Update: Greg Oden is still a long way away from returning to the floor, but he at least saw a good show last night in Portland - the Melvin Jones show as Portland State put the hurt on Eastern Washington.

It can be easy to overlook the Vikings in the Big Sky, but Jones' "Blindside" story gives you something to remember both on and off the court for Portland State. Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune, recently wrote about Jones' heartfelt up-bringing in Seattle and now how the 5-10 senior will graduate on time this spring with a degree in child and family studies.  Jones' story will also be the subject of an upcoming segment of NBC's "Today Show", whose crew was on hand Saturday night as the Vikings rolled behind Jones.

“With everything I’ve been through, I feel (social work) would be a good field for me,” says Jones, 23. “I’m pretty sure there are a lot of other people in my shoes who might not have the support I’ve had.

“Since I’ve been through that experience and know what you have to do to overcome that, I can help them. Maybe my story can inspire other people.”

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The third game of conference play for the Portland State Vikings ended with a big win at home against the Eastern Washington Eagles. Behind Chris Harriel (16 points, 12 rebounds and 3 assists) and the hot shooting of Melvin Jones (14 points including 3-6 from three) the VIkings cruised to victory, 74- 58.

Despite having a significant advantage over the Eagles in almost every statistical category coming into the contest, the Vikings could have let the game slip away by allowing the Eagles to out rebound them and get out on the break, an area the Eagles excel in. Keeping the Eagles off the boards, slowing down the pace of the game and using their size advantage comprised the bulk of the Vikings’ game plan, and it worked.

The Eagles made a brief run at the beginning of the second half, capitalizing on lax defense from the Vikings and hitting the outside shot.

The Vikings were unable to get the ball in the paint, the Eagles forced several turn overs, and in turn were able to make the game exciting. However, once the Vikings re-focused and quit trying to match the Eagles’ free wheeling style, the Eagles were once again shut down and the Vikings got the win and bragging rights in the Dam Cup series.

Update: Jim Meehan at the Spokesman-Review takes a look at Gonzaga riding a six-game win-streak into their game tonight against Portland, and are bouncing back from some very early season bumps and bruises that saw the Bulldogs drop 5 of 7 games. Sounds like the Pilots are going to have their work cut out for them, with GU holding its last six opponents to shooting percentages between 32.3 and 36.7.

“We’re competing better, we’re handling adversity better and we’re getting healthier,” head coach Mark Few said. “That would probably be the No. 1 aspect, that we weren’t healthy at all during that (losing streak). Elias (Harris) is feeling better about himself and Steven (Gray) is rounding back into shape.”

WCC play starts today and the University of Portland Pilots are in line for a big challenge.  Their first test comes against preseason conference favorites, the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

The Pilots bring their 12-3 record into the matchup, measured up against Gonzaga’s 10-5 record.   But while Portland boasts the better overall record, Gonzaga has already faced five teams ranked in the top 25 nationally.

The Portland Trail Blazers stormed out of the gate against the Minnesota Timberwolves behind the lights-out shooting of Wesley Matthews. LaMarcus Aldridge, most notably, has stepped up in Brandon Roy’s absence but Matthews’ play has kept the team in the playoff race as the All-Star break nears. Against the Timberwolves, Matthews entered the history books along the way.

“Three Goggles” aplenty

Andre Miller just kept feeding Matthews in the open floor and the Blazers shooting guard kept hitting. He drained a franchise-tying seven three-pointers in the first half on his way to 29 points at intermission. Five threes came in the first quarter alone. Four of those were in succession, as he singlehandedly turned an early three-point lead into a twelve-point advantage. He was in a zone, one unlike any other in his professional career.

Rudy Fernandez and Nicolas Batum joined the fun, as both added a three-pointer to help build what would turn into a 20-point halftime lead. This duo struggled otherwise, but Matthews was extremely efficient. Overall in the first two quarters, Matthews missed just one of his ten shots and scored two points every minute played.

Week in Review 

The Blazers went 2-1 in the last week, with both wins coming against Houston and the sole loss coming against Dallas.   Portland could have easily gone 3-0 if not for a disappointing three-point loss to Dallas, but it could have also just as easily gone 1-2 if not for a narrow three point win against the Rockets, so it’s a wash.  

The only dominant game of the week was the 100-85 win against Houston, where the Blazers held complete control of the game all throughout and never let up like they’ve been prone to do at other times this season. 

Remember last summer when all of the talk about Patty Mills getting offers to play overseas floated around?

If so, consider your memory a touch better than Mills'.

Actually, it's not that Mills doesn't recall the speculation that he'd end up playing somewhere in Europe this season. It's just that the Portland Trail Blazers reserve point guard basically shielded himself from the discussions.

"It didn't even get that far to me," Mills said when asked how many teams were interested in his services.

"There were offers, but it didn't really get back to me because the support staff around me knew where I wanted to be. They knew were I wanted to play and that I should play."