Thursday, February 20
Portland, OR
8 p.m.
Montana State University
at
Portland State
Photo by: Andrew Pedersen
Bobcats Travel to Portland to Face Vikings Thursday
2/18/2020 4:17:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Montana State prepares to play a tough Viking squad on their home floor before returning to Bozeman for Saturday's Cat-Griz matchup
| Montana State Bobcats (14-11, 8-6) at Portland State Vikings (14-13, 8-3) | |
| Date and Time | Thursday, Feb. 20 - 8 p.m. MST |
| Location | Portland, Ore. |
| Site | Viking Pavilion (3,094) |
| Television | Eleven Sports (DirecTV channel 623) |
| Radio | KMMS 1450 AM | Bobcat Sports Radio Network |
| Listen Live | msubobcats.com/watch | TuneIn app |
| Stream | Pluto TV | WatchBigSky.com |
| Live Stats | ViksLive.com (Statbroadcast) |
| Tickets | GoViks.com |
| Montana State | Game Notes | Men's Basketball Home Page |
| Portland State | Men's Basketball Home Page |
BOZEMAN, Mont. – Montana State travels to the West Coast for a single-game road trip as the Bobcats take on Portland State at 8 p.m. MST on Thursday in Viking Pavilion. MSU returns home following the Thursday matchup to host Montana at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
The Bobcats and Vikings meet for the second time this season. The Viks nabbed a 77-76 victory from the 'Cats in Bozeman on Jan. 11 as Holland Woods converted on a driving layup with 2.4 seconds remaining to claim a victory in Worthington Arena for Portland State.
The first meeting this season between MSU and PSU featured 20 lead changes and eight ties. Woods scored a then career-high 30 points for the Viks, while Harald Frey scored 26 and Amin Adamu recorded 20 for the Bobcats. The victory for Portland State was its fourth in its last five matchups against Montana State.
"Portland State plays a chaotic style," Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle said. "They're really good at what they do. They just fly around the court and they have great athletes. The one thing you have to do against Portland State is you have to take care of the ball. If you turn the ball over and let them get some easy baskets, you can really put yourself in a hole early.
"Then you have to box out. They're the third best offensive rebounding team in the country this year. They get a lot of second chance points and a lot of points off turnovers, so if you let them do that, they're really hard to beat."
Montana State improved to 8-3 at home this season after earning a 77-63 win over Weber State on Feb. 15. The Bobcats completed a regular season sweep over the Wildcats for the first time since the 2004-05 season. It was also the first time MSU has picked up consecutive victories over Weber State since 2006.
The Bobcats hit the road with a 4-8 record on opponents' home courts this season. MSU had a three-game road win streak, its longest since the 2004-05 season, snapped at Montana on Feb. 1. The Bobcats then fell at Eastern Washington, 74-49, on Feb. 8. MSU's last victory in Portland came on Jan. 9, 2014, when the Bobcats shot over 50% from 3-point range to claim a 79-76 matchup over the Viks.
Danny Sprinkle is MSU's first coach during the Big Sky era to earn wins in his opening two games against Idaho State and Weber State. Roger Craft was MSU's only prior coach to win both of his two head-to-head meetings against Idaho State since the Bobcats joined the Big Sky in 1963.
The Bobcats' win over the Wildcats improved their record to 14-3 when holding opponents to 70 points or less this season. The 17 foes under 70 points or less is a program best since MSU held 18 opponents to that mark during the 2008-09 season.
Montana State out-rebounded Weber State, 38-29, to improve its rebound margin to 2.0. MSU's highest rank on the NCAA statistical chart is its defensive rebounds per game mark of 28.2 which is 28th in Division I basketball. The Bobcats' 28.5 average in Big Sky play ranks at the top of the conference.
"I think we got a lot of different guys contributing last week," Sprinkle said. "I think in both games we had four guys in double figures. For us to be at our best, we need that. It can't be Harald scoring 35 (every game), we need Jubrile (Belo) scoring 15, Amin (Adamu) has to get 15, Borja (Fernandez) had a great game against Weber that really broke the game open. He hit a lot of 3s early in the first half and it took a lot of pressure off Harald and it makes people guard us different when other people are scoring."
MSU's defensive ranks have improved while holding three of its last four foes to 40% or below shooting from the field. The Bobcats' 3-point field goal defense ranks 53rd in the nation (30.2%), their field goal percentage defense ranks 72nd (40.7%) while allowing opponents to score 66.1 points per game which is listed 88th in DI basketball.
Harald Frey is nearing an unprecedented feat with six games remaining in the regular season. Frey surpassed 1,800 points against Weber State and currently sits at 493 assists. The only men's basketball player in Big Sky Conference history to achieve 1,800 career points and 500 assists is Steve Connor (1974-78) of Boise State.
Jubrile Belo's career-high 23-point effort versus Weber State pushed him over the 300-point barrier. Amin Adamu nears the threshold with 297. Along with Frey (427), MSU can extend a streak of three 300-point scorers to four straight seasons.
Thursday's matchup will be televised by Eleven Sports which can be found on channel 623 for DirecTV customers. The game 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.
Players Mentioned
Bobcat Insider TV Show
Thursday, March 03
Inside The Brick (Amin Adamu)
Friday, November 05
Inside The Brick (Nick Gazelas)
Monday, November 01
Inside The Brick (Abdul Mohamed)
Sunday, October 31
