Portand State at Pilots Tuesday 12/20 @ 7pm

Portland State (5-4) is on the upswing and goes into the game off a 82-78 road win at USF. The Vikings beat the Dons last Friday and have won four of their last five games. PSU is 2-1 against WCC teams in the preseason with all three games coming on the road. The Vikings won at PU and USF, and lost at LMU.
         
As much as continuing their strong play of late, the Vikings hope to end a five-game losing skid to the Pilots. Can anyone forget PSU's last win against UP on Dec. 2, 2009, when PSU knocked off then-25th-ranked Portland, 86-82, at the Chiles Center?
   
Viking senior guard #11 Calaen Robinson, junior center #30 Traylin Farris and sixth man junior guard #3 Deontae North have played particularly well in the last few games. Robinson had 23 points in last Friday's win at San Francisco to match a career high.  Farris has stepped into the void left by leading scorer junior forward #15 Braxton Tucker who has missed the last four games with knee soreness. Farris scored 43 points with 18 rebounds in last week's two wins, hitting 18-25 shots from the field (.720). North has been electric off the bench, averaging 17.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals in the last four games.

Caution Pilots!  The last time UP beat a Pac-12 team (UCLA) they turned around and lost to PSU after their return to the Chiles Center.

Matt Mobley "only" played 38 minutes for St. Bonaventure against Army last night, so Alec is officially the nation's leader in percentage of minutes played.

Tonight and Thursday are going to be tough games for these tired legs. I've got no illusions that tonight's going to be easy, but a big first-half lead and some Andre Ferguson at the point would be just what the doctor ordered.

I am concerned that there won't be any opportunities for coasting. PSU has played a legit schedule. They opened with Arizona St., and lost in OT to Cal St Fullerton. They also lost @Cal State Bakersfield. Their 5 wins include the two WCC schools, UTRGV, and George Fox and New Hope Christian College.

It seems the coaching staff didn't have the team watch Return of the Jedi yesterday. If they did...they would have been warned:



First half was atrocious. Poor rebounding after the excellent rebounding performance against Oregon State. Good second half of the game, but it wasn't enough.

Exciting game! We've been playing with fire the past few games, and finally got burned.

Remember the lineup that made the comeback:
Wintering, Johnson, Maker, Taylor and Smoyer.
That's the best lineup we've got. Especially if Maker's shots start falling.

Bob Cantu's interview after the game was the best radio about the Pilots I've heard in 15 years, and it only took five minutes. He covered the game (including officiating), the team (using names), our short and long term needs, and next year's recruits. He was honest, direct, and understanding. Wow!

Coach Cantu also used the words "lackadaisical" and "too comfortable" to describe how the team came out. Said that they reacted to beating Oregon State as if it was winning a championship. He said PSU was the better team.

He also said the Fullerton was getting two players back this game, and that they would be as good or better than PSU.

Just saw a picture of Portland State's new gym for the first time. Kind of reminds me of Santa Clara's venue.

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:Just saw a picture of Portland State's new gym for the first time. Kind of reminds me of Santa Clara's venue.

Arrrg, you had to renew this thread....

But yes, the $50 million project was started last summer and should be finished by the summer of 2018...

The good news for the Pilots is that this coming fall's game against the Vikings will most likely be played in the Chiles Center for the second year in a row.