Saturday, December 19
2:00 pm ET
Montana State University
at
Buffalo
Steph Holm and the Cats visit Buffalo Saturday
Photo by: Ruth Shellenberg
Bobcats Battle Buffalo in First Visit to Upstate New York
12/18/2015 4:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MSU, Bulls make up game that was snowed out a season ago
Call it Brian Fish's nightmare before Christmas.
"They're scary," Fish says of the Buffalo squad that his Montana State team faces Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is 12 noon MT, and the game is video streamed on ESPN3. "They are fast and athletic, and they have swagger like a team that's played in the NCAA Tournament." MSU and the Bulls each enter the contest with 5-5 marks.
The experienced Bulls are enjoying success under first-year coach Nate Oats, who succeeded now-Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley last spring. UB is paced by a trio of talented young perimeter players. Sophomore guard Lamonte Bearden leads the team with 13.0 points a game and 29 assists, along with 16 steals. Freshman guard CJ Massinburg contributes 10.8 points a game off the bench, while junior forward Blake Hamilton chips in with 10.3 points and 5.6 rebounds a game.
Fish said the Bulls are relentless in penetrating. "They're the best team at attacking the basket that we've seen all year," he said. "They really force you to work hard to stay in front of them and keep them out of the paint. You can't let them get going downhill, because that's what creates their three-point opportunities."
Likening the Bulls to an Omaha team that scored 100 points on MSU a couple of weeks ago, Fish said the Bobcats need to focus on their own offensive execution to counter Buffalo's explosive attack. "We need to stay aggressive on offense, but we need to keep working hard to get teammates good shots," he said. "I don't want to see a lot of OK shots early in the clock when we can work to get better shots."
Senior guard Marcus Colbert and freshman wing Tyler Hall continue to lead the Bobcats. Colbert stands among the Big Sky's leaders in assists (2nd, 4.7) and scoring (5th, 17.8) and has contributed in the widest range of ways. The team's most consistent scorer, Hall averages 16.6 points a game, 10th in the Big Sky, and has scored at least 10 points in nine of MSU's 10 games. Stephan Holm and Sarp Gobeloglu each continue to emerge as offensive threats to provide the team balance.
Defensively, MSU shows signs of improvement. While allowing 81.6 points a game, the team has held three of its last four opponents to below 50% shooting from the field. That's something that happened only twice in the team's first six games.
Saturday's game is one that has haunted the Bobcat program for some time. Originally scheduled to be played last November, it was cancelled due to a snow storm that limited travel into the region and rescheduled for this Saturday. After the Buffalo game, the Cats head to Syracuse for a Tuesday game against the Orange.
"They're scary," Fish says of the Buffalo squad that his Montana State team faces Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is 12 noon MT, and the game is video streamed on ESPN3. "They are fast and athletic, and they have swagger like a team that's played in the NCAA Tournament." MSU and the Bulls each enter the contest with 5-5 marks.
The experienced Bulls are enjoying success under first-year coach Nate Oats, who succeeded now-Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley last spring. UB is paced by a trio of talented young perimeter players. Sophomore guard Lamonte Bearden leads the team with 13.0 points a game and 29 assists, along with 16 steals. Freshman guard CJ Massinburg contributes 10.8 points a game off the bench, while junior forward Blake Hamilton chips in with 10.3 points and 5.6 rebounds a game.
Fish said the Bulls are relentless in penetrating. "They're the best team at attacking the basket that we've seen all year," he said. "They really force you to work hard to stay in front of them and keep them out of the paint. You can't let them get going downhill, because that's what creates their three-point opportunities."
Likening the Bulls to an Omaha team that scored 100 points on MSU a couple of weeks ago, Fish said the Bobcats need to focus on their own offensive execution to counter Buffalo's explosive attack. "We need to stay aggressive on offense, but we need to keep working hard to get teammates good shots," he said. "I don't want to see a lot of OK shots early in the clock when we can work to get better shots."
Senior guard Marcus Colbert and freshman wing Tyler Hall continue to lead the Bobcats. Colbert stands among the Big Sky's leaders in assists (2nd, 4.7) and scoring (5th, 17.8) and has contributed in the widest range of ways. The team's most consistent scorer, Hall averages 16.6 points a game, 10th in the Big Sky, and has scored at least 10 points in nine of MSU's 10 games. Stephan Holm and Sarp Gobeloglu each continue to emerge as offensive threats to provide the team balance.
Defensively, MSU shows signs of improvement. While allowing 81.6 points a game, the team has held three of its last four opponents to below 50% shooting from the field. That's something that happened only twice in the team's first six games.
Saturday's game is one that has haunted the Bobcat program for some time. Originally scheduled to be played last November, it was cancelled due to a snow storm that limited travel into the region and rescheduled for this Saturday. After the Buffalo game, the Cats head to Syracuse for a Tuesday game against the Orange.
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