PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (12-5, 6-0) at
IDAHO VANDALS (12-7, 4-2)

Saturday, January 24, 2026, 2 p.m. • ICCU Arena (4,200), Moscow, ID
Live Stream: ESPN+
Live Stats: https://govandals.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
 

OPENING TIP

Momentum is on the Vikings side, but perhaps the toughest Big Sky Conference opponent of the season awaits as Portland State will take on Idaho in a Saturday matinee in Moscow.
     
The Vikings (12-5, 6-0) won their sixth straight game on Thursday night with 65-61 road victory at Eastern Washington. PSU holds on to first place in the Big Sky while touting its best undefeated start since joining the league 30 years. The six-game winning streak is also PSU's longest since the last six games of the 2019-20 season. That year was cut short when the Big Sky Conference Tournament was canceled due to the COVID pandemic.
     
Idaho (12-7, 4-2) isn't far behind the Vikings in third place in the Big Sky. The Vandals are winners of their last two games and is 7-1 at home this season.
     
PSU's Thursday win was the third straight on the road. PSU is 3-0 in Big Sky road games, 5-4 in all road games. The Vikings had a 50-40 lead on the Eagles midway through the second half, gave it back, then relied on a clutch final two minutes from SR F Terri Miller Jr. (7 pts, 1 blk, 1 ast) to hold off Eastern Washington for the win. Miller finished with a game-high 22 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals.
     
Idaho picked up an 86-76 home win over Sacramento State on Thursday. As usual, the Vandals relied on outside shooting for success, making 14-32 three-pointers (.438). Idaho leads the Big Sky in threes at nearly 11 made per game and virtually everyone on the Vandal roster is a threat.
     
Despite holding on to first place in the league since that start of play on Jan. 1, the Vikings have little margin for error. They lead Montana State (5-1) by one game, and Idaho and Montana by two games (both 4-2) going into the weekend.
     
Saturday's game tips off at 2 p.m. at ICCU Arena in Moscow and can be seen on ESPN+.
 

COMING UP

The Vikings close out January with three 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. IDAHO

• ALL-TIME SERIES: Portland State had won seven straight in the series and 10 of 11 games before last year's Big Sky Tournament. In the first post-season meeting ever between the two schools, Idaho won. PSU had won the two regular season meetings... the Vikings lead the all-time series, 24-18, and the Big Sky series, 14-8.
• LAST SEASON: Jan. 11, 2025 at Viking Pavilion, PSU 74, UI 63: The Vikings took advantage as big men Tre-Vaughn Minott and Terri Miller Jr. made the difference. The tandem combined for 33 points and 16 rebounds and controlled play inside. Miller had 17 points, on 8-13 field goals, and eight rebounds. Minott was a perfect 7-7 from the field and 2-2 at the line for 16 points, eight rebounds and a blocked shot. Their performance fueled a 45-25 rebounding edge and .517 to .382 shooting advantage.... Jaylin Henderson scored 14 points with six rebounds and four assists. Qiant Myers added 11 points, four rebounds and seven assists... Jack Payne led the Vandals with 15 points and seven rebounds. Kolton Mitchell scored 14 points with seven assists... the Vikings held Idaho to 7-34 from three-point range (.206). Feb. 6, 2025 at Idaho: PSU 76, UI 69: Ahead by 25 points with 7:57 left in the game, the Vikings appeared home free. But Idaho, the top three-point shooting team in the Big Sky Conference, started hitting shots. Coupled with the Vikings struggles at the free throw line down the stretch, it made for a much closer score at the end... PSU got a big performance from senior forward Isaiah Johnson, who turned in a career-high 22 points on 10-13 shots from the field. He added seven rebounds and three steals as the Vikings turned the Vandals over 21 times... Terri Miller Jr. scored 14 points with six rebounds, and Cole Farrell came off the bench for 13 big points. .. The Vikings shot a sturdy 27-54 from the field, but were only 19-32 at the line (.594). Idaho shot poorly early on, but rallied late in the second half. The Vandals hit nine three-pointers after intermission, with several coming late, and a total of 12 in the game... Idaho finished at 22-56 shooting (.396), hitting 12-32 from three-point range (.375). Titus Yearout led the way with 14 points... Mar. 10, 2025 at Boise, ID (BSC quarterfinal): UI 80, PSU 70:  The Vikings suffered through a rough shooting first half and never could recover, losing to Idaho, 80-70, in a Big Sky Conference Tournament quarterfinal round game. PSU managed to shoot only 24% in the first half, fell behind by double digits and couldn't rally for the come-from-behind victory. On the other end, Idaho was efficient on offense and rode the 44 combined points of sophomore guards Jack Payne and Kristian Gonzalez to victory... the Vikings were 7-29 from the field, making only 3-17 from three-point range, in the first half... Idaho continued to out-shoot the Vikings in the second half and grew the edge to 53-32. Portland State fought to close the gap but never got the deficit under 10 points until only seconds remained in the game... Terri Miller Jr. managed to lead the Vikings with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Qiant Myers added 14 points and six assists... PSU finished at 27-72 from the field (.375) while Idaho was a solid 25-51 (.490). The Vikings, in desperation mode, tossed up a school-record 43 three-point attempts, but made only 11 (.256).
• 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 7-2 against Idaho... the Vandals are coached by Alex Pribble (California, 2007) in his third season. He has a 25-40 record overall and is 1-4 against the Vikings.

 

SCOUTING THE VANDALS

• The University of Idaho is located in Moscow, ID. The Vandals were 14-19 last season, 8-10 and tied for sixth in the Big Sky Conference. Idaho has been a member of the Big Sky from 1963-96 and 2014 to present. Idaho has won four Big Sky regular season championships, four Big Sky Tournament championships, and made five appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
• Idaho is 12-7 this season, 4-2 and tied for third place in the Big Sky Conference. The Vandals average 80.7 points and allow 73.4 points per game. They shoot .453 from the field, .365 from three-point range and .746 at the line. Idaho leads the Big Sky in three-point field goals made per game (10.7).
• Sophomore guard Kolton Mitchell is the leading scorer at 14.7 points per game and has team-highs of 73 assists and 47 three-point field goals... freshman forward Jackson Rasmussen averages 14.2 points and 4.7 rebounds while shooting .541 from the field... senior guard Biko Johnson averages 13.3 points while senior forward Brody Rowbury leads the team with 6.0 rebounds per game.

 

HOT SHOTS

• WINNING: Portland State is now 6-0 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)... the Vikings' win at Eastern Washington was its first at Reese Court since 2014-15. PSU had lost nine straight in that venue.
• 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 .769 from the field in league games to lead the Big Sky. Minott is 30-39 from the field while averaging 13.0 points, and Big Sky-bests of 11.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots in league games... speaking of field goal shooting, Minott has 41 dunks this season, more than half of his total field goals made (80). His is three dunks short of his PSU record for a season (44) set last year.
• AND THIS GUY IS EVEN BETTER: SO G Kelcy Phipps is also shooting .800 (12-15, 3-4 3-pt FG) while averaging 4.8 points in league play. 
• JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT: Speaking of shooting it well, SR F Terri Miller Jr. is shooting .539 for the season. He averages a team-high 19.1 points and leads the Big Sky Conferencein scoring. Miller is at 21.2 points in Big Sky games, which ranks second... Miller averages 6.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.5 steals as well (6.0/5.3/2.0 in conference)... he had a triple-double against Sacramento State.
• IRON MAN: SR G Jaylin Henderson has played the entire game in the last eight contests (330 consecutive minutes), averaging over 40 minutes per game due to overtimes. He has played nine full games overall and leads the Big Sky in minutes played at 37.0 per contest. He actually averages 41.7 minutes in Big Sky games due to a pair of overtime contests... Henderson averages 17.9 points and a team-leading 6.4 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 6.9 per game, 9.0 in Big Sky games, to lead the league. The Vikings average 12.5 offensive rebounds per game to also lead the Big Sky... SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott leads the Big Sky with 8.9 rebounds per game. JR G Keyon Kensie Jr. ranks third at 7.5 per game. And SR F Terri Miller Jr. is eighth with 6.4 rebounds per game.
• TRENDING: Portland State is undefeated when leading at halftime (8-0), out-rebounding an opponent (10-0) and scoring 80 or more points (7-0)... the Vikings are 11-1 when out-shooting an opponent.
• BIG SKY CONFERENCE LEADERS: Portland State leads the Big Sky Conference in field goal percentage defense (.408), offensive rebounds (12.5), blocked shots (4.5), scoring margin (9.6), rebound margin (+6.9), turnovers forced (13.2) and winning percentage (.706)... SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott leads in rebounding overall (8.9) and in league (11.2) as well as field goal percentage (.769) and blocked shots (2.2) in league games.
• MORE GOOD STUFF THAT DOESN'T FIT ANYWHERE ELSE: JR G Keyon Kensie Jr. had his fifth double-double of the season against Eastern Washington (10 pts, 10 reb). He 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 seven games... SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott ranks sixth all-time in blocked shots (81), second all-time in field goal percentage (.640) and second in dunks (88) at Portland State... JR F Charles Chukwu is 14-15 from the field this season (.933). Throw in his 30-game career at Tulsa a couple of seasons ago and Chukwu is a remarkable 30-38 from the field (.789) as a Division I player.
• STRANGE BUT TRUE: Although they are 12-5, the Vikings have only led at halftime in eight games (8-0) while trailing nine times (4-5).