Never in the history of basketball on the campus of Portland State have the two basketball squads carried more momentum and excitement after just one-third of the conference season completed.
For the first time since joining the Division I ranks and reinstating basketball as a school sport in 1996, both the Portland State men’s and women’s programs seem destined for postseason play.
The men have endured through an arduous schedule and came out looking just as prepared to tear through the conference as they did last year. The women have also performed brilliantly, defeating BYU, University of Portland and Utah State, and falling in overtime against Syracuse.
But success and undergoing the difficult schedule for both squads has come at a price.
As the midpoint of the season rapidly approaches, both teams are battling through injuries of all sorts.
For the men, the list of injured players includes reigning Big Sky Conference MVP Jeremiah Dominguez, who missed two games earlier this year with an injured right index finger.
Dominguez dominated the Big Sky last season and has played well thus far this year, but he has yet to control the game in the same way he did when he took home the hardware. The finger is only one factor in that equation, as teams are now preparing and focusing more on the senior point guard.
In addition to Dominguez’s early season injury, the Vikings also lost sophomore wing Paul Guede to a stress fracture in his foot. The small forward was expected to help the Vikings defensively this year, but has played a total of 25 minutes thus far.
While junior forward Jamie Jones is suffering from a right wrist injury that has hindered the southpaw in his rebounding and defense, the latest injury to the men’s squad was only clear with a mask.
Junior forward Phil Nelson played Sunday’s game wearing a protective face mask. The mask, similar to the one worn by Detroit Pistons guard Richard Hamilton, should help Nelson from suffering any further damage to bones around his right eye.
In a game against Northern Arizona on Jan. 4, Nelson knocked heads with a Lumberjack player and a head scan revealed four small breaks around his eye.
“You sometimes wonder if a guy that has to wear a mask, or if a guy is sick or whatever, if that actually helps a guy focus,” said head coach Ken Bone after Nelson’s 23-point performance versus Idaho State. “It wouldn’t surprise me if [the mask] just helped him focus that much more on shooting the ball.”
And while the men are certainly suffering from the injury bug as much as any team in the Big Sky, the women are working to overcome an injury to one of their top performers.
Junior point guard Claire Faucher has been hindered all year with what head coach Sherri Murrell called a “tweaked ankle” and a injured hip.
“She broke her ankle in high school and has tweaked it a couple of times this year,” Murrell said. “Her hip is just really weak as well and because of it we are having to hold her out of practice most of the week.”
While neither the men’s or the women’s teams have exactly struggled without some of their expected contributors, both coaches have had to adjust to playing, at least temporarily, without a full squad.
“We have made a bit of a lineup adjustment by bringing Eryn Jones in to play with Claire, and that has worked well,” Murrell said.
Jones has handled many of the traditional point guard duties during Faucher’s recovery, much the same way that Dominic Waters and Mickey Polis filled in for Dominguez earlier in the season.
Juggling lineups is certainly less than ideal for two squads that are vying for the regular season conference championship, but both coaches are looking forward to a scheduling lull over the next two weeks.
Between now and Jan. 29, the women play just three games while the men have only two contests scheduled.
“The break will be good for us,” Bone said, “We are going to rest and try to get a bit healthier.”