Montana State University
Eastern Washington
Something's Gotta Give: MSU Hosts Eagles in Showdown of Hot Teams
1/28/2017 10:48:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Win streaks collide in Worthington Arena on Saturday
After an exhaustive Thursday night in the Fieldhouse, Montana State must regenerate quickly in preparation for a big Saturday showdown with Eastern Washington. The Eagles beat Montana 72-60 in Missoula Friday, own three straight wins, and remain among the favorites to win the Big Sky this year. MSU has won four straight.
Eastern Washington brings a veteran team to Worthington Arena, where the Eagles have won two of their last three games. Senior Jacob Wiley, who has played previously at Montana and Lewis-Clark State, scored 25 points on 10-for-15 shooting against the Bobcats in an 82-64 EWU win on January 5 in Cheney. He is among the nation's top 10 in both field goal percentage and blocked shots. Junior Bogdan Bliznyuk has scored 45 points on 14-for-29 shooting with 22 rebounds in his previous four games against MSU.
While the Eagles were breezing through their win in Dahlberg Arena, the Cats treated their fans to 10 free minutes of extra basketball. Tyler Hall scored 31 points, his eighth career 30-point effort in his 53 games at MSU, while freshman guard Harald Frey added 20. Sophomore center Sam Neumann devoured a career-high 12 rebounds.
Eastern Washington enters Saturday's 2 pm game with a 14-7 mark, and at 6-2 stand in second place in the Big Sky. After a 1-4 start to Big Sky play, the Cats have won four straight and are now 5-4 in the league, 10-12 overall.
MISCELLANY...
* Montana State's win Thursday was the team's first this season when trailing with five minutes remaining in regulation, and its second when trailing during the last minute
* MSU's rebound margin is +4.9 in Worthington Arena, -4.9 on the road, but the Cats have been out-boarded in three of the last four
* The Cats are 5-0 when shooting more free throws than the opponent,
* Tyler Hall has 55 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, two steals and only one turnover in his two career games against EW
* MSU's win Thursday was the team's first this season when shooting a lower field goal percentage than the opponent
ON THE OFFENSE...
* MSU 's 10.0 treys a game leads the Big Sky and 12th nationally, while Tyler Hall's 3.68 per game is 8th in Division I
* MSU is 7-2 when Harald Frey shoots at least three free throws, 3-10 when he shoots two or less,
* Tyler Hall's 23.5 points is 5th in Division I
* After scoring 24% of his team's points a year ago, Tyler Hall has accounted for 29% (517 of 1737) thus far in 2016-17
ON THE DEFENSE...
* Since six of eight Bobcat opponents topped 50% shooting, the last of those being Eastern Washington's 60% on January 5, MSU has held four straight foes under 48% shooting
* Idaho shot 77% from the floor (10-13) in the second half Thursday, but in the other 30 minutes of basketball shot 39.6%
* MSU has held its opponents to 45.2% from during the its current four-game win streak
