Montana State University
Northern Arizona
GAME #27: Montana State Hosts NAU on Saturday at 2 pm to Open Senior Weekend
2/28/2019 1:54:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bobcats last met Northern Arizona on New Year's Eve
BOZEMAN, Montana – After playing just one game in two weeks Montana State begins its sprint to the regular season finish line Saturday afternoon when Northern Arizona (9-18 overall, 7-10 Big Sky) arrives in Worthington Arena.
Montana State's schedule has provided challenges throughout, but none more unique than the regular season's final three weeks. From the February 16 loss at Weber State until this weekend's home game against NAU, the Cats played only once, a spirited 89-83 loss at Montana. That is the longest such stretch for MSU during the conference season. On its heels, MSU closes the regular season with four games in eight days, thus becoming the only Big Sky team this season to face three such periods.
Fish remains unbowed. "We just have to focus on what we have to do," he said. "Saturday's a big game and we just have to stay in (the moment). I've probably struggled more with one game in 14 days than I have with (four games in eight days). That has us out of our routine a little bit, but we'll just get ready for Saturday then go from there."
The Bobcats (12-14, 9-7) last faced NAU on New Year's Eve, a 74-68 Lumberjacks win in Flagstaff that proved to be Montana State's only loss in the season's first two weeks. With just two weeks left in the Big Sky season, Northern Arizona and the Cats stand close to where they did when MSU left Flagstaff in blizzard conditions in the last hours of 2018. MSU and Eastern Washington stand tied for fourth and fifth in the league standings, and as such currently hold down the final two first-round byes in the conference tournament.
While much has changed in the 60 days since the teams last met, MSU coach Brian Fish says one thing hasn't. "I'm always impressed by how hard Jack (Murphy, NAU's head coach) gets his teams to play," Fish said. "That was the case (in the earlier meeting). Winning the boards is always an emphasis of ours, but after (NAU out-rebounded MSU 41-29 in the first meeting) it will be especially important (Saturday)."
Northern Arizona defends the arc well, allowing teams to shoot just 34.4% from deep in conference games, and like the Cats handle the ball efficiently. Montana State enters Saturday's game with a 1.6 assist-to-turnover ratio, best in the Big Sky, while NAU's 1.3 is third in the league. Forward Bernie Andre scores 14.4 points per league game to lead the Lumberjacks, and is second in the Big Sky with 9.2 rebounds per game.
Montana State enters weekend play riding the performance of its two perimeter stars. Senior Tyler Hall wraps up his storied career in Worthington Arena as the all-time leading scorer in Montana State and Big Sky Conference history, and is a dozen points from becoming one of the top 100 scorers in NCAA Division I basketball history. He is third in the Big Sky in scoring average this season. Junior guard Harald Frey has posted, to this point, the second-best season in Big Sky history (since such stats are available beginning in 2001-02) in assist-to-turnover ratio. He's fifth in the Big Sky in scoring, second in assists.
But the team's offense has diversified lately. Senior forward Keljin Blevins, in the most productive prolonged stretch of his Bobcat career, averages 17 points and seven rebounds in the last four games.
The Bobcats and NAU stand among the six Big Sky teams – just over half the conference's entries – with league losses ranging from seven to 10. Only this weekend's combatants, Southern Utah and Northern Arizona, have three league games remaining, the rest have four. SUU and Portland State each have eight conference losses, one more than MSU and Eastern Washington, while NAU and Sacramento State each have 10 conference defeats.
Tipoff Saturday is 2 pm. Montana State's matchup with Southern Utah on Monday, Senior Day for Hall, Blevins, Sam Neumann and Usman Haruna, begins at 7 pm.
#GoCatsGo
