Friday, November 26
San Antonio, TX
1 p.m.
Montana State University
vs
Portland
Great Osobor
Photo by: Andrew Pedersen
Montana State Gearing up for Three-Day Appearance at UIW Tournament
11/24/2021 10:21:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Montana State continues a stretch of seven consecutive games on the road when the Bobcats appear in the Cardinal Thanksgiving Invitational hosted by Incarnate Word in San Antonio
| Montana State Bobcats (1-2) at UIW Thanksgiving Invitatioanl | |
| Date and Time | Friday, November 26 - 1 p.m. MT (vs. Portland) Saturday, November 27 - 11 a.m. MT (UIW) Sunday, November 28 - 11 a.m. MT (SEMO) |
| Location | San Antonio, Texas |
| Site | McDermott Convention Center |
| Stream | Incarnate Word TV |
| Radio | KMMS 1450 AM | Bobcat Sports Radio Network |
| Listen Live | Varsity Network app |
| Live Stats | UIWCardinals.com |
| Montana State | Game Notes | Men's Basketball Home Page |
| Portland | Men's Basketball Home Page |
| Incarnate Word | Men's Basketball Home Page |
| SEMO | Men's Basketball Home Page |
Montana State continues a stretch of seven consecutive games on the road when the Bobcats appear in the Cardinal Thanksgiving Invitational hosted by Incarnate Word in San Antonio. MSU opens the regular season tournament with a matchup Friday versus Portland at 1 p.m. MT, followed by an 11 a.m. MT Saturday contest against the host Cardinals and a tournament finale versus Southeast Missouri at 11 a.m. Sunday.
The regular season tournament will be the second the Bobcats compete in under head coach Danny Sprinkle. The Bobcats played in the UNCG Spartan Invitational in 2019 winning games over Appalachian State (59-56), UNCG (67-66) and Tennessee Tech (52-39) from Nov. 15-17 of that year. MSU's prior showing at a regular season tournament also resulted in earning a trophy as the Bobcats claimed the Mayan Division of the 2017 Cancun Challenge picking up victories over Binghamton (76-64) and SEMO (88-82).
MSU has a variety of different history with the three teams it will face in San Antonio. The Bobcats is 9-12 all-time against Portland, which includes a 62-59 loss to the Pilots a season ago in the Chiles Center. Portland, now led by former EWU coach Shantay Legans, will visit Bozeman Dec. 19 for a second head-to-head meeting this season.
"It's an opportunity to try to get in the win column, but it's going to be tough," Sprinkle said of MSU's appearance at the UIW tournament. "Portland is really good and improved from last year. Shantay Legans took the job and got three of his players from Eastern Washington and added some really good transfers, so that'll be a difficult game on Friday."
The Bobcats' Saturday contest versus Incarnate Word will be the first ever between the two programs. The Cardinals are led by fourth-year coach Dr. Carson Cunningham, who coached at Carroll College in Helena from 2013-17. MSU's matchup versus SEMO will be the first since 2017 and the fifth all-time meeting. The Bobcats hold a 3-1 edge over the Redhawks with victories also coming in 1991 and 1983.
"Incarnate Word under Carson Cunningham, who does a good job with them, they're going to throw the kitchen sink at us," Sprinkle said. "We're going to see the 1-3-1, 2-3 zone, traps, you name it, and we're playing them in their own gym so we're going to have to be ready. Southeast Missouri got a tremendous win to open the season over Missouri State who's one of the better teams in the Missouri Valley and the entire Midwest. Obviously they're a very capable team and we're going to have to play well every game for us to have a chance to win."
Montana State completed the first two games of its road stand last week dropping contests at South Dakota State and New Mexico. The Bobcats fell to the Jackrabbits in Frost Arena 91-74 as SDSU jumped out to a 17-point halftime lead by shooting a blistering 60% from the field and a 7-for-9 mark from 3-point range to open the game.
The 'Cats and Lobos traded leads throughout the second half of their matchup in the Pit last Saturday, but New Mexico rode the wave of a crowd of over 9,000 en route to a 81-78 win. The Bobcats outshot the Lobos from the field, but New Mexico's 10 extra trips to the charity provided the necessary boost to a victory. MSU was led by six double-digit scorers in the loss.
Multiple Bobcats have stepped up through four games of the 2021-22 season. Jubrile Belo is currently averaging acvareer-high 16.3 points and is shooting 69.7% from the field. That mark ranks among the top 20 in the nation and is leading the Big Sky Conference. He also nears the 800-career point mark at 792 points heading into Friday.
Abdul Mohamed nearly had two double-doubles in his first two games of the year and has been a double-digit scorer in all four contests. Mohamed has more than doubled his scoring average this year with his 11.8 points per contest.
Tyler Patterson scored a career-high 16 points versus New Mexico and tallied a career-best 5 3-pointers against Rocky Mountain. Patterson is playing a team-high 30.8 minutes per game which is 12 more per contest than he appeared in a season ago.
The UIW Thanksgiving Invitational will have streaming available throughout the tournament, except for Saturday's set of games, with a link available on the MSU men's basketball schedule page. The game will also be broadcast on the Bobcat Radio Network on KMMS 1450 AM, with the Voice of the Bobcats Zach Mackey on the call, as well as on the Varsity Network app.
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