Big Sky Tournament: Northern Arizona v. Portland State

Who will WIN this matchup?

Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (5-15)

Portland State Vikings (9-12)

Current odds:

Northern Arizona Lumberjacks: (+210)

Portland State Vikings: (-250)

• The line for this game is Portland State by 6.5 points.

• The Lumberjacks head into the conference tournament as the No. 10 seed, fresh off a bye week. The bye week was used to refine some areas on the court, and make up for the two weeks lost between games at the beginning of February due to COVID-19 protocols.

• Following its return to competition from the shutdown, NAU dropped four straight to close out the regular season, including two losses to eventual Big Sky regular season champion Southern Utah on Feb. 24 and 26. The Lumberjacks pushed the Thunderbirds in an 85-80 loss in Cedar City, Utah in the first game, before falling to Southern Utah in the regular season finale at home, 92-62.

• Junior Cameron Shelton, a likely all-conference selection when the All-Big Sky teams are announced on Monday, concluded the regular season with team-high averages of 20.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He is one of two players in the conference, alongside his counterpart on Wednesday in Portland State’s James Scott, to lead their respective teams in all four categories. Shelton ranks 24th in the country with a Big Sky leading 20.2 points per game and has scored in double-figures in all but two games this season. He also has logged at least 20 points, five rebounds and four assists in 10 of 20 games.

• While Shelton is averaging 17.5 points per game in his career versus Portland State, Avdalovic has been a thorn to the Vikings’ side. In four career games against the Vikings, Avdalovic is averaging 17.3 points per game – his highest career scoring average versus a Big Sky opponent – on 60 percent (24-of-40) shooting overall and a scorching 58.1 percent (18-of-31) from three-point range. In last season’s 84-82 home victory on Jan. 25, 2020, Avdalovic netted a career-high 25 points, while draining 7-of-11 threes. Two of Avdalovic’s five career 20-point games have come at mercy of the Vikings, and he has hit four or more treys in three of four contests.

• NAU and Portland State will actually be meeting for the first time this season after their season series scheduled for Feb. 11 and 13 in Flagstaff was canceled due to COVID-19 protocols within the Lumberjack program.

• Portland State concluded the regular season with two home losses to Southern Utah and wound up as the conference tournament’s No. 7 seed as a result of a tiebreaker over Northern Colorado. The Thunderbirds clinched the regular season title with a victories by the score of 68-58 and 73-54 over the Vikings on Thursday and Saturday. With the two losses, the Vikings take a 9-12 overall record and 6-8 conference mark into the conference tournament.

• Scott leads the Vikings, who closed the season by winning four of their last seven Big Sky games after a 2-5 start to conference play, with averages of 13.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game. In conference games, Scott averaged 15.5 points per game while shooting 35.7 percent behind the arc. Although he averaged just 4.3 points per game in conference play, Jacob Eyman is the Big Sky’s premier shot blocker averaging 1.6 per game in Big Sky action.

• Portland State prides itself on its defense, ranking second in scoring defense in all games (66.0) and conference games (65.4). A lot of that is due to the Vikings ranking 22nd in the country in turnovers forced per game (16.2) and 35th in steals per game (8.2). On the offensive glass, the Vikings are also one of the nation’s leading teams averaging the 12th-most o-boards per game at 13.2.