Bobcats Head to Boulder to Open Season Versus Buffs

Tuesday, November 9

Boulder, CO

8 p.m.

Montana State University

Colorado

Tickets

11/7/2021 12:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Game 1 Notes

Montana State makes its return to the court on November 9 when the Bobcats face Colorado in Boulder a season after the Buffaloes finished the year in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and No. 22 in the final AP Poll

By: Andrew Pedersen

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Montana State makes its return to the court on November 9 when the Bobcats face Colorado in Boulder a season after the Buffaloes finished the year in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and No. 22 in the final AP Poll. The challenging season opener for MSU comes off of a 2020-21 season which was highlighted by the Bobcats' late run to the Big Sky Conference Tournament Championship.

The game tips off at 8 p.m. and airs on Pac-12 Networks Mountain as well as the Bobcat Radio Network. The Pac-12 Conference will have streams available for free for all its home games on the season opening date of Nov. 9 on the Pac-12 Now app. Fans can download the Pac-12 Now app on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Chromecast, in addition to iOS and Android devices.

Colorado and Montana State have met seven times previously, but only three matchups have taken place in the previous 90 years. MSU won all three of those contests by tight margins with victories in Boulder on Dec. 21, 1994 (74-72) and Nov. 8, 2008 (85-82 OT), as well as a win in the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse on Dec. 29, 1998 (78-75).

The Buffs program has found consistent success under 12th-year head coach Tad Boyle. Colorado owns a 152-28 (.844) mark at home under Boyle. While the Buffs lost several key players from a season ago including current Minnesota Timberwolf McKinley Wright, Colorado returns Erving Award Watch List member Jabari Walker and a slew of players that are set to play bigger roles this season.

"They have a tremendous big man in Jabari Walker who I recruited in high school," said Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle on Colorado. "They've got KJ Simpson, one of the top freshmen point guards in the country, so they're super talented. They're long, they play really hard.

"The one thing anybody on the West Coast know is that they're one of the best coached teams in the country. That's why they've won the Pac-12 Championship and went to the tournament. Every year under Tad Boyle they've been great. Obviously, he has some Big Sky ties with him being at Northern Colorado and turning that program around. It's going to be a stiff challenge for us."

The Bobcats reeled off an 11-9 record during the 2020-21 regular season before finishing 13-10 overall. Following a 16-15 mark during the first season under the guidance of Danny Sprinkle in 2019-20, Montana State achieved the feat of consecutive winning seasons for the first time in 19 years. Sprinkle became one of two coaches during MSU's Big Sky Conference era to lead the program to two straight winning seasons in his first two years as head coach. Sprinkle joined Bruce Haroldson (1978-80) to have achieved winning marks in their opening two years guiding the Bobcats.

MSU's 8-6 record in conference play also sealed a spot in the Big Sky Championship quarterfinal round. The Bobcats' two straight trips to the quarterfinals were a first for the program since 1998 and 1999 when Sprinkle was a junior and senior on the team.

A 71-63 victory in the quarterfinal round versus Idaho State advanced Montana State to the semifinals of the Big Sky Tournament for the first time since 2009. A semifinal 80-77 overtime win over top-seed Southern Utah gave the Bobcats their first title game appearance in 12 years and just the program's fifth in the previous 25 seasons. MSU's campaign eventually came to a close with a 65-55 defeat to Eastern Washington.

Montana State's late season heroics were boosted by the play by the Bobcats' veteran leadership. Three seniors a season ago -- Amin Adamu, Xavier Bishop and Abdul Mohamed -- announced in June their intention to use an extra year of eligibility allowed by the NCAA due to COVID to return to Montana State in 2021-22.

The return of MSU's trio of seniors using fifth years of eligibility, along with five others that saw the court for the Bobcats a season ago, provides the program some stability heading into the third-year of Sprinkle's Bobcat squad. The 'Cats feature a lineup that returns 90% of its scoring and 84.9% of its minutes played last year. Those marks each rank near the top 20 in Division I basketball this year.

Three Bobcats from a season ago hope to improve on their achievements from the 2020-21 slate. Xavier Bishop (2nd Team), Amin Adamu (3rd Team) and Jubrile Belo (3rd) were All-Big Sky selections during a shortened season. While Bishop enters his second season for the Blue and Gold, Adamu and Belo will head into their third seasons in Bozeman. The three served as MSU's top scorers last year.

Heading into the 2021-22 campaign, Montana State was picked as a contender in the Big Sky Conference in the Preseason Coaches and Media Polls. The Bobcats were picked third in each poll, with Southern Utah the favorite and Weber State slotted second in each. Two Bobcats, Jubrile Belo and Xavier Bishop, were among the seven players selected to the All-Big Sky Conference Preseason Team. It was Belo's second straight year he was honored in the preseason.

Returning from the 2020-21 roster this season are Carter Ash, Borja Fernandez, Nick Gazelas, Abdul Mohamed, Tyler Patterson and Kellen Tynes. Fernandez has the most experience out of that contingent at MSU as he enters his third year in the program. Gazelas, Mohamed and Tynes played more significant roles as the season progressed. Mohamed, a graduate transfer from North Texas, recorded one double-double and nearly had three in MSU's postseason stretch. Gazelas played double-digit minutes in all three of the 'Cats Big Sky tournament games and had two crucial 3-pointers in their victory over Southern Utah. Tynes saw 50% of his playing time during the season come in the year's final eight contests including 25 minutes of action in the title game. Patterson, who hit his first eight 3-pointers of his college career, is expected to provide a punch again from long range and on defense.

The Bobcats have eight newcomers on the roster. Two of those players have competed at the college level in RaeQuan Battle and Mareng Gatkuoth. Battle was ranked as a top 100 recruit by ESPN when he signed with Washington as a part of the 2019 class. He played in 34 games for the Huskies during his time in Seattle. Gatkuoth played two high-level junior colleges back-to- back years with his sophomore season spent at South Plains which was ranked first in the nation for a majority of the year. Gatkuoth also has extensive experience playing for the South Sudan national team.

MSU's remaining six newcomers are freshmen Alex Germer, Sam Lecholat, Patrick McMahon, Great Osobor, Jasper Reinalda, and Isaac Spears. Germer (Montana), Lecholat (Wyoming) and McMahon (Alaska) were each ranked as their respective state's top recruits by Stadium Talk ahead of their senior years. All three earned MaxPreps State Player of the Year awards, while Lecholat and McMahon claimed Gatorade Player of the Year honors. Osobor spent considerable time playing against professionals in England last winter and was the 2021 HoopsFix U19 All-Star Classic MVP before making his way to campus. Reinalda spent time improving his game last winter in the Netherlands, while Spears brings a pedigree of playing against top-level competition having played on the Grind Session circuit.

A tough test certainly awaits the Bobcats in their season opener as well as several upcoming non-conference games. MSU is set to face the top two preseason teams in the Summit League in North Dakota State and South Dakota State, as well as having to play in The Pit at New Mexico and three consecutive days of games in San Antonio over Thanksgiving break.

Those contests will serve as a strong precursor for what the team can do ahead of the grind of the Big Sky Conference schedule.

"Even against Colorado, it's about us and competing against our own habits," Sprinkle said. "The stuff you know you have to get better at, against Colorado, that's going to get exposed. How disciplined are you going to be mentally and physically to ovesrcome your own habits? You've got to continue to develop those and hopefully by the time conference comes around, we have pretty good habits to where we can win some games."