Friday, December 18
Pullman, WA
7 p.m.
Montana State University
at
Washington State
Photo by: Garrett Becker
Men’s Hoops Begins Road Trip West Friday at Washington State
12/16/2020 2:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Montana State hits the road for its final two non-conference games and opens its trip with a matchup against Washington State
| Montana State Bobcats (2-1) vs. Washington State (5-0) | |
| Date and Time | Friday, December 18 - 7 p.m. MDT |
| Location | Pullman, Wash. |
| Site | Beasley Coliseum |
| Television | Pac-12 Networks - Washington (check TV provider) |
| Radio | KMMS 1450 AM | Bobcat Sports Radio Network |
| Listen Live | TuneIn app |
| Stream | N/A |
| Live Stats | WSUCougars.com |
| Tickets | N/A |
| Montana State | Game Notes | Men's Basketball Home Page |
| Washington State | Men's Basketball Home Page |
Montana State hits the road for its final two non-conference games and opens its trip with a matchup against Washington State at 7 p.m. MDT on Friday, Dec. 18, in Beasley Coliseum. The Bobcats and Cougars are set to meet for the 32nd time on the hardwood Friday in Pullman.
The Bobcats trail in the overall series, 23-8, but defeated Washington State 95-90 in the teams' last head-to-head meeting on Dec. 9, 2018, in Kennewick, Wash. MSU was led by Harald Frey's 31 points and 10 assists, who eventually earned Big Sky Player of the Week honors for his performance. Tyler Hall made history during the contest by breaking the MSU career scoring record, which had been held by Larry Chanay for 59 years, as well as topping Jeremy Singlin of Weber State's Big Sky 3-point record.
MSU's win versus Washington State in 2018 was its first over a Pac-12 opponent since 2011 and its first against the Cougars since 1973. WSU had won the previous nine matchups against MSU.
Washington State enters Friday's game with a 5-0 overall record. The Cougars are off to their best start since 2017-18 and are receiving votes in the AP Top-25 for the first time since that season. Isaac Bonton, a preseason all-Pac-12 selection, and Noah Williams are averaging double figures scoring to pace WSU.
"They are a very disciplined team and their spacing is great," Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle said of the Cougars. "(Head coach) Kyle Smith's teams do a really good job of spacing the floor, his guys make the right reads and he's always got shooters all over the place. They're a very hard guard.
"They have two terrific guards in Isaac Bonton and Noah Williams who are tremendously talented. They're going to take a majority of their shots, but we can't let their kind of peripheral guys make a bunch of 3s either because that's when they're dangerous."
Montana State heads into its fourth contest of the year with a 2-1 record after defeating Yellowstone Christian, 114-74, on Dec. 13 in its home opener. The Bobcats' point total tied for their sixth highest in program history. MSU was led by six double-digit scorers which was the first time the program achieved the feat since 2009. MSU's 53 rebounds in the contests were their 10th most recorded in a game this century and its 33 free throws were tied for the third most made in a game in the same span.
Two newcomers recorded double-doubles to lead the Bobcats in their victory over Yellowstone Christian on Sunday. Junior Mike Hood recorded career highs of 21 points and 12 rebounds off the bench. Senior Abdul Mohamed, who spent the previous two years at North Texas, also registered career highs with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
"I'm glad our guys got some confidence out of it," Sprinkle said. "Some of our guys that we wanted to break out offensively like Mike (Hood), Abdul (Mohamed), guys that are capable of doing that I think it was really good for them to get out on the court and be more aggressive offensively. We know it's not going to be the same the next couple of games. We've got to continue to get better offensively so we can be that productive against Division I teams also."
Three Bobcats are currently averaging double figures through three games. Xavier Bishop (18.5) and Amin Adamu (15.5) pace MSU in the scoring column and played in MSU's first two contests. Jubrile Belo, who's averaging 14 points, is also the Bobcats' current rebounding leader with 6.3 boards per game.
MSU has scored 70 or more points in each game its played this season, a mark the 'Cats hit in less than half their games a season ago. MSU currently ranks 12th in Division I basketball in scoring offense (91.7), 15th in free throw percentage (80.3%) and eighth in 3-point field goal percentage (44.1%).
Washington State hasn't allowed an opponent to reach the 70-point mark yet this season with its five wins coming by a combined 22 points. The Cougars' field goal percentage defense (34.8%) ranks 12th in the nation while their scoring defense (58.6) is 24th. WSU's defensive rebounds per game mark of 30.4 is 38th overall.
Friday's game will only be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network (Washington) which can be found on cable packages such as Dish Network, Cox TV, Spectrum and Comcast Xfinity. All Bobcat basketball are available to listen to as part of the Bobcat Sports Radio Network airing locally on KMMS 1450 AM, on the TuneIn app or at msubobcats.com/watch.
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