Montana State University
Montana
Cats and Griz Collide on Saturday in Missoula
1/23/2025 3:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball
309th Brawl of the Wild set for 7 p.m. from Dahlberg Arena
BOZEMAN, Mont. -- In a rematch of last year's Big Sky Tournament championship game, Montana State men's basketball squares off with their archrival Montana on Saturday night in the 309th edition of the Brawl of the Wild.
Tip from Dahlberg Arena in Missoula is set for 7 p.m.
The game will air on Scripps Sports stations and on the MTN channel statewide, with live streaming on ESPN+. Tom Wylie (play-by-play) and Jeff Riggs (color) will be on the call.
Voice of the Bobcats Keaton Gillogly and analyst Brian Priebe will call the action on the Bobcat Sports Network.
UM leads the all-time series, 156-152, in a rivalry that dates back to 1903. The series is the fifth-most played rivalry in NCAA Division I college basketball.
Montana State (8-12, 3-4) has won three of their last four to climb back into the Big Sky race. After starting 0-3 in conference with the three losses coming by a combined 11 points, the Bobcats defeated Northern Arizona at home, split with Idaho State and Weber State on the road, then avenged an earlier loss to Eastern Washington with a victory over the Eagles on Monday at Worthington Arena.
Montana (12-8, 5-2) sits second in the Big Sky behind unbeaten Northern Colorado, with a pair of wins over Idaho and additional victories over Northern Arizona, Eastern Washington, and Weber State.
Prior to the season, Montana State was picked to finish first in the Big Sky Preseason Media Poll, while Montana was selected the favorite in the Big Sky Preseason Coaches' Poll.
The Bobcats swept the series in 2023, while the Grizzlies took both regular season matchups in 2024. Last March in Boise, the two rivals collided in the Big Sky Tournament championship game for the first time since 1985, with Montana State storming back from an 11-point second half deficit to earn their third straight and sixth overall league tournament title with an 85-70 win. The key? A 41-9 run that turned a 49-38 deficit to a 79-58 advantage.
WHAT'S HAPPENING LATELY: Montana State has won three of their last four games after suffering a six-game skid from Dec. 15 through Jan. 9. The Bobcats came back from down 16 in a home win over Northern Arizona (Jan. 11), then narrowly fell to Idaho State despite holding a late lead (Jan. 16) before bouncing back with a convincing 80-71 win at Weber State (Jan. 18) and another statement win over Eastern Washington in front of 3,111 at Worthington Arena on Monday.
SERIES HISTORY: Montana and Montana State meet on Saturday in the 309th edition of the Brawl of the Wild, the fifth-most played series in NCAA Division I basketball history. Montana leads the all-time series, 156-52, and has gone 98-50 against MSU in Missoula. The Griz won both regular season matchups last year but the 'Cats got the last word, defeating their rival in the Big Sky Tournament championship game, 85-70, to book their third straight NCAA Tournament appearance. It marked the first time since 1985 that the 'Cats and Griz had met in the Big Sky Tournament championship.
IT'S MILLER TIME: Jed Miller turned in a career-best performance in helping lead Montana State to a road win over Weber State last Saturday, scoring 20 points with six rebounds, two assists, two steals, and no turnovers across 24 minutes off the bench. "Our record does not show what we are capable of right now, and all of us that play for Montana State believe that," Miller told the ESPN+ broadcast postgame. Miller added nine points on three 3-pointers in Monday's win over Eastern Washington.
FAMILIAR TIES: Montana State head coach Matt Logie and Montana head coach Travis DeCuire have a relationship that goes back over 30 years. DeCuire played at Mercer Island High School outside Seattle when Logie's grandfather, Ed Pepple, was the head coach. DeCuire later returned to Mercer Island as an assistant and coached teams that included Logie, then got his first head coaching job at rival Sammamish High School and coached against Mercer Island during Logie's senior season. Current MSU assistant coach Zach Payne spent four seasons on the UM staff from 2019-23 under DeCuire, and played two seasons for Logie at Whitworth from 2011-13 before staying on as a graduate assistant and volunteer coach from 2013-16.
BEEN AROUND THE BLOCK: Montana State is one of the most experienced teams in the country, boasting five players in the rotation who have each played in at least 121 games (Jabe Mullins, Tyler Patterson, Brian Goracke, Max Agbonkpolo, Sam Lecholat), and nine players who have at least four years in college basketball.
B WALK WALKS THE TALK: Brandon Walker averaged 15.0 points per game across three matchups with the Griz last year, shooting 19 of 24 from the floor (79.2% FG), including a 7 of 11 performance with 14 points in the Big Sky Tournament championship game. Walker has been dominant over the last two weeks, scoring at least 17 points in each of his last five games with a pair of 20-point outings against Northern Colorado and Eastern Washington.
IRON MAN: Tyler Patterson missed Monday's game against Eastern Washington with an injury, his first career missed game in five years. It broke a streak of 147 games straight that Patterson had played in since arriving on campus ahead of the 2020-21 season. Patterson has started 136 games for MSU, a school record, and his 147 games played also represents a school record. The graduate student's 136 starts are the most at one school for any active player in NCAA Division l. Patterson is fourth in program history in made 3-pointers (248), trailing his former coach Danny Sprinkle (1996-99) who is third in MSU history with 263 made 3-pointers.
CAT-GRIZ VETS: Tyler Patterson and Montana guard Brandon Whitney are tied for first in NCAA Division I among active players for career starts at one school. Patterson has started 136 games for Montana State, while Whitney has started 136 games for Montana. Patterson has played in 147 career games for MSU, while Whitney has played in 142 games for UM. The Big Sky Conference record for career appearances was set last season by Montana guard Josh Vazquez (155 games).
MR. 300: With the Cats' win over Weber State on January 18, 2025, head coach Matt Logie achieved his 300th career victory in college basketball. Logie is the 19th-winningest coach all-time in men's college basketball history (.775) and ninth among active head coaches. Logie went 194-35 over eight seasons at Whitworth (Division III) and 82-23 over four seasons at Point Loma (Division II). Logie is currently 25-30 at Montana State, and led the Bobcats to the NCAA Tournament last year.
ON THE ROAD: Last Saturday's win over Weber State was just the second road win of the season for the Bobcats and the second time this season the 'Cats pulled out a victory after trailing at halftime. It also marked the first time the 'Cats won a game this season when giving up at least 70 points. Montana State trailed at halftime on Monday before coming back to beat Eastern Washington--improving their mark to 3-7 when trailing at half this season. Montana State is 2-10 on the road this season, while Montana is 9-1.
LINEUP SWITCH: After being one of just three teams in the country (Drexel, UC San Diego) to roll with the same starting lineup for the first 18 games of the season, the Bobcats made a change prior to their road win over Weber State, inserting Bryce Zephir and Sam Lecholat into the first five and utilizing Jabe Mullins and Patrick McMahon in prominent bench roles. The 'Cats have won two in a row since the switch, averaging 77.0 points per game and allowing just 67.5 points per game defensively.
WESTERN TIES: MSU forward BJ Kolly was teammates with UM guard Kai Johnson at Western Washington (Division II) for three seasons from 2021-2024.
HIGH USAGE: Brandon Walker ranks seventh in the country in fouls drawn per 40 minutes (7.7), and ranks second in the country in percentage of possessions used when the junior forward is on the court (36.6%)
HIGH-LEVEL SCORER: Brandon Walker ranks eighth in the Big Sky in scoring (15.1 ppg) and sixth in field goal percentage (51.9%). Walker enters Saturday's game against Montana with 974 career points, 26 away from hitting 1,000.
STAT NOTES
+ Teams are shooting 78.7% at the free throw line against Montana State--the third-highest mark in the country.
+ Opponents are shooting just 29.1% from beyond the arc against the Bobcats this season, the 17th-best mark in NCAA Division I
+ Montana State is 20th in the country in average on-court height (78.6")
+ Jabe Mullins is 9th in the country in free throw percentage, going 43 of 46 at the line (93.5%)
+ Tyler Patterson leads the country in turnover rate, with only 2.2% of possessions with him on the court ending in a Patterson turnover. In 444 minutes of game action, Patterson has turned it over just twice this season.
SNOQUALMIE SPLASH BROS: 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.
MAD MAX: 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 had played in 116 career games, including five NCAA Tournament games, prior to coming to Bozeman. 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. Last 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.
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 Idaho from 1981-83. 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 19th in NCAA men's basketball history in career winning percentage (.774) and is ninth 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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