Men's Basketball | 11/24/2025 12:45:00 PM

Game #9
Who | Utah Tech (4-4) vs. Portland State (3-2)
When | Tuesday, Nov. 25 – 7 p.m.
Where | Burns Arena – St. George, Utah
Broadcast | ESPN+ / 99.5 The Fan Sports Network
Social Media | Instagram + Twitter (X) + #UtahTechBlazers

SCOUTING PORTLAND STATE
Portland State is 3-2 on the season coming off a pair of wins at home last week defeating CSU Bakersfield, 93-80 on Monday and Evergreen State, 90-61 on Wednesday.

The Vikings opened the season at Stanford falling 89-79 to the Cardinal and also have a win over Northwest Indian (122-74) and a loss at San Francisco (70-80).

PSU is coming off a 19-13 overall record in 2024-25 and finished third in the Big Sky regular season standings with a 11-7 mark.

The Vikings were picked second in both the preseason coaches' and media poll behind Big Sky preseason favorite Montana.

As a team, PSU leads the Big Sky in offensive rebounds per game (14.8), scoring offense (90.8), three point percentage (38.4) and turnovers forced per game (15.00).

Individualy, senior guard Jaylin Henderson leads the Big Sky and ranks 23rd nationally averaging 21.8 points per game.

Senior center Tre-Vaughn Minott ranks second in the conference averaging 8.6 boards per game.

Henderson also leads the conference in steals per game (2.40) and ranks fourth in assists per game (5.0).

SERIES HISTORY VS. PORTLAND STATE
The Trailblazers and Vikings meet for the second time in program history after the two met in Portland last season.

The Vikings defeated the Trailblazers, 71-68 at Viking Pavilion.

Falling behind 37-26 at halftime, UT continued to trail by 11 with four minutes to play in regulation.

UT answered back with an 11-0 run over the next two-plus minutes to tie the score at 68 after a three-pointer by Justin Bieker. The final three points of the game went to PSU on three free throws.

UTAH TECH VS. BIG SKY OPPONENTS
In addition to playing Portland State, the Trailblazers have also played Idaho (1-1), Montana (0-1) and Weber State (1-2).

Utah Tech faces Weber State in Ogden on Dec. 20.

LAST TIME OUT VS. NOBEL
Jusaun Holt led five Trailblazers in double figures with 17 points as Utah Tech doubled up visiting Nobel University, 96-48, on Friday night inside the Burns Arena.

Holt knocked down four of his five shot attempts in the win and went 7-of-9 at the foul line. The redshirt senior guard also blocked a season-high three shots, and collected two rebounds, two assists and two steals in just 25 minutes of action.

Noah Bolanga tied a season-high with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting, while Boston Harker posted career highs of 14 points and six rebounds in 28 minutes off the bench. Tanner Davis chipped in 11 points on 5-of-6 from the floor, and Trujillo finished with 10 points.

Utah Tech shot a season-high 59.3 percent (32-of-54) on the night, including a 7-of-21 (.333) effort from the perimeter.

The Trailblazers also hit on a season-best 78.1 percent (25-of-32) from the foul line, outrebounded the Knights by a 42-33 count, and finished with 16 assists to just nine turnovers.

TRAILBLAZERS TAKE ONE OF THREE CONTESTS IN HAWAI'I
The Trailblazers went 1-2 at the OUTRIGGER Rainbow Classic hosted by the University of Hawai'i on Nov. 12-15.

Utah Tech defeated Mississippi Valley State, 81-75 on Nov. 14 in double overtime while dropping close contests to Manhattan, 79-75 on Nov. 12 and 68-62 to Hawaii on Nov. 15.

POTTER & TRUJILLO EARN ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS IN HAWAI'I
Senior center Ethan Potter and redshirt sophomore guard Chance Trujillo earned OUTRIGGER Rainbow Classic All-Tournament honors with Potter leading the Trailblazers with double-doubles against Manhattan (20 pts. & 11 reb.) & Mississippi Valley State (22 pts. & 13 reb.) and added a team-high 15 points against Hawai'i.

Trujillo averaged 12 points, two assists and a steal over the three games on the islands and scored 15 points against Manhattan while drilling four three-pointers.

TRAILBLAZRS AT ARIZONA STATE & NO. 13 ARIZONA
The Trailblazers opened their five-game road swing with a pair of games at No. 13 Arizona on Nov. 7 and Arizona State two days later.

The Trailblazers battled tough against the Wildcats falling 93-67 to No. 13 Arizona at the McKale Memorial Center.

UT was led in scoring by Potter who finished with 15 points and tied for the team lead with six rebounds.

Freshman guard Tanner Davis tallied his second double figure contest of the season chipping in 11 points and Noah Bolanga rounded out the double digit scorers with 10 points to go along with six rebounds and a pair of steals.

Taking on the Sun Devils two days later, the Trailblazers fell 81-66 to ASU with Trujillo leading the team with 15 points.

Bolanga added 13 points, Potter tallied 12 points and grabbed a career-high eight rebounds & Jusaun Holt rounded out the double digit scorers with 11 points and dished out a team-leading four assists.

WHERE THE TRAILBLAZERS RANK IN THE WAC/NCAA IN 2025-26
Utah Tech comes into Tuesday night's contest leading the WAC in three point attempts (26.0), are second in free throws made (16.0), three pointers made per game (7.3) & turnovers per game (12.4). The Trailblazers are third in scoring offense (79.8), three point percentage defense (28.0) and turnover margin (1.6).

Individually, Potter leads the WAC and ranks 25th nationally in rebounds with 62 boards and sits second in the conference and in points (125).

Trujillo ranks second in the WAC in free throw percentage (88.0), third in minutes per game (34:07) & three pointers per game (2.13).

Davis ranks second in the WAC in steals with 12 and Bolanga ranks third in the conference with 87 field goal attempts.

GAMES A PLENTY
The Trailblazers are one of 11 Division I programs who will have played at least eight games this season after action on Monday.

Utah Tech is joined by Binghamton, Maryland Eastern Shore, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, St. Thomas, North Dakota, Troy, VMI, Green Bay, Texas State and Radford.

GREAT DEFENSE
The Trailblazers held an opponent under 50 points on Friday against Nobel for the first time since Dec. 15, 2021 against SAGU-American Indian (49).

HOME COOKING
The Trailblazers are 172-63 (.732) overall at Burns Arena in the NCAA era.

Utah Tech has recorded 14 winnings seasons in 19 seasons in St. George in its NCAA era, including a perfect 12-0 in 2008-09.

The Blazers are 2-0 at home this season season and are 37-33 (.529) at home in the Division I era.

HOT HOME START
With a win over the Vikings on Tuesday, the Trailblazers will be off to its first 3-0 home start since 2022-23. UT started the season 6-0 at home that season.

UP NEXT
The Trailblazers close out their three-game homestand on Saturday afternoon hosting UC Riverside (3-3) at 3 p.m.