IDAHO STATE BENGALS (10-12, 3-6) at
PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (14-6, 8-1)

Monday, February 2, 2026, 7 p.m. • Viking Pavilion (3,094), Portland, OR
Live Stream: ESPN+ • Play-by-play: Matt Richert • Analyst: Devon Pouncey
Live Stats: www.Vikslive.livestats.us
 

OPENING TIP

Portland State closes out its three-game home stand on Monday night, hosting Idaho State in a Big Sky Conference game. The Vikings, who lead the Big Sky title race at the mid-point of the conference season, will shoot for a chance at a two-game lead in the standings.
     
PSU (14-6, 8-1) comes off a crucial 63-54 win over second-place Montana State on Saturday. That win secured the Vikings lead atop the Big Sky standings by a game-and-a-half. Montana also lost on Saturday, leaving those two teams at 7-3. They are idle on Monday giving PSU a chance to advance its lead in the standings by another 1/2 game with eight remaining in the regular season.
     
Saturday's win came behind a career game from SO G Keyon Kensie Jr. He posted career-highs of 24 points (9-16 FG, 3-5 3-pt, 3-4 FT) four assists and five steals while adding six rebounds and a blocked shot. Kensie's performance was important for a Viking team that hasn't been on its best offensive roll in recent games. Although PSU has won four of its last five, it has not scored more than 69 points in any of those games, averaging 64.0 points. The Vikings had been averaging nearly 83 points prior to that. The key in that stretch of play has been PSU's defense holding opponents to 59.4 points and .396 field goal shooting.
     
So, Portland State will look for an improved offensive performance against Idaho State, a team it beat in Pocatello on Jan. 3. PSU won 93-87 in overtime after erasing a 17-point second-half deficit. SR F Terri Miller Jr. hit a three-pointer with three seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime. The Vikings took control from there to get the win.
     
Despite the loss to Portland State on Jan. 3, Idaho State (10-12, 3-6) started Big Sky play well. But the Bengals have hit hard times, losing their last four games in a row and dropping into a tie for seventh in the Big Sky Conference standings.
     
ISU has the size to compete with the Vikings, rebounds the ball well and features the league's top shot blocker in center Evan Otten.
     
Portland State goes into Monday's game with an 8-2 home record, and have won eight of the last nine in conference play. Idaho State is 3-8 on the road and has lost its last three road games.
     
Monday's game can be seen on ESPN+. Tickets are available at www.GoViks.com. Live stats can also be found at GoViks.com.
 

COMING UP

The Vikings' next game is Saturday at Sacramento State. PSU is on the road at Northern Arizona (Feb. 12) and Northern Colorado (Feb. 14) next week.
 

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. IDAHO STATE

• ALL-TIME SERIES: Portland State leads the all-time series with Idaho State, 43-25, and the Big Sky series, 39-21... PSU is 23-7 in Big Sky home games against the Bengals... Idaho State has won three of the last four meetings overall. Portland State had won nine of 10 prior to that.
• EARLIER THIS SEASON: Jan. 3, 2026 at Pocatello, PSU 93, ISU 87 (ot): PSU came back from a second-half deficit, tied the game on a final shot in regulation, then took control in overtime for the win. The Vikings were down by 17 points with 15 minutes to play, 10 with under four minutes left, and eight with less than two minutes to play.... No doubt the biggest play of the night was Terri Miller Jr.'s game-tying three-pointer with three seconds left in regulation. The shot sent the game to overtime and it was all PSU after that... Miller had a game-high 25 points on 10-15 field goals, scoring 19 in the second half. Jaylin Henderson scored 19 points with seven assists and six rebounds. Kelcy Phipps added 15 points off the bench... Portland State ended up shooting .533 from the field, including 20-32 (.625) in the second half and overtime... Martin Kheil led the Bengals with 20 points. Caleb Van De Greind had 17 points and 10 rebounds. 
• 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 76-70. He is 7-4 against Idaho State... the Bengals are coached by Ryan Looney (Eastern Oregon, 1998) in his seventh season. Looney is 68-124 overall, including 4-10 against the Vikings.

SCOUTING THE BENGALS

• Idaho State is an original member of the Big Sky Conference. The Bengals have won four Big Sky regular season championships, four Big Sky Tournament Championships and made five appearances in the NCAA Tournament... last season the Bengals were 15-15 overall, 10-8 and fourth in the Big Sky.
• The Bengals are 10-12 this season, 3-6 in the Big Sky... ISU averages 75.6 points and allows 74.0 points per game. The Bengals shoot .461 from the field, .342 from three-point range and .739 at the line. They out-rebound opponents by 3.6 per game.
• Senior forward Connor Hollenbeck averages 13.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and has made 38 three-point field goals... senior forward Caleb Ven De Griend averages 12.0 points and a team-high 6.5 rebounds per game... sophomore center Evan Otten is the Big Sky leader in blocked shots (39).

HOT SHOTS

• JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT: JR G Keyon Kensie Jr. had the game of his career in Saturday's win over Montana State. Kensie had career-highs of 24 points (9-16 FG, 3-5 3-pt, 3-4 FT), four assists and five steals. He added six rebounds and a blocked shot. Kensie scored 18 of his 24 in the second half, including hitting 3-3 three-pointers in leading the Vikings to victory... for the season, Kensie averages 11.5 points and 7.3 rebounds.
• MILLER TIME: SR F Terri Miller Jr. proved last week that the second half of games is Miller time for the Vikings. Leading by a single point at Eastern Washington, Miller scored seven points with a blocked shot and an assist in the final 1:47 of the game, leading the Vikings to a 65-61 win. With SR G Jaylin Henderson on the bench with foul trouble for most of the second half at Idaho, Miller scored 20 of his game-high 29 points in a 69-66 win. For his performance, Miller was named Big Sky Conference Player of the Week on Tuesday... in Saturday's win over Montana State, Miller scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half... earlier this season, Miller hit a three-pointer at Idaho State with three seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime and an eventual Viking win.... Miller currently leads the Vikings in scoring and ranks second in the Big Sky (19.2) while ranked in the top eight in rebounds (6.2), assists (3.9) and shooting (.531)... in conference play he averages 20.8 points and 4.6 assists. 
• DUNK YOU VERY MUCH: SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott broke his own school record for dunks in a season and set a new school record for dunks in a career last week. Minott now has 48 dunks (previous record, 44). He has 95 career dunks, passing Scott Morrison (91) for the career for that record... Minott's 48 dunks account from more than half of his field goals (91).
• 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 .732 from the field in league games to lead the Big Sky. Minott is 41-56 from the field while averaging 11.8 points, and Big Sky-bests of 9.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots in league games.
• IRON MAN: SR G Jaylin Henderson played the entire game in eight straight contests (330 consecutive minutes) before having to sit down in the second half at Idaho due to foul problems. His stretch of consecutive minutes played was 354. He leads the Big Sky in minutes (36.7) and ranks in the top 10 in the nation... Henderson averages 16.8points and a team-leading 6.3 assists and 1.7 steals.
• WINNING: This season, Portland State reached 7-0 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... PSU has won four in a row on the road. The school record for consecutive road wins is five (1954-55).
• CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARDS: Portland State has been dominant on the boards this season.  The Vikings have out-rebounded opponents by an average of 5.8 per game to lead the league... SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott leads the Big Sky with 8.7 rebounds per game. JR G Keyon Kensie Jr. ranks third at 7.3 per game. And SR F Terri Miller Jr. is eighth with 6.2 rebounds per game.
• TRENDING: Portland State is undefeated when leading at halftime (10-0) and scoring 80 or more points (7-0)... the Vikings are 11-1 when out-rebounding opponents, 13-1 when out-shooting an opponent.
• BIG SKY CONFERENCE LEADERS: Portland State leads the Big Sky Conference in field goal percentage defense (.407), scoring defense (69.6), blocked shots (4.4), steals (7.7), scoring margin (8.6), rebound margin (+5.8), steals (7.8), turnovers forced (13.4) and winning percentage (.700)... SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott leads in rebounding overall (8.7) and in league (9.9) as well as blocked shots (1.9) in league games.
• DEFENSIVE PRESENCE: In addition to leading the Big Sky Conference in seven defensive categories, the Vikings held Montana State to .339 shooting in Saturday's win. That was the lowest mark by a Division I opponent this season... in the last four games, PSU has held opponents to 18-77 from three-point range (.234, 4.5 pg).
• MORE GOOD STUFF THAT DOESN'T FIT ANYWHERE ELSE: SO G Kelcy Phipps continues to be a key player off the bench for the Vikings. In 27 minutes against Montana State, he scored 10 points (4-5 FG, 2-3 3-pt). Phipps is shooting .548 for the season and .459 from three-point range to lead the team... SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott had his sixth double-double of the season against Montana (12 pts, 12 reb). JR G Keyon Kensie has five double-doubles this season... SR C Tre-Vaughn Minott ranks sixth all-time in blocked shots (85), second all-time in field goal percentage (.642) and first in dunks (95) at Portland State... JR F Charles Chukwu is 14-16 from the field this season (.875). Throw in his 30-game career at Tulsa a couple of seasons ago and Chukwu is a remarkable 30-39 from the field (.769) as a Division I player.
• STRANGE BUT TRUE: Although they are 14-6, the Vikings have only led at halftime in 10 games (10-0) while trailing 10 times (4-6).
• WE ARE TRIVIA: Portland State will be playing its 400th home game since reinstating the basketball program and joining the Big Sky Conference 30 years ago (1996-97). PSU is 282-117 in the first 399 games... earlier this season, PSU won its 900th game in program history (65 seasons). PSU is 908-875 all-time...  also this season, PSU played its 100th game in Viking Pavilion (opened for the 2018-19 season).... Saturday's attendance of 1,795 fans at Viking Pavilion was the most in the Jase Coburn era (five seasons) and the most since 2019... with one more win, Coach Jase Coburn can tie Ken Bone for sixth in career wins as a head coach at PSU. Coburn is currently 76-70. Bone was 77-49 in four seasons and won two Big Sky Conference Championships.