Montana State University
Denver
Bobcats to Host Denver on Sunday Afternoon
11/8/2025 8:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Montana State seeking win in final home game of November
GAME 3
MONTANA STATE (1-1) vs DENVER (0-2)
Date: Sun., Nov. 9
Time: 1 p.m.
Venue:
Worthington Arena
Location: Bozeman, Mont.
TV: ESPN+
Radio: Bobcat Radio Network
MSU Records: Home 1-0, Road 0-1, Neutral 0-0
DU Records: Home 0-0, Road 0-2, Neutral 0-0
Series: MSU leads, 12-5
Last Meeting: L, 78-79 (11/17/24)
STORYLINES
SEARCHING FOR WIN NO. 2: Following its 114-44 home-opening win over Northwest Indian College on Wednesday, the Montana State men's basketball team is set for its final home game of November on Sunday, welcoming Denver to Worthington Arena for the first time since 2017 for a 1 p.m. matchup with the Pioneers. The Bobcats will look for their second consecutive win as they wrap up week one of competition on the young 2025-26 season.
TIME FOR A REMATCH: Montana State seeks to avenge last season's one-point loss to Denver when the Cats face the Pioneers on Sunday. The Bobcats, who trailed by 19 points with 8:52 remaining in last year's contest, saw their comeback attempt come up just short, 79-78, as B.J. Kolly's shot fell off the rim as timed expired. After two-straight matchups at Denver, the series will return to Bozeman for the first time since the Cats' 79-65 win on Dec. 18, 2017, their most recent victory in the all-time series.
SHARING THE BALL: Four Bobcats scored in double figures in each of the first two games to open the season, and 11 players have contributed points for MSU in 2025-26. Patrick McMahon (24), Cavin Holden (14), Christian King (10), and Jed Miller (10) led the Cats in scoring at Colorado on Nov. 3, while Davian Brown (26), Miller (16), Jaden Steppe (15), and King (14) were Montana State's top contributors vs. Northwest Indian on Nov. 5.
HOLDEN NEARS 700 POINTS, 200 DIMES: Junior Cavin Holden needs three points to reach 700 in his collegiate career. The Longview, Wash., native tallied 674 points in two years at Central Washington and racked up 23 in his first two games as a Bobcat (14 at Colorado, 9 vs. Northwest Indian) for a career total of 697. Holden's next assist will also mark the 200th of his career.
MILESTONES FOR MCMAHON: Redshirt senior Patrick McMahon opened his season with a highlight-reel performance against Colorado on Nov. 3, pouring in a career-high 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting to lead the Bobcats in Boulder. McMahon enters Sunday's contest with 499 career points, needing just one more to reach the 500-point milestone.
AN EARLY CRACK AT THE SUMMIT LEAGUE: Sunday's contest against marks the first of three games for the Bobcats against Summit League teams this season. Montana State will host St. Thomas in its next home game on Dec. 3 before traveling to Tulsa to face Oral Roberts on Dec. 6. The latter two games will be played as part of the Big Sky-Summit Challenge.
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE: The Bobcats were nearly unstoppable in the friendly confines of Worthington Arena during the 2024-25 season, posting an 11-3 record while winning seven of their final eight contests at home.
FRESH FACES: Montana State debuts a new-look lineup in 2025-26 with 10 newcomers joining five returning Bobcats on the 15-man roster. Redshirt senior Patrick McMahon and senior Jed Miller lead a crop of returners that also features redshirt junior Jeremiah Davis, who missed most of last season with an injury, redshirt sophomore Calum Rutherfurd, and redshirt freshman Grayson Gaddis. MSU's seven-member transfer class includes Davian Brown (Biola), Cavin Holden (Central Washington), Christian King (Washington), Seth Amunrud (Dawson CC), Chris Hodges (Wisconsin), Waka Mbatch (Florida State) and Jaden Steppe (Colorado State). Freshmen Howie Keene, CJ Purdie, and James Steward round out the 2025-26 Bobcat roster.
A LOOK AT THE PIONEERS: Denver wraps up its three-game road trip in Bozeman on Sunday as the Pioneers seek their first win of the season. Denver dropped its season opener at Seattle, 84-78 on Nov. 3 before falling to Washington, 84-70, on Nov. 6. Jeremiah Kinsey (19.0 ppg) and Jeremiah Burke (18.0 ppg) lead the Pioneers in scoring through two games played.
PRESEASON PROJECTIONS: MSU earned a share of fifth place in the Big Sky Preseason Coaches' Poll and was picked sixth in the media poll ahead of the 2025-26 season.
LOGIE CONTINUES HIS WINNING WAYS: Montana State head coach Matt Logie is no stranger to winning, owning a 309-95 (.765) career head coaching record across all NCAA divisions. Logie's 309 victories rank second among active Division I head coaches 45 years old or younger behind first-year Iowa head coach Ben McCollum with 426.
THE MATT LOGIE FILE: Third-year MSU head coach Matt Logie has taken his teams to the NCAA Tournament in 12 of his 14 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 24th in NCAA men's basketball history in career winning percentage (.765) and is 12th 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.
CAT TRACKS
+ Montana State is set to face Denver in Worthington Arena for the first time since 2017, when the Bobcats last defeated the Pioneers, 74-65. Denver has won the last two matchups, earning a 79-78 win on Nov. 17, 2024, and a 76-64 victory on Dec. 18, 2018. Both of those matchups took place in Denver.
+ The home team has won each of the last five contests in the all-time series between Montana State and Denver. The Bobcats are currently on a two-game home winning streak against the Pioneers and have not lost at home to Denver since 2003.
+ Montana State looks to start the season 2-0 at home for the eighth time in the last 10 seasons. Since 2016-17, the Bobcats have earned wins in each of their first two home games in every season except for 2018-19 and 2023-24.
+ The Bobcats rewrote the record books against Northwest Indian College on Nov. 5, posting the third-highest field goal percentage (64.7%) and third-most three-pointers made in a game in school history (21) while matching MSU's records for fifth-highest field goal total (44), eighth-highest scoring effort (114), and ninth-most steals (15) in a game.
+ Montana State's 21 three-pointers against Northwest Indian College marked the Cats' first time making 20 or more threes in a game since Dec. 16, 2023, when they drained 20 against SAGU American Indian College. It was also MSU's highest three-point total since the Bobcats made 23 against Northwest Indian College on Dec. 27, 2022 en route to a 144-59 win. 144 points is the program record for points in a game.
+ With the Bobcats' win over Northwest Indian College on Nov. 5, Montana State has now won seven-straight home openers dating back to the 2019-20 season. The Bobcats' last home-opening loss came against Utah State, 101-71, to open the 2018-19 campaign.
+ Three Bobcats made their first career starts in the season opener at Colorado on Nov. 3. Senior Jed Miller received the first starting nod of his 72-game Bobcat career while Christian King and Chris Hodges also started for the first time in their MSU debuts. Central Washington transfer Cavin Holden and Bobcat returner Patrick McMahon rounded out the Cats' new-look starting five against Colorado.
+ Montana State faces two teams coming off of NCAA Tournament appearances in 2024-25, including at-large selection Utah State (Nov. 29) and defending Big Sky Champion Montana (Jan. 17 & Feb. 14). Both teams fell to Big Ten opponents in the Round of 64 as the No. 10 Aggies were ousted by No. 7 UCLA, 72-47, and No. 14 Montana fell to current Bobcat Chris Hodges and the No. 3 Badgers, 85-66.
+ Three current Bobcats have played in at least one NCAA Tournament game, and two others were members of teams that reached the tournament while they were on the roster. Patrick McMahon scored seven points in eight minutes against Texas Tech during the 2022 Round of 64, Chris Hodges appeared in NCAA Tournament games for Wisconsin in three-straight years from 2023-25, and Jed Miller recorded an assist in MSU's First Four game against Grambling State in 2024. Jaden Steppe played in seven games a member of Colorado State's Mountain West Championship team in 2024-2025, and Calum Rutherfurd redshirted during Montana State's most recent Big Sky Championship year in 2023-24.
+ The Cats concluded the 2024-25 season with a 15-18 record, including a 9-9 mark in conference play. Montana State finished fifth in the Big Sky regular season standings and defeated No. 4 Idaho State in dominant fashion, 80-60, in the Big Sky Tournament quarterfinals before falling to top-seeded Northern Colorado in the semis, 72-45. The defeat ended the Bobcats' run of three-straight trips to the NCAA Tournament from 2022-24, which marked the longest tournament streak by a Big Sky team since Weber State appeared in three-straight NCAA Tournaments from 1978-80.
+ Redshirt senior Patrick McMahon enjoyed a breakout year last season, tallying 18 double-figure scoring performances in 2024-25. He posted four 20-point performances off the bench in conference play, including a then-career-high 23 points in the regular-season finale vs Idaho on March 3, 2025. The lone starter returning from last year's team, McMahon averaged 9.9 points and 3.4 rebounds in 23.3 minutes per game last season and owns an impressive .531 career field goal percentage in 73 games and counting as a Bobcat.
+ Jed Miller entered his fourth year in Bozeman with 71 games under his belt, one short of Patrick McMahon's 72 for the most among active players in a Bobcat uniform. Miller led MSU in steals last season with 43 while also dishing 74 assists in 33 games.
+ Junior guard Cavin Holden was a prolific scorer at the Division II level for Central Washington, averaging 15.1 points per game on 47.6% shooting during the 2024-25 season, including a 43.8% mark from deep. Holden tallied 674 points in just two seasons at CWU and earned Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) Player of the Year honors during his sophomore season.
+ Davian Brown joins the Bobcats for his final year of collegiate eligibility in 2025-26, following in the footsteps of his older brother Darius, who played on MSU's Big Sky Championship and NCAA Tournament team in 2022-23. Darius played in 33 of 34 games and averaged 9.1 points on 46.5% shooting, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game en route to Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year honors and a Third-Team All-Conference Selection. Davian averaged 15.6 points per game last season at Division II Biola and enters the 2025-26 season with a total of 1,915 points scored across his five-year collegiate career at Biola (D-II), Lewis-Clark State (NAIA), and The Master's University (NAIA).
+ Chris Hodges provides 40 games of Big Ten experience for the Bobcats as a graduate transfer from Wisconsin. He was the Badgers' 2024 recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award during his third year in Madison.
+ Washington transfer Christian King adds another 20 games of Power Four experience from his time in the Big Ten, tallying 50 points and 31 rebounds during his redshirt freshman season in 2024-25. His father, Rich King, was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics with the 14th pick in the 1991 NBA Draft.
+ Jeremiah Davis rejoins the Bobcats' rotation after missing the final 20 games of the 2024-25 season due to injury. During his eight-game stint with the Cats last season, Davis scored in double figures twice (vs. Northwest Indian, Nov. 11; at USC, Dec. 15).
+ Bozeman native Seth Amunrud returns home for his junior season after two years at Dawson Community College, where he was an NJCAA Second-Team All-American this past season after averaging 21.1 points per game and shooting 55.2% from the field, 46.8% from three, and 88.7% from the line.
+ Montana State was picked for a share of fifth in the Big Sky Preseason Coaches' Poll and sixth in the Big Sky Preseason Media Poll.
+ Logie's 309-95 career mark in 14 seasons is good for a .765 winning percentage, 12th-best among active coaches at four-year schools and the 24th-highest winning percentage in the history of all NCAA men's college basketball coaches. Logie's teams have qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 12 of his 14 years as a head coach at three different institutions, and his teams have won at least 21 games in every season save two he has coached in his career.
