Montana State University
Long Beach State
11/6/2026 9:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bobcats seek to win eighth-straight home opener
GAME 2
MONTANA STATE (0-1, 0-0 BIG SKY) vs LONG BEACH STATE (0-1, 0-0 BIG WEST)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 7
Time: 1Â p.m. MT
Venue: Worthington Arena
Location: Bozeman, Mont.
TV: ESPN+
Radio: Bobcat Radio Network
MSU Records: Home 0-0, Road 0-1, Neutral 0-0
LBSU Records: Home 0-0, Road 0-1, Neutral 0-0
Series: MSU leads, 4-3
Last Meeting: W, 78-72 (11/21/25)
STORYLINES
HOME AT LAST: Montana State returns home to Worthington Arena for the first time in eight months to take on Long Beach State at 1 p.m. (ESPN+). The Bobcats have won each of their last seven home openers and have won at 10 or more games in Bozeman in five consecutive seasons.
SO WE MEET AGAIN: The Bobcats and Beach are set to face off for the second-straight season and the fourth time in five years when the two teams take the court on Saturday. Each of the previous three matchups have been won by the visiting team, with the Bobcats defeating the Beach, 78-72 (2025) and 70-57 (2022), in Long Beach and the Beach earning a 75-69 victory in the last meeting in Bozeman (2023). MSU is 4-3 in the overall series and 4-1 in the last five matchups.
SWITCHING IT UP: Montana State will open its home slate with a Division I opponent for the first time since the 2018-19 season, when they welcomed Utah State to Worthington Arena. The Bobcats fell to the Aggies, 101-71, in that contest, marking the last time the Cats lost their first home game of the season. Montana State will face a new opponent to kick off the home slate for the first time since 2022-23 after facing Northwest Indian College in each of their last three home openers.
FRESH FACES: Monday's season opener at Fort Collins marked a milestone contest for several Bobcats. Darnez Slater and Jaden Steppe each made their first career starts while competing against their former team, while Slater, Isaiah Crane, and Hale Hansen all donned a Bobcat uniform for the first time. Monday marked Hansen's first college basketball game.
BIG NIGHTS IN FORT COLLINS: Jeremiah Davis and Howie Keene posted strong individual performances at Colorado State, with Davis leading the Cats with 17 points and a career-high four steals, while Keene chipped in a career-high 15 points. Davis ranks 19th nationally in steals per game (4.0) and 84th in total steals heading into Saturday's game, while the Bobcats rank 38th in the nation with 12.0 steals per game. Keene's 66.7% three-point percentage (4-of-6) is tied for the Big Sky lead.
PRESEASON FAVORITES: Montana State entered the 2026-27 campaign as the Big Sky preseason favorite for the first time since the 2022-23 season, topping the Big Sky Preseason Media and Coaches' Polls. The Bobcats were also listed as the league favorite by the Blue Ribbon Yearbook and enter Saturday's contest ranked a Big Sky-best 133rd in the KenPom Ratings.
CATS RETURN BIG PRODUCTION: After welcoming 10 new players to the roster a year ago, the Bobcats are set to field a squad of 10 returners and five newcomers in 2026-27. Montana State returns 65.7% of its scoring, 59.8% of its rebounding, and 65.0% of its assist production this season after retaining less than 30% of its production in each category the year prior (20.4% scoring, 20.8% rebounding, 26.2% assists).
MILLER'S ENCORE: Jed Miller is set to lead the Bobcats for a fifth and final season in 2026-27 after last year's breakout senior campaign. Miller was named a preseason all-conference honoree by the Big Sky and the Blue Ribbon Yearbook ahead of the season after leading the Bobcats in points (14.9), rebounds (5.7), assists (2.9), steals (1.6), and minutes (34.5) per game a year ago. He was a unanimous First-Team All-Big Sky selection in 2025-26 and ranked 36th nationally and third in the Big Sky in three-point percentage (40.6%).
SHARP SHOOTERS: Montana State retains 74.8% of its three-point production from last year's team, which set a program single-season record for the most three-point attempts per game (26.7). The 2025-26 Bobcats also ranked second in program history in three-pointers made per game (9.9) and total three-point attempts (854), as well as third in total threes made (317).Â
ALL-CONFERENCE RETURNERS: Three of Montana State's four all-conference honorees in 2025-26 are set to return in 2026-27, including Miller (First Team), senior Christian King (Honorable Mention), and fifth year Jeremiah Davis (All-Defense). The Bobcat trio tallied 44.6% of Montana State's total points and 54.3% of the Cats' steals last season and will provide veteran leadership on an experienced 2026-27 Bobcat squad.
A LOOK AT THE BEACH: Long Beach State and Montana State both enter Saturday's matchup seeking their first win of the season. The Beach narrowly lost their season opener at Utah, 66-63, on Nov. 2, with McCaden Adams leading the Beach with 21 points and Yohann Sissoko (15 pts) and JJ Gray (10 pts) also scoring in double figures. The Beach were ranked 12th in the Big West Preseason Coaches' Poll ahead of th 2026-27 season.
THE MATT LOGIE FILE: Fourth-year MSU head coach Matt Logie has taken his teams to the NCAA Tournament in 12 of his 15 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 45th in NCAA men's basketball history in career winning percentage (.749) and is 18th 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 will look to defeat Long Beach State in Bozeman for the first time since 2007 when the two teams clash on Saturday afternoon. Five of the seven contests in the all-time series have been won by the home team, including each of the last four.
+Â The Bobcats will look to continue their strong form in home openers when they host the Beach in Worthington Arena on Saturday. Montana State has won seven consecutive home openers, nine of its last 10, 13 of its last 15, and 16 of its last 20. The Bobcats' last home win against the Beach marked the 2007-08 season opener, which Montana State won, 74-56.
+ The Bobcats will feature on national television twice this season, marking their first pair of games aired on national TV since their 2024-25 Big Sky Tournament semifinal matchup against Northern Colorado (ESPNU). Montana State will face Gonzaga on CBS Sports Network on Nov. 17, with the Cats' road matchup against 2025-26 Big Sky Tournament champion Idaho to air on ESPNU on Feb. 11.
+ Montana State will face four squads coming off a 2026 NCAA Tournament appearance during the 2026-27 season. Three of those games will occur in a week-long stretch in November, which the Bobcats traveling to BYU (Nov. 12), Gonzaga (Nov. 17), and High Point (Nov. 19) in an eight-day stretch broken up by a home game against Cal Poly (Nov. 15). The Bobcats will also face Big Sky Tournament champion Idaho twice, hosting the Vandals on Jan. 16 and traveling to Moscow on Feb. 11. Sixth-seeded BYU and 15-seed Idaho each bowed out of the 2026 NCAA Tournament in the Round of 64, while three-seed Gonzaga and 12-seed High Point advanced to the Round of 32.
+ Jed Miller has played in two NCAA Tournament games for Montana State, and Darnez Slater and Jaden Steppe were members of the Colorado State team that reached the tournament while they were on the roster. Miller recorded an assist in MSU's First Four game against Grambling State in 2024 and tallied two points against Kansas State in the Round of 64 in 2023. Steppe played in seven games a member of Colorado State's Mountain West Championship team in 2024-25, while Slater redshirted for the Rams during that same season.
+ Montana State is coming off its best regular-season finish since the 2022-23 season, finishing 18-14 overall and 12-6 in Big Sky play to take second place in the regular-season standings in 2025-26. The Bobcats compiled an impressive 11-2 record at home, with their two losses in Worthington Arena coming by a combined three points.
+ Fifth year guard Jed Miller highlights a 2026-27 Bobcat roster featuring 10 returners and five newcomers. Miller led the Cats in points (14.9), rebounds (5.7), assists (2.9), steals (1.6), and minutes (34.5) per game while starting in all 32 contests last season, and he etched his name in the Montana State record books with the fifth-most three-pointers made (89) and three-point attempts (219) in a single season. Those numbers rank only behind Tyler Hall's four seasons from 2015-19.
+ Miller has the opportunity to crack the MSU career top-10 list in multiple categories during the 2026-27 season:
  • Needs five steals to tie Tyler Hall (122) for 10th in MSU history, 45 to tie Jason Erickson (162) for the program record [current tally: 117]
  • Needs 29 made threes to match Bobby Howard (160) for 10th in program history [current tally: 131]
  • Will match Nate Holmstadt, Erik Rush, and Bobby Howard (119) for the 10th-most games played in a Montana State uniform by playing 16 games during the 2026-27 season [current tally: 103]
+ Jeremiah Davis joins Miller as one of two fifth-year players on the roster and will provide strong production as a two-way player. Davis was named to the Big Sky All-Defensive Team in 2025-26 after ranking fifth in the Big Sky in steals (43) and sixth in steals per game (1.4). Offensively, he shot an impressive 51.5% from the field and 40.0% from three while averaging 9.1 points per game.
+ Senior Christian King earned Honorable Mention All-Big Sky honors after averaging 12.6 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in his first season as a Bobcat, ranking seventh in the Big Sky in three-pointers made per game (2.0).He is a reliable and consistent scorer for Montana State, finishing in double figures in 20 of his 28 games played last season. His father, Rich King, was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics with the 14th pick in the 1991 NBA Draft.
+ Senior guard Cavin Holden is set to reenter the Bobcats' rotation after being limited to just eight games last season following his season-ending injury at Utah State (Nov. 29, 2025). Holden started in all eight games prior to his injury, averaging 8.4 points per game. He 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, en route to earning Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) Player of the Year honors.
+ Bozeman native Seth Amunrud is set for his second season in Blue and Gold after averaging 7.3 points per game last season. Amunrud was a reliable shooter in 2025-26, recording a 45.4% clip from the field while shooting 40.0% from three and a perfect 24-of-24 from the free-throw line. Amunrud was an NJCAA Second-Team All-American at Dawson Community College in 2024-25 after averaging 21.1 points per game and shooting 55.2% from the field, 46.8% from three, and 88.7% from the line.
+ Jaden Steppe is set to continue making an impact for the Bobcats in the post during his junior season. The forward appeared in all 32 games for the Bobcats off the bench last season, joining Jed Miller and Chris Hodges as one of three players to play in every contest, and shot an impressive 54.8% from the field. He scored 15 or more points in three of the Bobcats' final seven games of the 2025-26 season.
+ Junior guard Darnez Slater joins Steppe in Bozeman after two seasons at Colorado State, where both players began their collegiate careers during the 2024-25 season. Slater appeared in 23 games for the Rams last season, shooting 40.0% from the field and 90.9% from the free-throw line.
+ Montana State gains an impressive shooter in Isaiah Crane for the 2026-27 season. The senior, who arrived in Bozeman by way of Carroll College, was a Second-Team NAIA All-American and the Frontier Conference Player of the Year last season and ranked 20th in the NAIA in scoring with 589 points. He scored in double figures in 57 of his 64 games at Carroll.
+ Toledo transfer London Praytor provides considerable height to the Bobcats' frontcourt this season. The 7-0 sophomore appeared in 16 games for the Rockets last season, recording a double-double against Central State (Dec. 1, 2025), and will serve alongside senior Waka Mbatch (6-10) as a strong presence in the paint.
+ Montana State was picked as the conference favorite in the Big Sky Preseason Coaches' and Media Polls ahead of the 2026-27 season. The Bobcats were also picked to win the Big Sky by the Blue Ribbon Yearbook.
+ Logie's 326-109 career mark in 15 seasons is good for a .749 winning percentage, 18th-best among active coaches at four-year schools and the 45th-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 15 years as a head coach at three different institutions, and his teams have won at least 21 games in 11 of the 15 seasons he has coached in his career.Â
COMPLETE GAME NOTES
View the full game notes PDF here.
