). PSU will try to break it on Jan. 29 in a home game against Montana.
     
The Vikings will look for a sixth consecutive win overall for the first time since 2020 when they play at Eastern Washington on Thursday night. The last time a PSU team won six in a row was at the conclusion of the 2019-20 season. However, that streak was stopped when the COVID pandemic halted the conclusion of the season.
     
The Vikings hold a one-game lead over second-place Montana State (4-1) prior to a Monday night game between the Bobcats and Northern Colorado. Weber State (4-2) is one-and-a-half games behind in third place.
     
Portland State is 4-4 on the road this season, having won its last two games away from home. Those came at Weber State and Idaho State - both in overtime - during the opening week of Big Sky Conference action. The Vikings lost last season against the Eagles at Reese Court. They are 8-21 all-time in that venue in Big Sky games.
     
Eastern Washington (4-14, 2-3) will need to stop a talented Viking offense that averages over 81 points per game. Defense has been an achilles heel for the Eagles this season, as opponents have scored more than 83 points against them while shooting .499 from the field and .376 from three-point range - all of which rank last in the Big Sky. However, EWU has won two of its last three games with quality victories over Montana and Idaho State. That stretch stopped a six-game losing streak. At 2-3 in Big Sky games, Eastern is tied for seventh place.
     
Eastern Washington is currently 3-2 in home games. The Eagles host Thursday's contest which tips off at 6 p.m. at Reese Court. The game can be seen on ESPN+.
 

COMING UP

Portland State faces Idaho on Saturday in a 2 p.m. game. The Vikings close out January with three more home games, facing Montana (Jan. 29), Montana State (Jan. 31) and Idaho State (Feb. 2). All Big Sky Conference games can be seen on ESPN+.
 

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. EASTERN WASHINGTON

• ALL-TIME SERIES: Eastern Washington leads the all-time series, 34-28, and the Big Sky Conference series, 33-25... the teams split the season series last year with each team winning on its home court... the Vikings are 8-21 in Big Sky games played in Cheney... EWU has won 10 of the last 11 meetings.
• LAST SEASON: Jan. 9, 2025 at Viking Pavilion, PSU 64, EWU 59: Portland State scored the final seven points of the game and made two critical blocked shots in the final minute to eke out a win. PSU trailed 59-57 with 1:43 left in the game. That's when an Isaiah Johnson's tip dunk off a Viking miss tied the game and ignited the crowd... Tre-Vaughn Minott came away with a big block at the 58-second mark followed by a Terri Miller Jr. score on his patented lefty hook shot for a 61-59 PSU lead... then Hayden Curtiss got a second big blocked shot with 13 seconds left. PSU grabbed the ball and was able to convert three of four free throws in the closing seconds for the 64-59 final... Miller Jr. led the way with 16 points and seven rebounds. Minott had 13 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots. Andrew Cook and Mason Williams each had 12 points for the Eagles. Feb. 8, 2025 at Cheney, WA, EWU 72, PSU 67: A strong finish by Eastern Washington allowed the Eagles to prevail in one of the tightest games of the season. The Eagles never led by more than seven points in the game, and the Vikings took a late lead but couldn't quite finish the deal, scoring only two points in the final four minutes... the Vikings were looking good with a 65-61 lead and 4:09 remaining in the game. But PSU hit the proverbial wall, making only one of its final six shots and committing three turnovers down the stretch. The Eagles hit four of their last five shots and a couple of free throws, finishing the game on an 11-2 run... Tre-Vaughn Minott scored 16 points with 13 rebounds and four blocked shots... Jaylin Henderson led the Vikings with 19 points, grabbed five rebounds and made four steals... Tyler Powell and Mason Williams scored 17 points each to lead Eastern Washington... The Eagles shot 26-51 from the floor (.510) and 14-20 at the line (.700). PSU was 27-62 (.435) and 9-18 (.500).
• 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 73-69. He is 1-7 against Eastern Washington... Head Coach Dan Monson (Idaho, 1985) is in his second season at Eastern Washington and has a 14-36 record. Monson, has a 459-432 record in 28 seasons as a collegiate head coach at Gonzaga, Minnesota and Long Beach State. He is 1-1 against the Vikings.

 

SCOUTING THE EAGLES

• Eastern Washington is located in Cheney, WA. The Eagles have won four Big Sky regular season championships and three Big Sky tournament championships. They have made three appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Eastern was 10-22 last season, 6-12 and eighth place in the Big Sky.
• This season, the Eagles are 4-14 overall, 2-3 in the Big Sky Conference... Eastern averages 76.9 points while allowing 83.3 points. The Eagles shoot .456 from the field, .344 from three-point range and .741 at the line.
• Senior guard Isaiah Moses is the team's top scorer at 17.9 points per game with 3.8 assists. He also leads the team with 33 three-point field goals and he shoots a league-leading .932 at the line... senior forward Kiree Huie averages 12.7 points and 4.9 rebounds... junior forward Alton Hamilton IV averages 11.7 points and a team-best 5.9 rebounds.

 

HOT SHOTS

• HOT START: Portland State is now 5-0 in league play for the first time in its Big Sky history (30th year). The Vikings had gotten to 4-0 twice previously (1997-98, 2004-05).
• BIG SKY OPPONENTS, WELCOME IN: The Vikings have been happy to welcome Big Sky Conference opponents into Viking Pavilion in recent seasons. PSU has won 15 straight Big Sky home games, dating back to the 2023-24 season, to tie a school record... over the past three seasons, PSU is 31-4 at home in all games.
• THREE OUT OF FOUR AIN'T BAD: With apologies to the late, great Meatloaf (if you know, you know) SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott is proving three out of four ain't bad. Minott is shooting .750 from the field in league games, which would easily lead the Big Sky if he wasn't one shot shy of meeting the league minimum for stats leaders. Minott is 24-32 from the field while averaging 13.0 points, and Big Sky-bests of 12.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots in league games... speaking of field goal shooting, Minott has 37 dunks this season, exactly half of his total field goals made (74)… and for what it's worth, SO G Kelcy Phipps is also shooting .750 (9-12) while averaging 4.4 points in league play. 
• JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT: Speaking of shooting it well, SR F Terri Miller Jr. is shooting .588 in Big Sky games which DOES lead the league as he has the requisite attempts. Miller averages 21.0 points and 5.4 assists in Big Sky games while also shooting .464 from three-point range... Miller leads the Vikings at 18.9 points per game for the season... he had a triple-double against Sacramento State.
• IRON MAN: SR G Jaylin Henderson has played the entire game in the last seven contests (290 consecutive minutes), averaging over 40 minutes per game due to overtimes. He has played eight full games overall and leads the Big Sky in minutes played at 36.9 per contest. He actually averages 42.0 minutes in Big Sky games due to a pair of overtime contests... Henderson averages 18.4 points and a team-leading 6.2 assists and 1.7 steals... Henderson was named Big Sky Conference Player of the Week on Jan. 6 and had a career-high was 34 points at Weber State.
• CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARDS: Portland State has been dominant on the boards this season.  The Vikings have out-rebounded opponents by an average of 7.0 per game, 9.8 in Big Sky games, to lead the league. The Vikings average 12.8 offensive rebounds per game to also lead the Big Sky... SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott leads the Big Sky with 9.2 rebounds per game. JR G Keyon Kensie Jr. ranks third at 7.4 per game. And SR F Terri Miller Jr. is eighth with 6.5 rebounds per game.
• TRENDING: Portland State is undefeated when leading at halftime (7-0), out-rebounding an opponent (9-0) and scoring 80 or more points (7-0)... the Vikings are 10-1 when out-shooting an opponent.
• BIG SKY CONFERENCE LEADERS: Portland State leads the Big Sky Conference in field goal percentage defense (.410), offensive rebounds (12.8), blocked shots (4.5), scoring margin (10.0), rebound margin (+7.0), steals (7.5), turnovers forced (13.2) and winning percentage (.688)... SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott leads in rebounding overall (9.2) and in league (12.4)... SR F Terri Miller Jr. leads in field goal percentage in league games (.588).
• MORE GOOD STUFF THAT DOESN'T FIT ANYWHERE ELSE: JR G Keyon Kensie Jr. led the Vikings with 20 points and eight rebounds in the win over Northern Arizona... he has made 11-21 three-point field goals (.524) over the last six games... SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott ranks sixth all-time in blocked shots (80), second all-time in field goal percentage (.636) and second in dunks (84) at Portland State... JR F Charles Chukwu is 13-14 from the field this season (.929). Throw in his 30-game career at Tulsa a couple of seasons ago and Chukwu is a remarkable 29-37 from the field (.784) as a Division I player... SR G Brycen Long entered the game with Northern Colorado with 2.5 seconds to play and a one-point PSU lead. He was immediately fouled and calmly sank a pair of free throws to give PSU a 76-73 win. He is 9-10 on the season (.900).
• STRANGE BUT TRUE: Portland State is shooting exactly .480 from the field in both season and league games, and holding opponents to exactly .410 from the field in both season and league games... although they are 11-5, the Vikings have only led at halftime in seven games (7-0) while trailing nine times (4-5).

 

NOT SO HOT

• TOO CHARITABLE: Portland State has allowed opponents to shoot 65 more free throws through 16 games. The Vikings have been outshot at the line .736 to .694 and rank ninth in the Big Sky.

 

SHIP SHAPE

• Portland State is 7-1 at The Ship this season... PSU has won wire-to-wire in two home games and has only trailed for 62:46 over seven games.
• The Vikings have won 15 straight Big Sky Conference home games dating back to the 2023-24 season... that ties the longest Big Sky home winning streak in PSU history is 15 (Jan. 3, 1998 to Feb. 18, 1999). Interestingly, those games were played at three different home venues: old Stott Gym (5), Memorial Coliseum (4), Rose Garden (6).
• PSU is 31-4 at home since the start of the 2023-24 season.
• 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.