Cat-Griz Men’s Hoops Opens in Missoula Thursday, Back to Bozeman Saturday

Thursday, January 28

Missoula, Mont.

7 p.m.

Montana State University

Montana

Photo by: Garrett Becker

Cat-Griz Men’s Hoops Opens in Missoula Thursday, Back to Bozeman Saturday

1/26/2021 5:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball

The Montana State men take their Big Sky lead into Missoula to face a Griz squad that has lost five Big Sky contests by a total of 14 points

By: Andrew Pedersen

Montana State Bobcats (9-3, 6-0) vs. Montana Grizzlies (7-8, 3-5)
Date and Time	Game 1: Thursday, January 28 - 7 p.m. MDT Game 2: Saturday, January 30 - 2 p.m. MDT
Site (Game 1)	Missoula, Montana (Dahlberg Arena)
Site (Game 2)	Bozeman, Montana (Worthington Arena)
Television	Pluto TV
Radio	KMMS 1450 AM \| Bobcat Sports Radio Network
Listen Live	TuneIn app
Stream	Pluto TV (Channel 1056 & 1057)
Live Stats	GoGriz.com \| MSUBobcats.com (StatBroadcast)
Tickets	N/A
Montana State	Game Notes Game 1 \| Game Notes Game 2 \| Men's Basketball Home Page
Montana	Game Notes \| Men's Basketball Home Page

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Montana State and Montana meet in one of the longest-standing rivalries in Division I men's basketball this week when the Bobcats square off with the Grizzlies. The two teams meet in Missoula first for a 7 p.m. tipoff on Thursday, then close out the back-to-back series of games at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Worthington Arena.

MSU heads into the matchup trailing in the all-time series 153-148. The 'Cats have been defeated in the previous six contests against the Griz with the last victory for Montana State coming on Feb. 25, 2017, by a 78-69 score in Bozeman. Montana won both contests a season ago. MSU fell 78-64 in Missoula on Feb. 1 despite a career-high 37 points by then senior Harald Frey. Frey scored a team-high 18 points as the 'Cats dropped the Feb. 22 contest to Montana 59-54 in Worthington Arena.

"Against them you always have to be tough and you have to be physical," said Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle. "You know it's going to be a physical game. That's how they play and that's how we play.

"Both games are going to be close games and it'll come down to the last 10 minutes. 'Who's going to make the big shot, who's going to get the long rebound, who's going to dive on the floor, who's going to take that charge?' That's usually what these games come down to."

The Bobcats enter Thursday's contest after their third consecutive back-to-back sweep of a Big Sky opponent. Montana State most recently earned a 62-51 victory over Northern Arizona on Jan. 21, then followed it with a 58-53 win against the Jacks in Flagstaff on Jan. 23. MSU improved its active win streak to five over NAU which is the Bobcats' longest stretch of victories all-time over the Jacks.

Montana State extended its current winning streak to seven games with last Saturday's defeat of NAU. The seven-game win streak is the longest for the program since the 2001-02 squad won nine consecutive contests.

The Bobcats have opened Big Sky play undefeated through six games for the first time in 34 years. Montana State last opened a Big Sky slate 6-0 during the 1986-87 season when that that team began its conference schedule with nine straight victories.

"It's obviously where we want to be," said Sprinkle on Montana State sitting atop the Big Sky standings. "We've made plays when we've had to make plays and we're fortunate to where some of the other teams, they didn't make plays at critical times. We've shown the team film, we still have a long way to go. We have to continue to get better if we want to keep winning."

Montana State has established a 9-3 overall mark in its first 12 games of the season. The Bobcats' 12-game start is their best since the 1997-98 season. That year, MSU eventually jumped out to an 11-3 record before finishing the season 19-11 overall.

MSU has been led by a trio of upperclassmen in Amin Adamu, Jubrile Belo and Xavier Bishop. Adamu crossed over the 500-point mark as a Bobcat in the team's last time out, joining Belo (546) and Bishop (1,227) to reach the milestone. Belo, a preseason all-conference selection, was MSU's most recent Big Sky Player of the Week on Jan. 18. Bishop, who sits 97th among active career scorers in Division I men's basketball, has earned Big Sky weekly honors twice this season.

A set of trends have continued throughout this season. The Bobcats are 6-0 when they score over 70 points and when they out-rebound the opposition. Following MSU's last victory over NAU, the Bobcats are 9-2 when they out-shoot their opponent and 8-2 when they commit less or tie an opponent in turnovers.

Montana enters Thursday's contest at 7-8 overall and 3-5 in Big Sky play. The Grizzlies' five losses in conference action have been by a combined 14 points. They are led by a trio of double-digit scorers in Kyle Owens (12.3), Brandon Whitney (11.4) and Michael Steadman (10.1).

The Griz are among the top 100 in the NCAA this season in field goal percentage (46.2%), field goal percentage defense (41.0%) and scoring defense (63.8). Montana leads the Big Sky in free throw percentage (79.3%) and ranks 10th in the country in the category.

Both of the Cat-Griz basketball contests will be broadcast on SWX Montana for those that carry the channel. Thursday's game in Missoula will be streamed on channel 1056 of the Pluto TV app while Saturday's contest can be watched on MSU's channel (1057). All Bobcat basketball games are available to listen to as part of the Bobcat Sports Radio Network and air locally on KMMS 1450 AM.