FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (February 12, 2025) – NAU Men's Basketball (14-11, 5-7) is heading back on the road this week for a Thursday night matchup with the Portland State Vikings (14-10, 6-5) and a Saturday afternoon matchup with the Sacramento State Hornets (6-18, 2-9).
The Lumberjacks are coming off a three-point loss, 83-80, to Montana on Saturday night, after taking down Montana State in a 69-64 final on Thursday night. With six regular season meetings left on the Jacks slate, Northern Arizona will look to jump back in the win column on the road this week, marking the final two-game road trip of the season. The Lumberjacks scoring offense ranks third in the Big Sky, averaging 77.6 points per game while ranking fifth in scoring defense, 71.7.
The Lumberjacks have led the conference in combined team rebounds, posting 39.7 a game, ranking 23
rd amongst DI Basketball programs in the category.
Carson Towt leads the country with 13.0 rebounds per game as he closes in on NAU's all-time career rebounds record set at 1,044 in 1963. Towt currently sits just 21 rebounds shy of 1,000, which will mark him as just the second player in program history to score 1,000+ points and record 1,000+ rebounds at Northern Arizona. Towt has recorded 17 double doubles this season, his most recent coming to Montana as he was just two assists shy of the triple-double, ranking 2
nd in the nation.
With the team finding the advantage in assists in 18 of 25 contests this season,
Jayden Jackson and Towt lead the team individually in the category with 3.6 per game, each just 10 assists shy of 100 on the season, while
Trent McLaughlin trails closely with 87 assists on the season. The three would be the only trio to record 100+ assists individually in the same season at NAU. McLaughlin leads the Jacks in scoring with 21.6 points per game to rank third in the country.
Portland State lost three of the four games during its two weeks away but has been able to hang to third place in the Big Sky Conference - albeit in a tie with Idaho State at 6-5. The six teams between third and eighth place are all separated by a mere game-and-a-half, so volatility in the standings will be high depending on outcomes this week.
Going into this week's play, SR G
Jaylin Henderson leads PSU in scoring (14.0), while SR G
Qiant Myers continues to lead the Vikings and the Big Sky in assists (6.4). SR C
Tre-Vaughn Minott comes off one of the best games of his career as he tied his career highs in scoring (16), blocked shots (4) and steals (3) while setting a new career-high in rebounds (13) at Eastern Washington. SR F
Isaiah Johnson had two big games last week, averaging 19.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.0 steals. His 22 points (10-13 FG) at Idaho was a career high as he led the Vikings to a 76-69 victory.
The Hornets have lost five straight, but three of those losses have come by six points or less. The team's last victory was a 75-71 home win over Idaho State on Jan. 23. The Hornets have dealt with a plethora of injuries this season, but did welcome back
Emil Skytta for both games last week after he missed seven straight contests.
Alex Kovatchev has missed 20 straight games, and
Bowyn Beatty has missed eight straight.
Bailey Nunn went down with 13:31 left at Idaho, and did not return. He is questionable this week. Junior guard
Julian Vaughns is averaging a team-best 15.5 points over the last eight games. That includes five games with 17+ points, and 19 on Saturday at Idaho.
Senior forward
Jacob Holt has established himself as one of the top players in the Big Sky. In league play, he ranks among the conference's top players in scoring (7th, 15.8 ppg), rebounding (4th, 7.2 rpg) and blocks (5th, 0.9). He has scored in double digits in all but six games this season. However, three of those single digit efforts have come in the last four games.
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