Portland State men’s basketball has lost four consecutive games entering the holiday break.
That in itself isn’t groundbreaking. The Viks lost three straight games before the new year in 2008, finishing the year in the NCAA Tournament. In fact, most years, including two of the last three seasons, the Viks have a swoon this time of year.
While some growing pains are to be expected this time of year, especially considering a complete staff and roster turnover in the last 18 months, PSU hasn’t been great, especially on offense.
The Viks’ effective field goal percentage (a shooting metric that adjusts for points scored) is just 39.4 percent, worse than all but three teams in Division I this season. That stat is impacted heavily by their 3-point shooting, which has been equally as bad, just 24.6 percent, or worse than all but five teams at the top level.
Yet we know the Viks aren’t bad shooters. They’ve shown they can hit their free throws as well as almost any team in the country, shooting 74.1% from the line, a metric that typically echoes strong shooting from distance.
Head coach Jase Coburn has repeatedly said he trusts his team to turn around that shooting slump, based on practice and personal history of each player, many of whom shot a high percentage from deep before this season.
Nonetheless, the shooting woes have overwhelmed strong defensive performances and great rebounding numbers and have left the Viks losing a series of close games against winnable opponents.
Those losses only look worse as those opponents continue to struggle.
Cal Poly had lost 34 straight regular-season away games (the last win on Jan 31, 2019, three seasons ago) before its 61-58 win at the Pavilion last week and has gone on to lose two more road games this week.
The Viks fell behind big at Cal State-Northridge this week, mounting a furious comeback to take the lead late only to lose, 69-66. CSUN then immediately lost at home to Bethesda College (Calif.), an NCCAA team that entered the game 2-10 with its only wins over fellow tomato cans Embry Riddle and Life Pacific.
Even the season-opening loss at Oregon State is starting to look bad. The Beavers, who entered the year as defending Pac-12 champions, followed their win over the Viks with 10 straight losses, including home games to Samford and UC Davis. UCD itself had lost earlier in the season to the Academy of Art.
Now, the transitive property is flimsy. Portland State isn’t worse than a glorified junior college and likewise wasn’t going to be Elite Eight contenders had it pulled out a win in Corvallis.
The Viks have a week off without classes to sort out some kinks and get into a rhythm ahead of Big Sky play next week. Better, they’re already 1-1 in the conference after this season’s early jump and will host their first two league games at home against Eastern Washington and Idaho, who also have had rough starts to the season.
Eastern also lost to UC Davis and went to overtime with CSUN. Like PSU, Idaho only has one win over a Division I opponent this season and will be entering the Pavilion off a cross-country trip from Flagstaff.
The opportunity is there for a quick turnaround, but will the Viks take it?
BREAKING FREE
The PSU women enter the break in much different circumstances.
Struggling themselves with shooting slumps, the Viks broke free in their final nonconference game of the season, thumping Simpson as every PSU player contributed to the scoreboard.
The game follows breakthrough shooting performances from Jada Lewis and Esmerelda Morales in the previous two games.
The Big Sky start on the Palouse also looks to be an easier open than it has been in the past, with both EWU and Idaho struggling after their own bit of offseason roster turnover.
Worryingly, that Viks win came following a familiar turn of events a few days prior.
Portland State had to axe its trip to Southern California on short notice when Long Beach State canceled its game against the Viks after a spike in COVID cases in its program.
The LBSU spike follows similar rises in infections around the country and across sports leagues.
The surge in cases has caused most of the other major leagues in the West to rescind their rules on forfeiting games due to COVID, with the Pac-12, Mountain West and Big West all walking back their policies this week.
The WCC and Big Sky haven’t made decisions yet on changes to their forfeiture rules but league officials in Ogden said they expect to have it figured out before the restart of play next week.
AD SEARCH BLOCKED UP
Speaking of administrative decisions, Portland State still hasn’t made progress on its search for an athletic director, more than five months after former AD Val Cleary announced her resignation this summer.
Reports are the school has been working with the search firm of former University of Washington AD Todd Turner to “craft a profile” for the position but still hasn’t started the search.
All indications this fall have been that the university has looked to recoup some of its COVID-related financial losses in the athletic department by delaying its hire of a permanent AD.
However, interim AD Linda Williams always intended for her role to be temporary and her contract is running out quickly.
We’ll see how that oncoming immediacy impacts the continuing — or not continuing — search.
GRIDIRON ADDITIONS
In brighter news, Portland State picked up another football commit immediately after the early signing period ended.
Los Angeles-area cornerback Elijah Gipson (5-foot-10, 170 pounds), a three-star recruit who helped his high school reach the CIF-Southern Section Division 5 title game this season, marked his commitment to the Viks this weekend.
Former Vikings offensive lineman Tyshon Mosley signed this week with the Indoor Football League’s Green Bay Blizzard.
Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Montana State has rolled into the FCS title game, pummeling South Dakota State, 31-17, in front of a frenzied crowd in Bozeman.
The Bobcats, who lost their starting quarterback to the transfer portal a few days before the FCS playoffs began, have been dominant all postseason, winning their three games by an average of 19 points.
They’ll take on perennial favorite North Dakota State on Jan. 8., in South Fargo Frisco, Texas for the title.
Meanwhile, the two Idaho schools have found their new football coaches.
Idaho completed its hire of highly-decorated SDSU assistant Jason Eck this week. (Moscow-Pullman Daily News)
Idaho State hired Cal special teams coordinator Charlie Ragle to lead its program just before signing day. (Idaho State Journal)
Those additions come with another change in the Big Sky, with Cal Poly joining the rest of the conference in eschewing real grass for something with slightly less maintenance.
Meanwhile, in the pros, former EWU standout Cooper Kupp is somehow outperforming his high school stats in a remarkable season that is on pace to break the all-time NFL record for receiving yards. He has 122 catches for the LA Rams this season, already a franchise record, 1,625 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns with three games to play.
The NFL record for receiving yards in a season is 1,964 set by Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson in 2012, fittingly enough also with Matt Stafford under center. Kupp needs just 339 yards, or 113 yards per game over his last three to top that mark. That is right at his season average.
He needs just 28 catches, or roughly nine a game, to break the all-time receptions mark set by Saints WR Michael Thomas in 2019, which would make Kupp the first receiver in league history with 150 catches in a season.
He is much further from the touchdowns record of 23, set by Randy Moss in 2007.
Kupp, who makes his offseason home in the Portland area, is getting MVP buzz from a handful of legitimate outlets because of the gaudy numbers.
Portland State alum Patrick Onwuasor took seven special teams snaps for the Las Vegas Raiders in a 16-14 win, returning after sitting out nearly a month with a hamstring injury. As he returns to health, Onwuasor’s role could expand if the Raiders feature any more COVID-related losses in their linebacker corps.
THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
On Dec. 23, 2008, Portland State did the unthinkable, upsetting then-No. 7 Gonzaga in Spokane, 77-70.
Jeremiah Dominguez scored 25 points in the win, leading the Viks to their first win over a ranked team since it reinstating their basketball program in 1996-97.
The Viks are undefeated against Gonzaga since, having avoided their Northwest counterparts since that monumental night.
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