Thursday, January 23
Ogden, UT
7 p.m.
Montana State University
at
Weber State
Photo by: Garrett Becker
MSU Travels South for Weekend Swing to Take on Weber State, Idaho State
1/22/2020 3:44:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Bobcats begin a stretch of three consecutive road games with a trip south to face Weber State Thursday and Idaho State on Saturday
| Montana State Bobcats (9-9, 3-4) at Weber State (6-12, 2-5) | Idaho State (6-10, 3-4) | |
| Dates and Times | Thursday, Jan. 23 - 7 p.m. MST Saturday, Jan. 25 - 7 p.m. MST |
| Location | Ogden, Utah | Pocatello, Idaho |
| Site | Dee Events Center (11,500) | Reed Gym (3,040) |
| Television | Pluto TV app |
| Radio | KMMS 1450 AM | Bobcat Sports Radio Network |
| Listen Live | msubobcats.com/watch | TuneIn app |
| Stream | Pluto TV | WatchBigSky.com |
| Live Stats | WeberStateSports.com | ISUBengals.com (Statbroadcast) |
| Tickets | WeberStateSports.com | ISUBengals.com |
| Montana State | Game Notes (WSU) | Games Notes (ISU) |
| Opponent Home Page | Weber State | Idaho State |
BOZEMAN, Mont. – The Montana State men's basketball team plays its first of three consecutive road games when the Bobcats face Weber State at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Dee Events Center in Ogden, Utah. MSU plays at Idaho State on Saturday and will have a week off before making a trip to Missoula to face Montana on Feb. 1.
MSU and Weber State meet for the 122nd time on Thursday with the Wildcats holding an 85-36 lead in the all-time series. The Bobcats have fell to the Wildcats in 11 straight contests, with their last win a 79-74 victory over Weber State in Bozeman on Jan. 24, 2013. MSU's last win in Ogden came on March 10, 2009, when the Bobcats defeated the host Wildcats, 70-61, in the semifinals of the Big Sky Tournament.
Weber State enters Thursday's matchup 6-12 overall and 2-5 in Big Sky play. Cody John scored a career-high 29 points in WSU's 92-76 loss to Portland State Monday. Jerrick Harding leads the Big Sky and is 20th in the nation averaging 20.7 points per game.
"We've played some good teams on the road and we've had some good teams at home," Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle said. "The one thing with the Big Sky this year, there's a lot of parity and every team is good. The one thing you've got to do is protect your home court and we didn't do that the last two games.
"Now we've got another tough stretch of three games on the road against really good teams. We got to continue to get better and we've got to do it in practice first. We had a great practice (Monday), we got after them pretty good and they competed. Hopefully you see the fruits of that labor on Thursday."
Montana State fell to Eastern Washington, 71-58, in Worthington Arena on Jan. 18 in its last time out. The Bobcats dropped to 0-6 when allowing teams to score more than 70 points this season. MSU is 9-3 when holding opponents to 70 points or less. The 12 foes under 70 points or less is the best mark since the 2014-15 campaign when MSU held 15 opponents to that total.
The Bobcats committed 19 turnovers against the Eagles, their second highest amount this season. Through 18 games, MSU has won the turnover battle five times and has a 5-0 record when doing so.
EWU outshot MSU from the field on Jan. 18, serving as just the fourth team to top the Bobcats in field goal percentage this season. The Bobcats are 1-3 when they are outshot by an opponent.
"Believe it or not, even though we have lost a couple games in a row, there are some things we are improving on," Sprinkle said. "There are (also) some things that we've regressed that we got to be mindful of and have awareness of.
"There are some things we're getting better at. Our young guys they've given us good minutes the last couple of games. Borja played great at Idaho, Finn's had some good games recently. Developing those young guys, it's hard to be positive when you're losing, but there have been some positive things going on."
Montana State's highest ranking on the NCAA team statistical chart is its 3-point field goal defense. The Bobcats are ranked 15th in Division I basketball giving up a 28.2% clip from long range to opponents. Green Bay hit 10 of 22 3-pointers for 45.5% and is the only team this season to shoot over 40% from deep against MSU.
Eighteen games into the 2019-20 slate and only two opponents have shot over 50% against Montana State. Green Bay and CSU Bakersfield each surpassed the mark in victories over MSU. The Bobcats have held 11 of their 18 foes to shooting 40% or less from the field.
Harald Frey continues to move up the charts in Montana State program history. He's entrenched in the fifth spot in scoring (1,688 points) and second spot in career assists (462). Frey is currently at 384 free throws made, just six away from jumping from fifth to second place all-time. He's also 16 away from moving into second in career 3-pointers made, trailing Danny Sprinkle's total of 263.
The Bobcat senior guard leads the team in several categories and ranks among the best in the Big Sky. He's ranked in the top six individually in the conference in 11 categories including the top mark in free throws made with 87. His free throw percentage of 88.8% is 18th best in the nation while his 37.1 minutes per game is the 15th most.
Each of MSU's road games will be streamed on the Pluto TV app and on WatchBigSky.com. All Bobcat basketball games are available to listen to as part of the Bobcat Sports Radio Network and airing locally on KMMS 1450 AM. All tickets for home games are available at msubobcats.com/tickets, by calling 406-994-CATS or by visiting the Bobcat Ticket Office.
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