Montana State University
Montana
Brawl Time in Bozeman
2/20/2025 11:58:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Montana State hosts Montana in rivalry showdown at the Brick on Saturday
BOZEMAN, Mont. -- One of college basketball's fiercest rivalries writes a new chapter Saturday when Montana State welcomes Montana to Worthington Arena for the 310th edition of the Brawl of the Wild.
Tip is set for 7 p.m.
The game will air on Scripps Sports stations and statewide on the MTN channel, with live streaming on ESPN+. Ben Creighton will handle play-by-play duties with Jeff Riggs in the analyst chair.
Voice of the Bobcats Keaton Gillogly and analyst Brian Priebe will have the call on the Bobcat Sports Network.
Tickets are available here. Fans are encouraged to wear gold.
The teams have evenly split the last eight meetings going back to 2022 in a rivalry that is the fifth-most played series in all of college basketball, dating back to 1903.
Entering Saturday, Montana State (12-15, 7-7) has turned a corner and seen progression to the mean, with the Cats' shaking off early late-game disappointments to now turn close games into wins. The Cats' are 6-3 since Jan. 18 and have climbed into sole possession of fourth place in the Big Sky standings, a half-game ahead of a three-way tie for fifth entering Thursday night's slate.
The Bobcats' turnaround can partially be traced back to a lineup switch made before a Jan. 18 game at Weber State, with Jabe Mullins and Patrick McMahon coming off the bench and Bryce Zephir and Sam Lecholat inserted as starters ahead of a 80-71 win in Ogden.
In seven of the eight games since then, Montana State's leading scorer has come off the bench, with McMahon and Mullins thriving in their new roles. Montana State ranks 24th nationally in bench minutes (39.2%) and 59th in bench points per game (25.2).
Montana (19-8, 12-2) has been the hottest team in the conference, winning eight straight games including a 77-70 win over the Bobcats at Dahlberg Arena on Jan. 25. The Grizzlies leap-frogged Northern Colorado for pole position in the Big Sky standings last weekend, and sit atop the conference with four games to play thanks in part to a devastatingly efficient offense.
The Cats and Griz split preseason accolades after meeting in the 2024 Big Sky championship game, with Montana State picked first by the media and Montana picked first by the coaches.
MORE FROM MULLINS: Graduate student Jabe Mullins has been a difference maker over the last two weeks off the bench, and continued that last Saturday in the win over Idaho State with a team-high 17 points. Over his last four games, Mullins is averaging 18.5 points and 4.3 rebounds off the bench while shooting 60.0% from the floor. Mullins tied his career-high with 24 points off the bench on 8-of-12 shooting at Northern Colorado two weeks ago, including scoring 19 points in the second half alone. It was the most points for Mullins in his 132-game college career since scoring 24 for Washington State against Eastern Washington in 2022. Mullins leads the Big Sky Conference in offensive rating since the start of February (139.1).
BIG IMPACT B WALK: Brandon Walker has been the second-most valuable player in the Big Sky according to KenPom.com's All-Conference metrics. The junior forward ranks eighth in the Big Sky in scoring (14.6 ppg) and sixth in field goal percentage (52.3%) while playing an efficient 21.2 minutes per game. Walker has scored in double-figures in 12 of his last 13 games. The native of Oak Cliff, Texas, ranks 13th in the country in fouls drawn per 40 minutes (7.3), and fourth in the country in usage rate (35.5%).
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.
SERIES HISTORY: Montana and Montana State meet on Saturday in the 310th edition of the Brawl of the Wild, the fifth-most played series in NCAA Division I basketball history. Montana leads the all-time series, 157-52. Montana State is 97-52 against Montana in Bozeman. 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 staight NCAA Tournament appearance. It marked the first time since 1985 that the 'Cats and Griz had met in the Big Sky Tournament championship.
LAST RODEO: Tyler Patterson has played in 154 games for the Bobcats, starting in 143--both program records--and is tied with Montana guard Brandon Whitney for the most starts at the same school among active players in NCAA Division I. The native of Snoqualmie, Washington, is 13 points away from hitting 1,000 for his career and has knocked down 262 3-pointers--the fourth-most in program history and just one behind his former coach Danny Sprinkle, who hit 263 for MSU. Patterson is shooting 43.9% from beyond the arc on the season, the best percentage of his career, and is shooting 46.8% beyond the arc in conference play.
BATTLE AT THE ARC: Montana State has held opponents to just 29.9% shooting from beyond the arc, the 24th-lowest mark in the country. On the other side, Montana leads the Big Sky in three-point percentage, shooting 42.5% from deep since conference play began.
HOME COOKING: Montana State is 10-2 at home this season and has won six straight at Worthington Arena. The Cats' only two home losses were by a combined four points, with an overtime 72-69 defeat to CSUN on Nov. 30 and an 83-82 loss to Northern Colorado on Jan. 9. Since 2021, Montana State has gone 29-6 against conference opponents—the best mark in the Big Sky.
SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE: Montana State boasts the second-best defense in the Big Sky, allowing just 69.9 points per game. Since conference play began, Montana has been the best offense in the Big Sky, leading the conference in adjusted effiency, effective field goal percentage, and three-point percentage. Montana State is 1-11 this season when scoring fewer than 70 points, and 2-12 when allowing more than 70 points.
BALL SECURITY: Montana State has been the best team in the Big Sky at avoiding turnovers, averaging just 10.0 per game, and ranks third in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.29). Tyler Patterson is eighth in the country in turnover rate, with only 5.7% of turnovers with him on the court resulting from him. In 610 minutes of game action, Patterson has turned it over just seven times this season. Patrick McMahon ranks 20th in NCAA Division I in turnover rate, with only 6.8% of turnovers with him on the court coming from him. In 627 minutes, McMahon has 13 turnovers.
TIGHT MARGINS: All seven of Montana State's losses in conference play have come by seven points or fewer--the average margin of defeat in those seven games has been 4.7 points. Out of 31 conferences, the Big Sky has had the third-fewest number of blowouts. Only 5 of 67 conference games have been decided by 20 or more points.
AT THE FREE THROW LINE: Teams are shooting 77.4% at the free throw line against Montana State--the seventh-highest mark in the country. Jabe Mullins is 3rd in the country in free throw percentage, going 62 of 66 at the line (93.9%).
IRON MAN: Tyler Patterson missed a game against Eastern Washington on January 20 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 143 games for MSU, a school record, and his 154 games played also represents a school record. The graduate student's 143 starts are tied with Montana's Brandon Whitney for the most at ONE school for any active player in NCAA Division l. Patterson is fourth in program history in made 3-pointers (262), trailing his former coach Danny Sprinkle (1996-99) who is third in MSU history with 263 made 3-pointers.
MILESTONE VICTORY 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 22nd-winningest coach all-time in men's college basketball history (.769) and tenth 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 27-33 at Montana State, and led the Bobcats to the NCAA Tournament last year.
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 21st in NCAA men's basketball history in career winning percentage (.770) and is tenth 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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