Monday, December 5
BOZEMAN
7 p.m.
Montana State University
vs
Milwaukee
Joe Mvuezolo
Photo by: Alina Rogers
Milwaukee Invades Worthington Arena on Monday Night
12/4/2016 5:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Cats host impressive Panthers squad
If Brian Fish was looking for a restful night's sleep this weekend he picked the wrong bedtime viewing.
"(Friday) wasn't a very good night of sleep after watching (Milwaukee) video," Montana State's head men's basketball coach said of his team's Monday opponent. "I think they're very similar to Utah in terms of how well they're coached. They're very well-coached, they play with purpose. I'm very impressed with them."
MSU and the Panthers gather in Worthington Arena at 7 pm with each coming off narrow defeats. The Cats lost at Pac 12 foe Utah 92-84 on Thursday, while Milwaukee fell 75-69 at Montana on Saturday. Bryce Nze logged a double-double off the bench to lead the Panthers, scoring 15 points with 11 rebounds, while Brock Stull and Jeremiah Bell each added 13 points. Stull's 12.0 points a game leads the team, while Cody Wichmann adds 11.1 a game. UWM and its opponents – which feature Memphis, DePaul and South Dakota State to this point – have each grabbed 258 rebounds to this point in the season. UWM opponents out-score the Panthers (3-5) 68.6 to 64.5.
The team Fish saw on film was impressive. "We're going to have to be very physical, we're going to have to rebound, and we're going to have to make sure we know who we're guarding," he said. "Their guys do a lot of different things (offensively)."
Fish said his team is entering the phase of the season where he and his staff have gained a solid understanding of what it is capable of on both ends of the floor. "I'm starting a grip on this team," he said, which led to comprehensive practices on Saturday and Sunday featuring an emphasis on fundamentals. "Anything we don't review over three or four days we don't do in a game. We're starting to find out what has to happen with team. We don't practice well early in the morning, we don't carry things over to a game if we don't review them. So we're starting to understand what type of team we are."
This is the time of year individual roles become clearer, he said. "Guys are starting to understand, 'Tyler's a pretty good player, how do I play with him?' 'My role is 17 minutes, how can I be effective in (that role)?' Guys are understanding their roles and we're getting better attention to detail in practice."
While practice centers around his team's deficiencies, Fish said there's plenty to of positives. "We've got a lot of guys that put the ball in the basket. We rebound the ball very well when we're focused. We pass the ball very well, and knocking on wood we haven't turned the ball over very much this year outside of one or two games. There are a lot of positives, but as a coach you don't sit around and wave towels and blow whistles in November and December. We're going to grind it out until we do everything well."
After Monday's game, the Cats hit the road for a Wednesday game at South Dakota (7:30 pm MT). MSU then visits Omaha on Saturday (6 pm MT) before plunging into finals week at MSU.
"(Friday) wasn't a very good night of sleep after watching (Milwaukee) video," Montana State's head men's basketball coach said of his team's Monday opponent. "I think they're very similar to Utah in terms of how well they're coached. They're very well-coached, they play with purpose. I'm very impressed with them."
MSU and the Panthers gather in Worthington Arena at 7 pm with each coming off narrow defeats. The Cats lost at Pac 12 foe Utah 92-84 on Thursday, while Milwaukee fell 75-69 at Montana on Saturday. Bryce Nze logged a double-double off the bench to lead the Panthers, scoring 15 points with 11 rebounds, while Brock Stull and Jeremiah Bell each added 13 points. Stull's 12.0 points a game leads the team, while Cody Wichmann adds 11.1 a game. UWM and its opponents – which feature Memphis, DePaul and South Dakota State to this point – have each grabbed 258 rebounds to this point in the season. UWM opponents out-score the Panthers (3-5) 68.6 to 64.5.
The team Fish saw on film was impressive. "We're going to have to be very physical, we're going to have to rebound, and we're going to have to make sure we know who we're guarding," he said. "Their guys do a lot of different things (offensively)."
Fish said his team is entering the phase of the season where he and his staff have gained a solid understanding of what it is capable of on both ends of the floor. "I'm starting a grip on this team," he said, which led to comprehensive practices on Saturday and Sunday featuring an emphasis on fundamentals. "Anything we don't review over three or four days we don't do in a game. We're starting to find out what has to happen with team. We don't practice well early in the morning, we don't carry things over to a game if we don't review them. So we're starting to understand what type of team we are."
This is the time of year individual roles become clearer, he said. "Guys are starting to understand, 'Tyler's a pretty good player, how do I play with him?' 'My role is 17 minutes, how can I be effective in (that role)?' Guys are understanding their roles and we're getting better attention to detail in practice."
While practice centers around his team's deficiencies, Fish said there's plenty to of positives. "We've got a lot of guys that put the ball in the basket. We rebound the ball very well when we're focused. We pass the ball very well, and knocking on wood we haven't turned the ball over very much this year outside of one or two games. There are a lot of positives, but as a coach you don't sit around and wave towels and blow whistles in November and December. We're going to grind it out until we do everything well."
After Monday's game, the Cats hit the road for a Wednesday game at South Dakota (7:30 pm MT). MSU then visits Omaha on Saturday (6 pm MT) before plunging into finals week at MSU.
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