The Portland State men's basketball team has had a solid season thus far. The Vikings have a 13-8 record, two wins over Pac-12 teams, the fourth-highest scoring offense in the country and the second-leading scorer in the Big Sky in Deontae North.
But they don't have a home.
"I don't feel like I've ever coached a real home game at Portland State," first year head coach Barret Peery said. His Vikings, as well as the women's team, play their home games at Division III Lewis & Clark this season.
That will change soon. The Viking Pavilion, a 3,400-seat arena, is scheduled for completion on PSU's campus in early April, two years after construction began. The multi-purpose venue will be an upgrade from the Peter Stott Center, which had seen little improvement since being built in 1966.
"It's going to be such an amazing facility to watch games in. There's not a bad seat in the house," PSU athletic director Valerie Cleary said. "To truly be home on the Park Blocks is going to be phenomenal."
The $51 million project is a collaboration between OHSU, which pitched in $7.5 million, and PSU. Philanthropic gifts and state bonds also have funded the project.
The arena will host men's and women's basketball, as well as volleyball -- which played its home games at Concordia University in the fall. The endeavor is certainly an athletic one, but the concourse will also house a coffee shop, a large study space, and five general classrooms.
"It's really a multi-use facility with a primary emphasis being placed on hosting men's and women's basketball and volleyball," Cleary said.
Renovations of the Stott Center include athletic offices, a larger weight room and an improved sports medicine space.
"Everything, down to how student-athletes drop off their laundry and pick up their clean uniforms, has all been transformed," Cleary said.
By NCAA Division I standards, Portland State's athletic facilities have been outdated.
"We knew we were getting behind some of our conference peers, facility-wise," Cleary said.
Formerly an associate athletic director at PSU, Cleary was the interim athletic director when the project was started. She then spent nearly two years as Willamette University's AD before returning to PSU to replace departed AD Mark Rountree.
"I left right as they broke ground and they (demolished) half of the building and I literally came back just as the building was going back up," she said.
The Viking Pavilion will host PSU athletic events, but also community functions, athletic camps and potentially OSAA events. Cleary also plans to submit bids to host Big Sky Conference tournaments.
Deante Strickland, a Central Catholic product and PSU basketball junior, said that the Vikings' winning season has generated some attention on campus. He's hopeful the arena will also be an attraction for fans next season.
"It's just going to be super exciting. I can't wait for it," he said.
For Peery, the arena has been a key selling point to recruits. He mentions the Viking Pavilion to every prospective player.
"That was something that we really sold hard, the fact that there's going to be a new $51 million arena ready to go when you step on campus next year," he said.
Strickland told PSU commit Kyle Greeley, a West Salem standout, that he's lucky: He gets to play a full career at the Viking Pavilion.
Greeley said that the atmosphere Peery has created at PSU drove his decision to commit, but the Pavilion played a "big role."
"Building a new arena obviously came with it," Greeley said. "That's a huge, huge deal for Portland. I can't wait to play there."
Peery's fast-paced style and winning ways, paired with the arena, could signal a new age for PSU basketball.
Peery believes that Portland is the best city in the Big Sky and that, with a new arena, recruits will be attracted to PSU.
"I think that was always a major roadblock here, we were behind with our facilities, even though we had a lot of other good things," Peery said.
In addition to Greeley, the Vikings have commitments from Southridge 6-foot-10 forward Filip Fullerton and 6-foot-9 forward Trey Wood, from Anthem, Arizona, plus junior college commitments.
Portland State, considered a commuter campus, often struggles with attendance at athletic events. Cleary hopes that the new arena will encourage attendance and student identity with the university.
"To be able to have this right here, on the Park Blocks, with residence halls a block away on each side, the library next door, it's really going to draw people in," she said.
The venue's first event will be a TechFestNW conference on April 5, and its first PSU athletics event will be the Wine and Rose dinner, an annual athletic fundraiser, on April 28.
-- Hayes Gardner for The Oregonian/OregonLive