Thursday, February 9
Flagstaff, AZ
6:30 p.m. MT
Montana State University
at
Northern Arizona
Rebounding will be a key when MSU visits NAU Thursday
Photo by: Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez
Cats Visit Northern Arizona Thursday Looking for Defensive Efficiency
2/8/2017 10:34:00 AM | Men's Basketball
MSU faces strong rebounding Lumberjacks team
Habits sometimes die hard, and Montana State head coach Brian Fish hopes his Bobcats can put an old one to rest for good when the team heads south for Big Sky games at Northern Arizona and Southern Utah this week.
"Our Achilles heel has been when we let teams score against us, when we don't show fight on the boards, and we put teams on the free throw line more than us," Fish said, pointing to a key second-half stretch in Saturday's loss at Montana when all three occurred.
Then Fish drilled down to the problem's root. "There are times when this team still tries to change a game on offense," he says. "We need to understand that it's easier to change a game on defense."
His team's next opportunity to activate that philosophy arrives Thursday at Northern Arizona (6-18 overall, 3-8 Big Sky). The Lumberjacks own three straight home wins, most recently late-January wins over Northern Colorado and North Dakota in which NAU out-rebounded its weekend opponents by a combined 30 boards. That propensity has pushed Northern Arizona to the top of the Big Sky's rebound margin list (+4.8).
"They're a good rebounding team, they're well-coached," Fish said. "(Jordyn) Martin is playing very well, and (Ako) Kaluna is tough to handle inside."
As guardians of the glass, Martin (9.6 rebounds a game) and Kaluna (5.4) remain nearly peerless in the Big Sky. The two combine for 15.0 rebounds a game, presently second-best among league duos. Only Eastern Washington's Jacoby Wiley (9.7 per game) and Bogdan Bliznyuk (5.6) combine for more. Martin, a 6-7 senior, missed last year but anchors the Lumberjacks in his return. He scores 12.4 points a game.
Fish's analysis of his team's shortcomings at Montana, and throughout the league season, is backed up by statistics. Bobcat opponents outscore MSU 22.8-to-11.7 from the free throw line in the team's Big Sky losses, while MSU flips the script to the tune of 17.2-to-16.0 in its conference victories. NAU averages 12.2 points per conference game from the free throw line, shooting 71 percent, while MSU scores 15.7 points a game from the line while converting at a 72.1 percent clip.
Tipoff is 6:30 pm MT on Thursday. The game is televised by Fox College Sports Pacific and Fox Sports Arizona Plus, on DirecTV 686-1 and Dish Network 443 SD and 9581 HD, and is also available at MSUBobcats.com and on the Bobcat Radio Network.
"Our Achilles heel has been when we let teams score against us, when we don't show fight on the boards, and we put teams on the free throw line more than us," Fish said, pointing to a key second-half stretch in Saturday's loss at Montana when all three occurred.
Then Fish drilled down to the problem's root. "There are times when this team still tries to change a game on offense," he says. "We need to understand that it's easier to change a game on defense."
His team's next opportunity to activate that philosophy arrives Thursday at Northern Arizona (6-18 overall, 3-8 Big Sky). The Lumberjacks own three straight home wins, most recently late-January wins over Northern Colorado and North Dakota in which NAU out-rebounded its weekend opponents by a combined 30 boards. That propensity has pushed Northern Arizona to the top of the Big Sky's rebound margin list (+4.8).
"They're a good rebounding team, they're well-coached," Fish said. "(Jordyn) Martin is playing very well, and (Ako) Kaluna is tough to handle inside."
As guardians of the glass, Martin (9.6 rebounds a game) and Kaluna (5.4) remain nearly peerless in the Big Sky. The two combine for 15.0 rebounds a game, presently second-best among league duos. Only Eastern Washington's Jacoby Wiley (9.7 per game) and Bogdan Bliznyuk (5.6) combine for more. Martin, a 6-7 senior, missed last year but anchors the Lumberjacks in his return. He scores 12.4 points a game.
Fish's analysis of his team's shortcomings at Montana, and throughout the league season, is backed up by statistics. Bobcat opponents outscore MSU 22.8-to-11.7 from the free throw line in the team's Big Sky losses, while MSU flips the script to the tune of 17.2-to-16.0 in its conference victories. NAU averages 12.2 points per conference game from the free throw line, shooting 71 percent, while MSU scores 15.7 points a game from the line while converting at a 72.1 percent clip.
Tipoff is 6:30 pm MT on Thursday. The game is televised by Fox College Sports Pacific and Fox Sports Arizona Plus, on DirecTV 686-1 and Dish Network 443 SD and 9581 HD, and is also available at MSUBobcats.com and on the Bobcat Radio Network.
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