Portland State Falls to Oregon

Portland State traveled to Eugene on Monday night, and they lost 79-70 to a solid Oregon team. After coming back from a deficit to cut the lead to as little as three, they just didn't have enough to get over the hump to secure what would have been a huge road win.

Michael Harthun hit a three from the deep corner with 1:25 to play and it was 71-68. Then, Oregon's Devoe Joseph responded by hitting a tough, driving shot to hold the Vikings off.

"That was a tough shot. I thought we played pretty good defense. We just needed to get one stop. We get one there and the game changes," said Head Coach Tyler Geving.

The Vikings had four players in double figures, led by 16 from Chehales Tapscott. But they couldn't overcome too tough performances from their stars.

Charles Odum shot just 4/13 from the field, uncharacteristic for him because he is a very efficient player. Big man Nate Lozeau also struggled to get anything going, finishing with 4 points and 5 rebounds before fouling out.

Portland State will have no time to stew over this game, as they have a big home one against Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday. The Vikings still sit at 5-4, but they don't have a lot of impressive wins. Winning on Thursday would be a really nice one for them to get.

Follow me on Twitter @bigskybball

An Early Look at Portland State's Schedule

Portland State was one of the last schedules released among the Big Sky teams, so let's take a look at some of their key games, most notably their out of conference slate.

They start the season on the road on November 11 against Denver out of the Sun Belt Conference. While not a marquee game by any stretch of the imagination, Denver has been a respectable team over the past couple of years, so a road win to start the year would be solid.

Two other conference road games of note are against Oregon and Oregon State, and it would be huge if they could beat even one of the in-state rivals. They will play Oregon on December 12 and Oregon State on December 18th. Oregon is coming off of a solid first year under Dana Altman, and Oregon State has recruited some nice players under Craig Robinson, but these are games the Vikings should go into thinking they can win. Their other non-conference road games come against Utah Valley and Cal State Fullerton.

Their home slate, like is customary for Big Sky teams, is not one that is going to excite a lot of fans. They take on Seattle, Linfield, Walla Walla, and Cal State Bakersfield. On the one hand, this is not a lot of competition and they should win these games. On the other hand, it could be nice confidence builders for them before the Big Sky season. Late in the year they will get a home Bracket Busters game.

They will also play in the Jim Thorpe Classic in Laramie. There they will take on the hometown Wyoming Cowboys, and then have neutral court games against Louisiana Tech and Maryland East-Shore. Talent-wise they should come out of that 2-1.

This will be an interesting season for Coach Tyler Geving and Portland State. After a couple of bad seasons following the departure of Ken Bone, expectations are starting to pick back up, as on paper this team has the talent to finish near the top of the Big Sky. How they fare in the non-conference slate will certainly be a harbinger of what is to come in conference play. With their schedule, 9 wins should be a reachable goal, and anything less than 8 would be a little disappointing, in my opinion.

What do you think? What is a reasonable expectation for the Vikings in the non-conference?

An Early Look at Eastern Washington's Schedule

After checking out Weber State's schedule, it's time to look at Eastern Washington's (since they are one of the few that has released their schedule)!

Weber State's had a nice balance of home games and away games, but Eastern Washington is not quite so fortunate. Such are the breaks for mid-major teams sometimes.

Their home slate in the non-conference features South Dakota, UC Davis, Linfield, and Pacific Lutheran. Suffice to say it would be extremely disappointing if they lost any of those games. On the road, however, they were not afraid to challenge themselves.

They will start the year by traveling to Gonzaga on November 11, a team that is the favorite in the West Coast Conference. It will be a tough matchup for EWU inside, but should be an entertaining game against an in-state rival. A week later they will travel to face Oregon, who will be brimming with confidence in year 2 of Dana Altman's tenure, after winning the CIT in his first season.

Their next major conference opponent is Dec 3 against Washington St, another emotional game featuring an in-state rival. While the Cougars lost Klay Thompson, they return guys like DeAngelo Casto, Reggie Moore, and the underrated Brock Motum. On December 14th they will travel to UCLA. The Bruins lost a couple guys early to the NBA Draft, but they will be a fringe top 25 team with Josh Smith and Reeves Nelson still in the mix. Finally, they will travel to take on St. Mary's, fresh off a 25 win season and likely to be playing with a chip on their shoulders.

That is 5 tough road games for Eastern Washington in the non-conference... if they could win 2 of them, they would have to feel very good about themselves. Jim Hayford is not afraid to test his team early on in the season.