Bobcats Battle Sac State Thursday Night

After banking a pair of narrow home wins to open Big Sky play, Montana State hits the road this weekend to face a pair of similarly-seasoned opponents. Thursday's foe, Sacramento State, lost a pair of overtime games on the road, while Northern Colorado won two games away from home. The Hornets stand as an emerging squad, led by third-year head coach Brian Katz and dynamic talent Sultan Toles-Beye. The senior guard averages 12.5 and 3.9 assists per game. MSU faces another terrific guard on Saturday, facing Northern Colorado's Devon Beitzel, the reigning Big Sky Player of the Week. The Bears' guard ranks second in the nation in free throw shooting (94.9%), and 31st in scoring (19.8 ppg). As a team, Northern Colorado is fourth nationally in free throw percentage (79.6), and ninth in three-point shooting (41.3%).

NEXT UP...

Montana State at Sacramento State

DATE

TIPOFF

SITE

ARENA

RADIO

TV

LAST TIME
MSU 80, Sac St 74, 2/18/10 at MSU Big Sky TV Bobcat Network (Jeff Lasky) Hornets' Nest Sacramento, CA 8:05 pm
MISCELLANY...

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Erik Rush ranks fourth in the league in scoring (15.9) and Bobby Howard is fifth (15.6), making MSU the only Big Sky team with two players among the league's top eight scorers
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Montana State is 4-0 when turning the ball over less than 10 times this season, and turned the ball over only 16 times combined in last week's home sweep of Weber State and NAU
SERIES NOTES...

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MSU owns five straight wins against the Hornets, but Sac State has won six of its last nine meetings with MSU in the Hornets Nest
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Northern Colorado has won four of its last five against MSU, including two straight in Greeley
ON THE OFFENSE...

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MSU's 9.1 treys per game leads the Big Sky and is 15th in Division I
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Seniors Bobby Howard and Erik Rush combined to score 440 of the team's 1,011 points (43.5%)
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Erik Rush has either scored or assisted on 33% of MSU's field goals
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Of MSU's 1,011 points, 38% (384) have been scored on three-point shots
ON THE DEFENSE...

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The Bobcats force 14.4 turnovers per game, averaging 10.2 points per game off opponent turnovers, and forced 14 Weber State turnovers on Wednesday
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MSU opponents have shot over 50% in only five halves this season January 6, 2011

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