Friday, November 18
BOZEMAN
5:30 p.m.
Montana State University
vs
Warner Pacific
Jubrile Belo
Photo by: University of Oregon Athletics
Montana State Hosts Warner Pacific, Travels to North Dakota
11/17/2022 4:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Bobcats return to Bozeman for the regular-season home opener this Friday at 5:30 p.m.
BOZEMAN, Mont. — Adding to a banner week for Montana State athletics, the Bobcat men's basketball team returns to Bozeman for a game against Warner Pacific this Friday at 5:30 p.m.
The Bobcats (1-2) return home for a game against Warner Pacific as part of a doubleheader with the Montana State women's basketball team on Friday, Nov. 18 at 5:30 p.m. Both teams' championship banners from last year's Big Sky titles will be unveiled in between the two games of the doubleheader. Tickets to that game are $5 with a canned food donation to help Can the Griz.
Friday will be Montana State's regular-season home opener and one of only four non-conference home games on its schedule. Under head coach Danny Sprinkle's direction, the Bobcats have won their last three home regular-season openers. This will be the second meeting ever between MSU and Warner Pacific, a NAIA school out of the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
"Warner Pacific is a smaller team that will play five guys out on the perimeter," Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle said. "We have to rebound the basketball on both ends and really take advantage of that. Warner Pacific has a couple of guys who can really score, so we're going to have to be aware of them."
The Bobcats are coming off a two-game road trip at Long Beach State and Oregon — two teams that made the NIT last season and are projected to finish as some of the leaders in their respective conferences. After notching a season-opening 70-57 win at LBSU on Sunday, the Bobcats fell 81-51 at Oregon on Tuesday.
"I really like our team's poise," Sprinkle said. "We've been put in a few challenging spots, but I like how together the team is. Their attitudes have been great. There are a lot of things we have to clean up, but we're getting pretty good looks on offense and we've done a pretty good job of defending and rebounding."
Defense has been the Bobcats' calling card so far. The team ranks third in the Big Sky in scoring defense (66.6 points per game allowed), third in opponents' three-point field goal percentage (32.3%) and fourth in blocked shots (3.33 blocks per game).
"Team-defense-wise, we've gotten much better over the last few weeks," Sprinkle said. "I think our guards need to get a lot better with on-ball defense and we need to get better positioning to make teams score over us. At times, I think we've done a good job of that, but I feel like there have been times where we're giving up too many layups."
One constant for MSU so far has been RaeQuan Battle's scoring. The junior guard has notched back-to-back 20-point nights for the first time in his career. After pouring in a career-high 24 points at LBSU, Battle led the Bobcats with a game-high 20 points at Oregon on Tuesday. Battle is also tied atop the Big Sky Conference in points per game (17.3) and is sixth in field goal percentage (39.6%).
"We need RaeQuan to keep being aggressive," Sprinkle said. "We need him to up his shooting percentages, but he's been getting clean looks. He hasn't taken any bad shots. Although he's had two-straight 20-point games, he could've easily had 30-point nights."
Fellow guard Darius Brown II has been a welcome addition to the Bobcats so far. The CSUN transfer has averaged 6.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and a team-high 3.3 assists per game so far, plus his 1.7 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks seventh amongst all Big Sky players. The Pasadena, Calif. native had his best game in an MSU uniform this past Sunday, as he scored 11 points on 3-for-7 shooting and added five rebounds and four assists in the team's win at Long Beach State.
After Friday's game, the Bobcats will head east to play at North Dakota on Sunday at 12 p.m. MT. That game will be broadcasted on UND Insider. This kicks off a five-game road trip that spans two states and two continents. From North Dakota, the Bobcats will head to Montreal, Canada for three games in the Northern Classic, starting Nov. 25 vs. UNC Greensboro at 2:30 p.m. MT. A road game at Southern Utah caps off the road trip on Nov. 30 at 7 p.m.
The Bobcats (1-2) return home for a game against Warner Pacific as part of a doubleheader with the Montana State women's basketball team on Friday, Nov. 18 at 5:30 p.m. Both teams' championship banners from last year's Big Sky titles will be unveiled in between the two games of the doubleheader. Tickets to that game are $5 with a canned food donation to help Can the Griz.
Friday will be Montana State's regular-season home opener and one of only four non-conference home games on its schedule. Under head coach Danny Sprinkle's direction, the Bobcats have won their last three home regular-season openers. This will be the second meeting ever between MSU and Warner Pacific, a NAIA school out of the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
"Warner Pacific is a smaller team that will play five guys out on the perimeter," Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle said. "We have to rebound the basketball on both ends and really take advantage of that. Warner Pacific has a couple of guys who can really score, so we're going to have to be aware of them."
The Bobcats are coming off a two-game road trip at Long Beach State and Oregon — two teams that made the NIT last season and are projected to finish as some of the leaders in their respective conferences. After notching a season-opening 70-57 win at LBSU on Sunday, the Bobcats fell 81-51 at Oregon on Tuesday.
"I really like our team's poise," Sprinkle said. "We've been put in a few challenging spots, but I like how together the team is. Their attitudes have been great. There are a lot of things we have to clean up, but we're getting pretty good looks on offense and we've done a pretty good job of defending and rebounding."
Defense has been the Bobcats' calling card so far. The team ranks third in the Big Sky in scoring defense (66.6 points per game allowed), third in opponents' three-point field goal percentage (32.3%) and fourth in blocked shots (3.33 blocks per game).
"Team-defense-wise, we've gotten much better over the last few weeks," Sprinkle said. "I think our guards need to get a lot better with on-ball defense and we need to get better positioning to make teams score over us. At times, I think we've done a good job of that, but I feel like there have been times where we're giving up too many layups."
One constant for MSU so far has been RaeQuan Battle's scoring. The junior guard has notched back-to-back 20-point nights for the first time in his career. After pouring in a career-high 24 points at LBSU, Battle led the Bobcats with a game-high 20 points at Oregon on Tuesday. Battle is also tied atop the Big Sky Conference in points per game (17.3) and is sixth in field goal percentage (39.6%).
"We need RaeQuan to keep being aggressive," Sprinkle said. "We need him to up his shooting percentages, but he's been getting clean looks. He hasn't taken any bad shots. Although he's had two-straight 20-point games, he could've easily had 30-point nights."
Fellow guard Darius Brown II has been a welcome addition to the Bobcats so far. The CSUN transfer has averaged 6.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and a team-high 3.3 assists per game so far, plus his 1.7 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks seventh amongst all Big Sky players. The Pasadena, Calif. native had his best game in an MSU uniform this past Sunday, as he scored 11 points on 3-for-7 shooting and added five rebounds and four assists in the team's win at Long Beach State.
After Friday's game, the Bobcats will head east to play at North Dakota on Sunday at 12 p.m. MT. That game will be broadcasted on UND Insider. This kicks off a five-game road trip that spans two states and two continents. From North Dakota, the Bobcats will head to Montreal, Canada for three games in the Northern Classic, starting Nov. 25 vs. UNC Greensboro at 2:30 p.m. MT. A road game at Southern Utah caps off the road trip on Nov. 30 at 7 p.m.
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