Thursday, January 14
7:05 pm CT
Montana State University
at
North Dakota
The Cats look for solid defense at UND on Thursday
Photo by: Sepp Jannotta
Bobcat Men's Basketball Visits North Dakota Thursday
1/12/2016 5:44:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Cats face off with 'aggressive' Fighting Hawks squad
Brian Fish knows what his team will face Thursday when the Bobcats match up with North Dakota in Grand Forks.
"They're an aggressive team, a dribble-drive type offense," Fish said of the Fighting Hawks squad that the Cats battle at 6 pm MT in the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. "We won there last year so we know they're going to come after us."
And that element, as much as anything else the Bobcats will face on this weekend's trip to North Dakota and Northern Colorado (Saturday, 5 pm MT), is what Fish is trying to push his team through. "That's the growth process," he said. "Now that we're in the conference season teams have scouting reports. They're going to try to take away some strengths, try to force us to alternate things, and that's part of learning."
Montana State's unquestioned strengths through the first 16 games of 2015-16 reside in the backcourt. Senior guard Marcus Colbert leads the Big Sky in assists (5.4 per game) and has found himself among the league's top 10 scorers all season (16.8). His running mate, freshman Tyler Hall, averages 17.7 points a game, fourth among all Division I freshmen.
Fish knows where North Dakota's game plan begins, but says the Bobcats need to focus on their part of the equation. "We need to execute our things to take what we want instead of giving in to what us to do. It's a big part of the growth process and something we've got to take a major step in as we move forward."
Colbert likely matches up against UND's Quinton Hooker, a junior guard who is also among the Big Sky's best. Hooker averages 19.1 points a game, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists. "He's an aggressive scorer," Fish said. "He's really getting to the line a lot and doing good things."
Fish likes the improvement he's seen from his squad over the past eight or nine weeks. "We're a lot better team. We're moving the ball better, more guys are contributing, the bench was a big factor in Thursday night's win. We're making tremendous strides."
Thursday's game is available on Fox College Sports Central nationally, and on DirecTV 668.
"They're an aggressive team, a dribble-drive type offense," Fish said of the Fighting Hawks squad that the Cats battle at 6 pm MT in the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. "We won there last year so we know they're going to come after us."
And that element, as much as anything else the Bobcats will face on this weekend's trip to North Dakota and Northern Colorado (Saturday, 5 pm MT), is what Fish is trying to push his team through. "That's the growth process," he said. "Now that we're in the conference season teams have scouting reports. They're going to try to take away some strengths, try to force us to alternate things, and that's part of learning."
Montana State's unquestioned strengths through the first 16 games of 2015-16 reside in the backcourt. Senior guard Marcus Colbert leads the Big Sky in assists (5.4 per game) and has found himself among the league's top 10 scorers all season (16.8). His running mate, freshman Tyler Hall, averages 17.7 points a game, fourth among all Division I freshmen.
Fish knows where North Dakota's game plan begins, but says the Bobcats need to focus on their part of the equation. "We need to execute our things to take what we want instead of giving in to what us to do. It's a big part of the growth process and something we've got to take a major step in as we move forward."
Colbert likely matches up against UND's Quinton Hooker, a junior guard who is also among the Big Sky's best. Hooker averages 19.1 points a game, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists. "He's an aggressive scorer," Fish said. "He's really getting to the line a lot and doing good things."
Fish likes the improvement he's seen from his squad over the past eight or nine weeks. "We're a lot better team. We're moving the ball better, more guys are contributing, the bench was a big factor in Thursday night's win. We're making tremendous strides."
Thursday's game is available on Fox College Sports Central nationally, and on DirecTV 668.
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballThursday, March 03
Friday, November 05
Monday, November 01
Sunday, October 31
