Saturday, January 30
7:05 pm
Montana State University
vs
Montana
Marcus Colbert and the Bobcats host Montana on Saturday night
Photo by: Kelly Gorham
Bobcat Men Host Grizzlies in Saturday's Brawl of the Wild
1/29/2016 2:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MSU looks to continue upward arc
The happy feelings lasted about as long as it took for Brian Fish and his staff to begin work on the scouting report for the next game.
That game is Montana State's annual Brawl of the Wild contest in Bozeman on Saturday, when the defending Big Sky regular season champion Grizzlies invade Worthington Arena. Tipoff is 7 pm.
"I thought we made progress defensively last week," Fish said of his team's weekend home sweep of Eastern Washington and Idaho a week ago. We need to take another step. Montana is a team with great confidence. It's a winning program, and they walk around with confidence. It's a great challenge for us."
That challenge begins up front, where Martin Breunig stands as the Big Sky's best big man. The 6-8 University of Washington transfer averages 20 points and 10 rebounds against league opponents, shooting 68.5% from the floor and 76.6% from the line. As dominant as he is offensively, Breunig is more valuable to the Grizzlies on the other end of the floor.
"Any time you have a five man as good as Breunig at hedging ball screens and stopping the ball you're going to be good defensively," he said. Montana limits league opponents to just 42.6% shooting from the floor .
Breunig certainly isn't Montana's only weapon. Newcomer Walter Wright scores 15.4 points a game in the league, while Brandon Gfeller, maybe the Big Sky's top sharp-shooter, averages three triples a game. "They have a great big man, but they have excellent complementary players," Fish said. "Everyone's finding their roles, and they're ver well-coached. That's probably why they're at the top of our league."
The Bobcats ride the strength of its dynamic guard tandem. Senior Marcus Colbert leads the Big Sky with 6.1 assists per league tilt, chipping in 16.9 points. Tyler Hall, a freshman, scores 20.5 points against the Big Sky Conference, and is one of the top-scoring freshmen in the nation.
The Grizzlies ride high into Saturday's matchup, with a 7-1 record to lead the Big Sky. At 4-4 in the league, the Bobcats stand 9-11 overall, 4-4 in Big Sky play, matching the team's 2014-15 total of conference wins and surpassing the overall win total from a year ago.
"It's a process," Fish said. "We need to keep making steps, keep getting better, and with only one game this week hopefully we've done that. But we have to keep going."
That game is Montana State's annual Brawl of the Wild contest in Bozeman on Saturday, when the defending Big Sky regular season champion Grizzlies invade Worthington Arena. Tipoff is 7 pm.
"I thought we made progress defensively last week," Fish said of his team's weekend home sweep of Eastern Washington and Idaho a week ago. We need to take another step. Montana is a team with great confidence. It's a winning program, and they walk around with confidence. It's a great challenge for us."
That challenge begins up front, where Martin Breunig stands as the Big Sky's best big man. The 6-8 University of Washington transfer averages 20 points and 10 rebounds against league opponents, shooting 68.5% from the floor and 76.6% from the line. As dominant as he is offensively, Breunig is more valuable to the Grizzlies on the other end of the floor.
"Any time you have a five man as good as Breunig at hedging ball screens and stopping the ball you're going to be good defensively," he said. Montana limits league opponents to just 42.6% shooting from the floor .
Breunig certainly isn't Montana's only weapon. Newcomer Walter Wright scores 15.4 points a game in the league, while Brandon Gfeller, maybe the Big Sky's top sharp-shooter, averages three triples a game. "They have a great big man, but they have excellent complementary players," Fish said. "Everyone's finding their roles, and they're ver well-coached. That's probably why they're at the top of our league."
The Bobcats ride the strength of its dynamic guard tandem. Senior Marcus Colbert leads the Big Sky with 6.1 assists per league tilt, chipping in 16.9 points. Tyler Hall, a freshman, scores 20.5 points against the Big Sky Conference, and is one of the top-scoring freshmen in the nation.
The Grizzlies ride high into Saturday's matchup, with a 7-1 record to lead the Big Sky. At 4-4 in the league, the Bobcats stand 9-11 overall, 4-4 in Big Sky play, matching the team's 2014-15 total of conference wins and surpassing the overall win total from a year ago.
"It's a process," Fish said. "We need to keep making steps, keep getting better, and with only one game this week hopefully we've done that. But we have to keep going."
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