Thursday, December 8
BOZEMAN
7 p.m.
Montana State University
vs
St. Thomas
Darius Brown II
Photo by: Gabi Brooks/Southern Utah Athletics
Men’s Basketball Returns to Bozeman for Three-Game Homestand
12/6/2022 3:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BOZEMAN, Mont. – Returning from its longest road trip of the regular season so far, the Montana State men's basketball team returns to Worthington Arena for a three-game homestand this week, starting with a pair of games against St. Thomas and Nebraska Omaha.
The Bobcats (4-5) will host St. Thomas for MSU Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night on Thursday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m., then they will take on the Omaha Mavericks (3-6) this Saturday at 4 p.m. Admission for Saturday's game is only $5 with a ticket stub from Montana State football's FCS Quarterfinal home game this Friday. Both contests will be livestreamed on ESPN+ and free radio broadcasts will be provided on the Bobcat Sports Radio Network.
The Bobcats are coming off back-to-back games determined on the final possession: MSU fell 72-71 to Middle Tennessee State in the last game of the Northern Classic on Nov. 27, yet the Bobcats beat Southern Utah 86-83 with RaeQuan Battle's go-ahead three-point play with less than four seconds to go on Nov. 30. Battle's game-winner is the second of his Montana State career, joining his three-pointer from the logo that downed Northern Colorado in the home finale last year.
On offense, Battle has continued to lead the Bobcats with 18.4 points per game on 48.0% shooting. He has finished in double-figures in six out of the Bobcats' nine games, including five outings of 20 points or more. Going into this season, his previous single-game career high was 19 points; this year, he has surpassed that figure five times.
"All year long, he's been taking good shots for him," Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle said. "Sometimes they are tough shots, but he can make those. He elevates so high and his shot is so pure that he can make a lot of those shots. I think, for the most part, his shot selection has been really good."
Senior forward Jubrile Belo found his rhythm lately during the Bobcats' three-game trip to Canada, averaging 16.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals. The Preseason Big Sky Player of the Year ranks eighth and ninth, respectively, in blocks and steals in the conference, plus he is the Bobcats' second-leading scorer at 12.8 points per game.
"He played well in Montreal," Sprinkle said. "Those three games were as physical of games we've played since I've been here as a head coach. But he enjoys those types of games. He saw some really good post defenses over in Montreal, but they couldn't stop him."
Redshirt junior Darius Brown II has progressed as the team's starting point guard after transferring in from CSUN this past season. The Pasadena, Calif. native is the conference's second-leading assist man (5.5 per game) and his 2.32 assist-to-turnover ratio also ranks second in the conference. Yet Brown II is gradually getting the green light to shoot
"He's a confident kid," Sprinkle said. "We told him that if the other team goes under ball screens on him, he has to shoot it. Sometimes he's too unselfish and he's always looking to get someone else a shot, but we need him to make some shots too because he's a talented scorer."
Over the past two games, Brown II went from dishing out a then-NCAA-high 16 assists against Middle Tennessee State. Then he had his best scoring night as a Bobcat by scoring 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting (including a perfect 3-for-3 from three) while also dishing out a team-high five assists against Southern Utah last Wednesday.
"He came out in the first half against Southern Utah and hit three threes because they kept going under on ball-screens," Sprinkle said. "He had a huge shot at the end of the first half where we had nine seconds left, he raced up the floor and hit a pull-up jumper as time expired. He's more than capable of doing that. So we need him to be aggressive and score the basketball."
As a team, Montana State had its best three-point shooting percentage of the year against Southern Utah, in which five different players helped the Bobcats connect on 13 of their 24 three-point attempts (51.4%).
This resurgence has come at an opportune time, as the Bobcats open up the homestand against St. Thomas, which boasts one of the best offenses in college basketball. Led by senior guard Riley Miller (14.2 PPG) and Andrew Rohde (13.7 PPG), the Tommies shoot 50.1% from the field and 40.9% from three — both of which rank in the top-20, nationally.
"Our returners remember how tough St. Thomas was to guard last year," Sprinkle said. "They're a tremendous shooting team with multiple guys who can shoot the basketball. They're very well-coached; I love the way they run their offense. They're never standing. Everything hinges on them shooting the three. Their shooters do a tremendous job getting shots by coming off screens and handoffs — sometimes their shooters will come off three or four screens and two dribble-handoffs on one possession."
St. Thomas (7-3) will be making its second trip to the state of Montana this season, as the Tommies played three games in the University of Montana's Zootown Classic on Nov. 17-19. So far, the Tommies have played more games (three) in Montana than the Bobcats (2) this season, since Montana State has had a challenging road-heavy schedule so far.
Both teams met for the first time in nearly 80 years last season. The Bobcats would pull away in the second half for a 72-65 win in St. Thomas' first home game in its Division I era. The Tommies are in a multi-year transition period after moving up from Division III in 2021-22.
As for Omaha, the Mavericks are currently 3-6 under first-year head coach Chris Crutchfield. Saturday's trip to Bozeman will wrap up a four-game road stretch for the Mavericks, who won a pair of games at the Emerald Coast Classic in Niceville, Fla. before playing at North Texas, Mississippi State and Drake — the latter of which Omaha plays Wednesday night. Unlike the Tommies, the Mavericks have struggled to get things going offensively, averaging 64.3 points per game, yet the team has five players who average at least eight points per game.
Throughout this week, however, Montana State will look to improve its defense, which has allowed opponents to score 70.6 points per game (5th in the Big Sky Conference) on 44.1% shooting (3rd in the Big Sky).
"We're playing really hard on defense," Sprinkle said. "Our activity level is good, we've been getting a lot of deflections and some steals out of our defense. That was the reason why we won at Southern Utah at the end of the game. It's kept us in a lot of games — even in Montreal."
After a brief reprieve for finals week, the Bobcats host Northwest Indian College on Dec. 17 at 4 p.m. before traveling to No. 10 Arizona for the non-conference finale on Dec. 20. Big Sky Conference play begins with a two-game homestand against Idaho (Dec. 29) and Eastern Washington (Dec. 31). All Big Sky Conference games will be streamed on ESPN+.
Season tickets and single-game tickets for all remaining home games can be found on msubobcats.info/tickets.
The Bobcats (4-5) will host St. Thomas for MSU Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night on Thursday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m., then they will take on the Omaha Mavericks (3-6) this Saturday at 4 p.m. Admission for Saturday's game is only $5 with a ticket stub from Montana State football's FCS Quarterfinal home game this Friday. Both contests will be livestreamed on ESPN+ and free radio broadcasts will be provided on the Bobcat Sports Radio Network.
The Bobcats are coming off back-to-back games determined on the final possession: MSU fell 72-71 to Middle Tennessee State in the last game of the Northern Classic on Nov. 27, yet the Bobcats beat Southern Utah 86-83 with RaeQuan Battle's go-ahead three-point play with less than four seconds to go on Nov. 30. Battle's game-winner is the second of his Montana State career, joining his three-pointer from the logo that downed Northern Colorado in the home finale last year.
On offense, Battle has continued to lead the Bobcats with 18.4 points per game on 48.0% shooting. He has finished in double-figures in six out of the Bobcats' nine games, including five outings of 20 points or more. Going into this season, his previous single-game career high was 19 points; this year, he has surpassed that figure five times.
"All year long, he's been taking good shots for him," Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle said. "Sometimes they are tough shots, but he can make those. He elevates so high and his shot is so pure that he can make a lot of those shots. I think, for the most part, his shot selection has been really good."
Senior forward Jubrile Belo found his rhythm lately during the Bobcats' three-game trip to Canada, averaging 16.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals. The Preseason Big Sky Player of the Year ranks eighth and ninth, respectively, in blocks and steals in the conference, plus he is the Bobcats' second-leading scorer at 12.8 points per game.
"He played well in Montreal," Sprinkle said. "Those three games were as physical of games we've played since I've been here as a head coach. But he enjoys those types of games. He saw some really good post defenses over in Montreal, but they couldn't stop him."
Redshirt junior Darius Brown II has progressed as the team's starting point guard after transferring in from CSUN this past season. The Pasadena, Calif. native is the conference's second-leading assist man (5.5 per game) and his 2.32 assist-to-turnover ratio also ranks second in the conference. Yet Brown II is gradually getting the green light to shoot
"He's a confident kid," Sprinkle said. "We told him that if the other team goes under ball screens on him, he has to shoot it. Sometimes he's too unselfish and he's always looking to get someone else a shot, but we need him to make some shots too because he's a talented scorer."
Over the past two games, Brown II went from dishing out a then-NCAA-high 16 assists against Middle Tennessee State. Then he had his best scoring night as a Bobcat by scoring 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting (including a perfect 3-for-3 from three) while also dishing out a team-high five assists against Southern Utah last Wednesday.
"He came out in the first half against Southern Utah and hit three threes because they kept going under on ball-screens," Sprinkle said. "He had a huge shot at the end of the first half where we had nine seconds left, he raced up the floor and hit a pull-up jumper as time expired. He's more than capable of doing that. So we need him to be aggressive and score the basketball."
As a team, Montana State had its best three-point shooting percentage of the year against Southern Utah, in which five different players helped the Bobcats connect on 13 of their 24 three-point attempts (51.4%).
This resurgence has come at an opportune time, as the Bobcats open up the homestand against St. Thomas, which boasts one of the best offenses in college basketball. Led by senior guard Riley Miller (14.2 PPG) and Andrew Rohde (13.7 PPG), the Tommies shoot 50.1% from the field and 40.9% from three — both of which rank in the top-20, nationally.
"Our returners remember how tough St. Thomas was to guard last year," Sprinkle said. "They're a tremendous shooting team with multiple guys who can shoot the basketball. They're very well-coached; I love the way they run their offense. They're never standing. Everything hinges on them shooting the three. Their shooters do a tremendous job getting shots by coming off screens and handoffs — sometimes their shooters will come off three or four screens and two dribble-handoffs on one possession."
St. Thomas (7-3) will be making its second trip to the state of Montana this season, as the Tommies played three games in the University of Montana's Zootown Classic on Nov. 17-19. So far, the Tommies have played more games (three) in Montana than the Bobcats (2) this season, since Montana State has had a challenging road-heavy schedule so far.
Both teams met for the first time in nearly 80 years last season. The Bobcats would pull away in the second half for a 72-65 win in St. Thomas' first home game in its Division I era. The Tommies are in a multi-year transition period after moving up from Division III in 2021-22.
As for Omaha, the Mavericks are currently 3-6 under first-year head coach Chris Crutchfield. Saturday's trip to Bozeman will wrap up a four-game road stretch for the Mavericks, who won a pair of games at the Emerald Coast Classic in Niceville, Fla. before playing at North Texas, Mississippi State and Drake — the latter of which Omaha plays Wednesday night. Unlike the Tommies, the Mavericks have struggled to get things going offensively, averaging 64.3 points per game, yet the team has five players who average at least eight points per game.
Throughout this week, however, Montana State will look to improve its defense, which has allowed opponents to score 70.6 points per game (5th in the Big Sky Conference) on 44.1% shooting (3rd in the Big Sky).
"We're playing really hard on defense," Sprinkle said. "Our activity level is good, we've been getting a lot of deflections and some steals out of our defense. That was the reason why we won at Southern Utah at the end of the game. It's kept us in a lot of games — even in Montreal."
After a brief reprieve for finals week, the Bobcats host Northwest Indian College on Dec. 17 at 4 p.m. before traveling to No. 10 Arizona for the non-conference finale on Dec. 20. Big Sky Conference play begins with a two-game homestand against Idaho (Dec. 29) and Eastern Washington (Dec. 31). All Big Sky Conference games will be streamed on ESPN+.
Season tickets and single-game tickets for all remaining home games can be found on msubobcats.info/tickets.
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