Montana State University
UC Riverside
Cats Continue California Trip at UC Riverside
12/17/2024 11:08:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Montana State aiming to replicate last year's thrilling 69-68 win over UC Riverside in important non-conference clash
BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Montana State men's basketball continues their longest stretch of road games away from Bozeman with another stop in southern California, facing off with UC Riverside at SRC Arena on Wednesday night.
Tip is set for 7 p.m. PT/8 p.m. MT.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+, with live radio play-by-play from Voice of the Bobcats Keaton Gillogly airing on the Bobcat Sports Network.
Montana State (5-6, 0-0 Big Sky) opened up their five-game road trip with an 89-63 defeat to USC on Sunday night in Los Angeles, and now travels just 60 miles east for Wednesday's clash in Riverside.
UC Riverside (7-4, 2-0 Big West) has won five of their last six, including an upset of Colorado State before a pair of Big West wins over CSUN and Cal State Fullerton.
The Cats and Highlanders played a classic in Bozeman last November, with Montana State pulling out a thrilling 69-68 win thanks in part to Tyler Patterson's 18 second-half points.
AS OF LATE
Montana State has won four of their last six games, with a loss coming in overtime to a strong CSUN team and the other to Big Ten foe USC on Sunday in Los Angeles. The Trojans were the third Big Ten team the Bobcats faced in the non-conference, and held MSU to their lowest offensive output of the season (63 points), while scoring 89--the most given up by Montana State this season. Brandon Walker scored 14 points with four rebounds to pace MSU, while Jeremiah Davis scored a career-high 11 off the bench, going 8-for-8 at the free throw line.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ROOTS
Max Agbonkpolo, a native of Laguna Niguel, California, was a four-star prospect and top-60 recruit out of high school at Santa Margarita Catholic before going on to play for USC for three seasons (2019-22), appearing in 90 games with 21 starts. The 6-foot-9 forward averaged 7.7 points and 3.5 rebounds per game as a junior in 2021-22 across 33 games with 18 starts for a Trojan team that went 26-8 and earned a No. 7 seed in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. After one year at Wyoming (2022-23) and one year at Utah State (2023-24), Agbonkpolo is playing his final season of college basketball at Montana State this year and enjoying a career season. Reserve guards Jed Miller (Agoura Hills), Bryce Zephir (Carson), and Jeremiah Davis (Fountain Valley) are also from southern California and combined for 20 points off the bench in Sunday's loss to USC at the Galen Center
WE MEET AGAIN
Last year's thriller between Montana State and UC Riverside was one of the best non-conference matchups of the year for the Cats. MSU pulled out a 69-68 win in Bozeman as Tyler Patterson scored 18 points in the second half alone, going 4-for-4 from beyond the arc to help the Cats secure one of their biggest wins of the year. Brandon Walker finished with 16 points and Robert Ford III had 15 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and four steals. Only seven Bobcats played as MSU dealt with a handful of injuries, with Jed Miller (+14 in 25 minutes) and Chika Nduka (6 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists) providing a big lift off the bench. Wednesday is the sixth meeting all-time between UC Riverside and Montana State with the Highlanders leading, 3-2.
SOME NUMBERS
The Bobcats are the top-ranked team in the Big Sky in KenPom (No. 149) and the NET (No. 141). Montana State is 18th in the country in average on-court height (78.7"). Eight of the 12 teams the Cats face in the non-conference finished with records of at least .500 or played in the postseason last year. UC Riverside is ranked No. 177 in KenPom and No. 159 in the NET.
BEEN AROUND THE BLOCK
Montana State is one of the most experienced teams in the country in 2024-25, boasting five players in the rotation who have played in at least 113 games (Jabe Mullins, Tyler Patterson, Brian Goracke, Max Agbonkpolo, Sam Lecholat), and nine players who have at least four years in college basketball. Tyler Patterson has started 128 games in a Montana State uniform entering Wednesday, the most of any active player at one school in the country and the most in Montana State history.
WIN AT THE ARC
After a slow start shooting the ball from the outside, Montana State has pushed the percentages back to their projected ranges. The Bobcats are 26th in NCAA Division I in reliance on three-point shooting, with 37.1% of their points coming on 3-pointers. MSU ranks 69th in the country in three-point percentage (37.1%) and are 13th nationally in defending the three-point line, with opponents making just 27.3% of their attempts from deep.
DEFENSE COMING ALONG
Prior to Sunday's loss at USC, Montana State had allowed just 63.4 points per game in the previous five outings, going 4-1 in that stretch. On the season, the Bobcats are 5-0 when allowing fewer than 70 points and 0-6 when giving up more than 70 points.
WALKING THE TALK
Junior forward Brandon Walker leads the team averaging 14.3 points per game with career-highs in rebounds per game (4.7) and assists per game (2.0). The native of Oak Cliff, Texas, averaged 13.1 points and 4.0 rebounds across 19.5 minutes per game last year, playing in all 35 games for the Bobcats, and ranked 39th in NCAA Division I and third in the Big Sky in field goal percentage (56.3%). His career-high 26 point outburst against Cal last season on November 16 led the Bobcats to their first road win over a Power Five opponent since 2011.
THE HUMAN MICROWAVE
Senior guard Brian Goracke was named Preseason All-Big Sky after ranking 11th in the Big Sky in scoring last season (13.5 ppg). After starting 33 games last year, the native of Monroe, Oregon, has thrived in a bench role this year, ranking third on the team in scoring (8.7 ppg) and tied for third in the Big Sky in made 3-pointers (23). Last season, his 69 3-pointers ranked eighth in the Big Sky and were tied for the 11th-most in a season in school history. The former Division II standout at Point Loma was 57th in NCAA Division I and third in the Big Sky in free throw percentage (86.5%), the ninth-best mark in a season in program history.
SNOQUALMIE SPLASH BROTHERS
Jabe Mullins and Tyler Patterson reunite on the 2024-25 Montana State men's basketball team after playing together growing up in the Seattle area. Patterson and Mullins have been playing together since they were third-graders, and will close out their college careers together in Bozeman this season. The duo led Mount Si to the 2020 WIAA state title, the school's first state championship since 1977, before Mullins accepted a scholarship as the No. 1 player in the state of Washington to play for Saint Mary's (2020-22) and then Washington State (2022-24). Patterson committed to Montana State out of high school, where he has played in four Big Sky Tournament Championship games and won three rings for the Bobcats.
POINT GUARD JABE
Graduate guard Jabe Mullins came to Bozeman to utilize his last year of college eligibility after playing in 107 games over four seasons at Saint Mary's (2020-22) and Washington State (2022-24). The guard brings plenty of postseason experience to the Cats, having been a part of two NCAA Tournament teams and two NIT teams. Mullins played sparingly for Washington State in 2023-24 after ranking third in the Pac-12 in three-point percentage (43.8%) and averaging 8.4 points per game in 2022-23.
TYLER THREE RINGS
Entering the 2024-25 season, graduate guard Tyler Patterson has played in a school-record 128 games for Montana State, starting in 117. Patterson's 117 starts ranked fourth of any active player in NCAA Division I enterin the year and were the most by any active player at one school. The veteran's 211 made 3-pointers rank fourth in program history entering the season. Patterson trails his former coach Danny Sprinkle (1995-99) who is third with 263 made 3-pointers.
HIGH PEDIGREE
Graduate forward Max Agbonkpolo is one of the most highly-touted players to ever don a Montana State uniform. The former top-60 recruit out of high school played three seasons at USC (2019-22), before stops at Wyoming (2022-23) and Utah State (2023-24). The 6-foot-9 sweet-shooting wing has played in 116 career games, including five NCAA Tournament games. In his last full year, Agbonkpolo started 18 games and averaged 7.7 points per game for a USC team that earned a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2021-22. This past year playing for former Montana State player and coach Danny Sprinkle at Utah State, Agbonkpolo appeared in ten games with one start before missing the rest of the year due to injury.
PRESEASON ACCOLADES
Montana State was picked first in the Big Sky Preseason Media Poll, and second in the Big Sky Preseason Coaches' Poll. Senior wing Brian Goracke and junior forward Brandon Walker were picked Preseason All-Big Sky, as the Bobcats were the only school in the Big Sky to have more than one selection to the six-man all-conference squad. Goracke finished tenth in the Big Sky last year in scoring (13.5 ppg), eighth in made 3-pointers (69), and third in free throw percentage (86.5%). Goracke started in 33 of 35 games for the Bobcats and was selected Big Sky All-Tournament Team after helping lead the Cats to three straight wins in Boise. Walker finished third on the team and 12th in the Big Sky in scoring (13.1 ppg), while ranking third in the Big Sky and 39th in NCAA Division I in field goal percentage (56.3%). Walker played in all 35 games for the Bobcats, starting in 34, and tallied 12 games with at least 16 points on the way to being named Honorable Mention All-Big Sky.
GOLDEN AGE OF BOBCAT BASKETBALL
Montana State has played in four straight Big Sky Tournament championship games, gone 49-16 against Big Sky opponents over the last three seasons, and made three straight NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in school history. The Bobcats are the Big Sky Conference's first three-peat champion since Weber State from 1978-80. In 2021-22, Montana State went 27-8, which included a 13-1 record at home and a program-record 16 wins in conference play. In 2022-2023, Montana State went 25-10, collected a 12-1 record at Worthington Arena, and went 15-3 in conference action.
THE MATT LOGIE FILE
Second-year MSU head coach Matt Logie has taken his teams to the NCAA Tournament in 12 of his 13 seasons as a head coach, and is believed to be just the second men's coach in history to lead teams to the Big Dance at the Division I, Division II, and Division III levels (Tobin Anderson). Logie ranks 11th in NCAA men's basketball history in career winning percentage (.786) and is seventh among active head coaches. Logie came to Montana State after four seasons at Point Loma (Division II), where his teams rolled up an 82-23 record with three conference championships, and eight seasons at Whitworth (Division III), where his teams went 194-35.
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