Friday, March 17
Greensboro, NC
7:40 p.m. MT
Montana State University
vs
#3 Kansas State
RaeQuan Battle
Photo by: Jack Power
Bobcats Prep for First-Round NCAA Tournament Matchup Against Kansas State
3/15/2023 9:35:00 AM | Men's Basketball
For the second-straight season, the 14-seed Montana State men’s basketball team will play a 3-seed from the Big 12 Conference in the NCAA Tournament.
BOZEMAN, Mont. – Making a second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance, the 14-seed Montana State Bobcats will take on the 3-seed Kansas State Wildcats in Greensboro, N.C. on Friday, March 17 at 9:40 p.m. ET/7:40 p.m. MT.
The game will be nationally televised on CBS with Ian Eagle, Jim Spanarkel and Evan Washburn on the call. Every NCAA Tournament games will be livestreamed on NCAA.com with select cable packages, plus a free radio broadcast will be provided through Westwood One. All live stream, live stats and game information can be found on the men's basketball team's schedule page on msubobcats.com.
Friday's game will be the first meeting between Montana State and Kansas State since Nov. 30, 1974, when the Wildcats beat the Bobcats 96-73 in Manhattan, Kan. MSU has a 1-3 record all-time against the Wildcats, with its only win being a 45-38 victory in Bozeman on Dec. 22, 1942. Kansas State is the second Big 12 school MSU has played in the NCAA Tournament. Last year as the 14-seed, MSU fell 97-62 to 3-seed Texas Tech in the first round.
MSU's stint in Greensboro is a full-circle moment, of sorts, for the program. During MSU Head Coach Danny Sprinkle's first year in 2019-20, the Bobcats won three games in UNC Greensboro's Spartan Invitational — highlighted with a half-court buzzer-beater from Harald Frey to beat the Spartans.
The Bobcats are the Big Sky's first repeat champion since Montana went back-to-back from 2017-19. MSU is 0-4 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, yet it will look to snap the Big Sky's 17-year drought since its last tournament win. The last time a Big Sky school won an NCAA Tournament game was 2006, when 12-seed Montana upset 5-seed Nevada.
Montana State is coming off winning back-to-back Big Sky Conference Tournament titles for the first time in school history. Under Sprinkle's direction, this year is the fourth-straight season with a winning record and the first back-to-back 25-win season since 1927-29. Winners of the past eight games, MSU enters the NCAA Tournament with the 12th-longest win streak in the nation.
MSU's league-leading defense helped the Bobcats go 15-3 in conference play. Against Big Sky opponents, the Bobcats ranked first in points per game allowed (64.3), first in turnover margin (+3.61), first in steals per game (6.94), second in blocks per game (3.11) and third in field goal percentage defense (43.9%). MSU's offense wasn't too shabby either, as it ranked second in the Big Sky in field goal percentage (46.8%) and fourth in free throw percentage (76.0%).
Nine members of the current roster — Jubrile Belo, Tyler Patterson, Nick Gazelas, RaeQuan Battle, Patrick McMahon, Great Osobor, Sam Lecholat, Carter Ash and Patrick McMahon — are the only Bobcats in history to make multiple NCAA Tournament appearances during their playing careers. They are second only to Sprinkle, whose two appearances as a head coach and another as a player on the 1996 NCAA Tournament team is the most in MSU history.
Transfers Darius Brown II (CSUN), Robert Ford III (Idaho State) and Caleb Fuller (UC Davis) are making their first NCAA Tournament appearances, along with freshmen Luca Colceag and Jed Miller.
First Team All-Big Sky Selection RaeQuan Battle leads the Bobcats on offense by averaging 17.4 points per game on 46.7% shooting from the field. In MSU's last outing against Northern Arizona, he led all scorers with 25 points en route to being named the Big Sky Tournament MVP. He is the second-straight Bobcat to win tournament MVP, joining Xavier Bishop, who won it last year.
Battle was one of four MSU individuals recognized by the Big Sky Conference earlier this month as the league announced its award winners. Additionally, Jubrile Belo became the first player in conference history to earn all-conference honors for the fourth time by making the Second Team, plus Darius Brown II earned a spot on the Third Team while also earning Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year honors. Great Osobor rounded out the individual awards by being named the Big Sky's Top Reserve. This year marks the second-straight season in which MSU has had a First Team All-Big Sky selection, the conference's Defensive Player of the Year and the Top Reserve.
Belo and Osobor combine for one of the biggest one-two front-court punches in all of mid-major basketball. Belo is one of five active Division I players to amass over 1,500 career points, 700 rebounds and 150 career blocks, joining Trayce Jackson-Davis (Indiana), Armando Bacot (North Carolina), Jake Stephens (Chattanooga) and Grant Basile (Virginia Tech). Osobor, on the other hand, averages 10.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in a mere 18.7 minutes per game.
The game will be nationally televised on CBS with Ian Eagle, Jim Spanarkel and Evan Washburn on the call. Every NCAA Tournament games will be livestreamed on NCAA.com with select cable packages, plus a free radio broadcast will be provided through Westwood One. All live stream, live stats and game information can be found on the men's basketball team's schedule page on msubobcats.com.
Friday's game will be the first meeting between Montana State and Kansas State since Nov. 30, 1974, when the Wildcats beat the Bobcats 96-73 in Manhattan, Kan. MSU has a 1-3 record all-time against the Wildcats, with its only win being a 45-38 victory in Bozeman on Dec. 22, 1942. Kansas State is the second Big 12 school MSU has played in the NCAA Tournament. Last year as the 14-seed, MSU fell 97-62 to 3-seed Texas Tech in the first round.
MSU's stint in Greensboro is a full-circle moment, of sorts, for the program. During MSU Head Coach Danny Sprinkle's first year in 2019-20, the Bobcats won three games in UNC Greensboro's Spartan Invitational — highlighted with a half-court buzzer-beater from Harald Frey to beat the Spartans.
The Bobcats are the Big Sky's first repeat champion since Montana went back-to-back from 2017-19. MSU is 0-4 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, yet it will look to snap the Big Sky's 17-year drought since its last tournament win. The last time a Big Sky school won an NCAA Tournament game was 2006, when 12-seed Montana upset 5-seed Nevada.
Montana State is coming off winning back-to-back Big Sky Conference Tournament titles for the first time in school history. Under Sprinkle's direction, this year is the fourth-straight season with a winning record and the first back-to-back 25-win season since 1927-29. Winners of the past eight games, MSU enters the NCAA Tournament with the 12th-longest win streak in the nation.
MSU's league-leading defense helped the Bobcats go 15-3 in conference play. Against Big Sky opponents, the Bobcats ranked first in points per game allowed (64.3), first in turnover margin (+3.61), first in steals per game (6.94), second in blocks per game (3.11) and third in field goal percentage defense (43.9%). MSU's offense wasn't too shabby either, as it ranked second in the Big Sky in field goal percentage (46.8%) and fourth in free throw percentage (76.0%).
Nine members of the current roster — Jubrile Belo, Tyler Patterson, Nick Gazelas, RaeQuan Battle, Patrick McMahon, Great Osobor, Sam Lecholat, Carter Ash and Patrick McMahon — are the only Bobcats in history to make multiple NCAA Tournament appearances during their playing careers. They are second only to Sprinkle, whose two appearances as a head coach and another as a player on the 1996 NCAA Tournament team is the most in MSU history.
Transfers Darius Brown II (CSUN), Robert Ford III (Idaho State) and Caleb Fuller (UC Davis) are making their first NCAA Tournament appearances, along with freshmen Luca Colceag and Jed Miller.
First Team All-Big Sky Selection RaeQuan Battle leads the Bobcats on offense by averaging 17.4 points per game on 46.7% shooting from the field. In MSU's last outing against Northern Arizona, he led all scorers with 25 points en route to being named the Big Sky Tournament MVP. He is the second-straight Bobcat to win tournament MVP, joining Xavier Bishop, who won it last year.
Battle was one of four MSU individuals recognized by the Big Sky Conference earlier this month as the league announced its award winners. Additionally, Jubrile Belo became the first player in conference history to earn all-conference honors for the fourth time by making the Second Team, plus Darius Brown II earned a spot on the Third Team while also earning Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year honors. Great Osobor rounded out the individual awards by being named the Big Sky's Top Reserve. This year marks the second-straight season in which MSU has had a First Team All-Big Sky selection, the conference's Defensive Player of the Year and the Top Reserve.
Belo and Osobor combine for one of the biggest one-two front-court punches in all of mid-major basketball. Belo is one of five active Division I players to amass over 1,500 career points, 700 rebounds and 150 career blocks, joining Trayce Jackson-Davis (Indiana), Armando Bacot (North Carolina), Jake Stephens (Chattanooga) and Grant Basile (Virginia Tech). Osobor, on the other hand, averages 10.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in a mere 18.7 minutes per game.
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