Thursday, December 18
6:30 pm MT/7:30 pm CT
Montana State University
at
South Dakota
Junior guard Marcus Colbert leads the Bobcats to South Dakota Thursday
Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson
MSU Road Trip Continues with First Trip to Vermillion, SD, Since 1946
12/17/2014 4:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bobcats square off with Coyotes in matchup of similar squads
Brian Fish might not see an exact reflection of his team when he scouts South Dakota, but it certainly looks familiar.
"They play hard and look to shoot the three," Montana State's first-year head coach said of his team's next opponent, which the Cats face on . "We will have to be good at talking on defense or they will make us pay. We need to play hard and get all the 50/50 balls."
Each team, in fact, likes to shoot the three-pointer, and is fairly good at it. MSU shoots nearly 23 treys a game and stands among the nation's top 50 teams in three-pointers made, while the Coyotes shoots nearly 20 a game and their total (67) is among the nation's top 70 teams.
Scrappy guard play stands as the leading characteristic of each team in Thursday's matchup, which is aired in the upper Midwest on MidCo Sports Network and streamed live on goyotes.com. Brandon Bos, South Dakota's 6-1 senior, averages 17.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists a game. Senior Tyler Larson also gets plenty done from his wing spot, getting 15.9 points a game.
The Coyotes have played a schedule similar to MSU, with only two true home games in the season's first two months. The team is 3-8, but lost close neutral site games to Sam Houston State (triple overtime) and Wofford, and road games by less than 11 at Creighton (in overtime), Stanford, Fairfield, Utah Valley and Youngstown State. USD also won at Cal State Northridge, where MSU dropped a narrow road decision.
The Bobcats will have been on the road six days by tipoff Thursday, and won't return until after Saturday's game at Portland on Sunday. But in between, Fish has liked what his squad has accomplished. "The time on the road together has been a positive," he said. "We've had good practices and gotten some stuff done. This is a time when teams get better because they can focus on basketball."
MSU finishes the road trip short-handed, with Stephan Holm and Ryan Shannon in Bozeman with injuries. In their absence Sunday at Wyoming, Marcus Colbert poured in 18 points and Terrell Brown added 14 for the Bobcats. That extends a season-long trend of offensive contributions from different spots on the floor. Five different players have led the Cats in scoring this season, and no one more than three times (Dison) in the team's nine games.
After the current road trip, MSU closes its non-conference slate by hosting Wyoming on Tuesday, Dec. 23.
"They play hard and look to shoot the three," Montana State's first-year head coach said of his team's next opponent, which the Cats face on . "We will have to be good at talking on defense or they will make us pay. We need to play hard and get all the 50/50 balls."
Each team, in fact, likes to shoot the three-pointer, and is fairly good at it. MSU shoots nearly 23 treys a game and stands among the nation's top 50 teams in three-pointers made, while the Coyotes shoots nearly 20 a game and their total (67) is among the nation's top 70 teams.
Scrappy guard play stands as the leading characteristic of each team in Thursday's matchup, which is aired in the upper Midwest on MidCo Sports Network and streamed live on goyotes.com. Brandon Bos, South Dakota's 6-1 senior, averages 17.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists a game. Senior Tyler Larson also gets plenty done from his wing spot, getting 15.9 points a game.
The Coyotes have played a schedule similar to MSU, with only two true home games in the season's first two months. The team is 3-8, but lost close neutral site games to Sam Houston State (triple overtime) and Wofford, and road games by less than 11 at Creighton (in overtime), Stanford, Fairfield, Utah Valley and Youngstown State. USD also won at Cal State Northridge, where MSU dropped a narrow road decision.
The Bobcats will have been on the road six days by tipoff Thursday, and won't return until after Saturday's game at Portland on Sunday. But in between, Fish has liked what his squad has accomplished. "The time on the road together has been a positive," he said. "We've had good practices and gotten some stuff done. This is a time when teams get better because they can focus on basketball."
MSU finishes the road trip short-handed, with Stephan Holm and Ryan Shannon in Bozeman with injuries. In their absence Sunday at Wyoming, Marcus Colbert poured in 18 points and Terrell Brown added 14 for the Bobcats. That extends a season-long trend of offensive contributions from different spots on the floor. Five different players have led the Cats in scoring this season, and no one more than three times (Dison) in the team's nine games.
After the current road trip, MSU closes its non-conference slate by hosting Wyoming on Tuesday, Dec. 23.
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