Thursday, January 12
BOZEMAN
7 p.m.
Montana State University
vs
Idaho State
Tyler Patterson
Photo by: Thomas Anderson
Bobcats Return to the Brick to Host Idaho State
1/10/2023 2:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Montana State and its league-leading defense will square off with one of the two remaining undefeated Big Sky teams on Thursday.
BOZEMAN, Mont. – Returning home from its first road trip in Big Sky Conference play, the Montana State men's basketball team hosts Idaho State and Weber State in Worthington Arena this Thursday and Saturday, respectively.
Thursday's game against Idaho State will serve as men's basketball's Military Appreciation Night, in which all active-duty military members and veterans with valid military IDs will have free admission. Both games will be livestreamed on ESPN+ and a free radio call will be provided by the Bobcat Sports Radio Network.
The Bobcats (10-7, 3-1 Big Sky) have a seven-game win streak against the Bengals (6-10, 3-0), which is the program's second-longest active streak against any Big Sky opponent. This win streak is second only to the eight-game winning streak MSU currently has over Northern Arizona. Additionally, Montana State has never lost to the Bengals under current head coach Danny Sprinkle. Should the Bobcats win on Thursday, Sprinkle will be alone in ninth all-time at Montana State with 67 wins. He is currently tied with Bruce Haroldson, who went 66-69 at MSU from 1978-82.
However, the Bengals come to Bozeman on its best start to non-conference play since the 2017-18 season. The Bengals are one of two undefeated Big Sky Conference teams remaining, and fourth-year head coach Ryan Looney is one win away from equaling last year's win total.
Thursday will be a strength-on-strength matchup between Montana State's league-leading defense and Idaho State's second-leading scoring offense. The Bengals have averaged 78.7 points per game and shoot 84.0% from the free-throw line — both of which rank second in the league. Meanwhile. Montana State's defense ranks atop the Big Sky by allowing 59.5 points per game and limiting teams to shooting 37.1% from the field. So far, MSU has held Big Sky opponents to under 60 points on three occasions.
On offense, Idaho State is led by senior Brock Mackenzie, who averages 14.1 points per game in his first season of Division I play. Mackenzie, a transfer from Division II Point Loma, played for Looney during the latter's final season at Point Loma. Fellow first-year Bengal Miguel Tomley, who transferred in from Santa Clara, chips in 12.8 points and 4.1 rebounds per game, while ISU's frontcourt of Brayden Parker and Jared Rodriguez both average over 10 points per game.
Montana State will need to flex its defensive muscles again this week after two big wins at Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona last week. In both wins, the Bobcats held both teams under 60 points and limited two of the league's top scorers — UNC's Daylen Kountz and NAU's Jalen Cone — in check. Kountz came in as one of the league's leading scorers, but only managed five points against the Bobcats. On Saturday, Darius Brown II and Robert Ford III held Cone to just 12 points on 2-for-10 shooting and two turnovers.
Lest it is mistaken for a defense-heavy team, Montana State had plenty of offensive standouts on its first road trip. Jubrile Belo (17 points) and Great Osobor (15 points) helped MSU overwhelm Northern Colorado in the paint, plus Sam Lecholat chipped in seven points and a career-high nine rebounds in the win.
Darius Brown II is coming off a week of milestones, as the redshirt junior guard dished out his 500th assist against Northern Colorado and scored his 1,000th collegiate career point against Northern Arizona. The Pasadena, Calif. native, who started his career at Cal State Northridge, averaged 16.0 points (on 70.6% shooting) with 3.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.5 steals in both games last week.
Tyler Patterson has also experienced a resurgence during conference play. The sophomore has connected on a league-leading 52.0% (13-for-25) from three and has averaged 10.5 points per game in conference play. He scored 15 points against NAU — all on threes — while grabbing a career-high six rebounds.
Following this game, Montana State hosts Weber State for its Youth in Sports game on Saturday at 4 p.m. All children wearing sports jerseys will get in for $5. Season tickets and single-game tickets for all remaining home games can be found on msubobcats.info/tickets.
Thursday's game against Idaho State will serve as men's basketball's Military Appreciation Night, in which all active-duty military members and veterans with valid military IDs will have free admission. Both games will be livestreamed on ESPN+ and a free radio call will be provided by the Bobcat Sports Radio Network.
The Bobcats (10-7, 3-1 Big Sky) have a seven-game win streak against the Bengals (6-10, 3-0), which is the program's second-longest active streak against any Big Sky opponent. This win streak is second only to the eight-game winning streak MSU currently has over Northern Arizona. Additionally, Montana State has never lost to the Bengals under current head coach Danny Sprinkle. Should the Bobcats win on Thursday, Sprinkle will be alone in ninth all-time at Montana State with 67 wins. He is currently tied with Bruce Haroldson, who went 66-69 at MSU from 1978-82.
However, the Bengals come to Bozeman on its best start to non-conference play since the 2017-18 season. The Bengals are one of two undefeated Big Sky Conference teams remaining, and fourth-year head coach Ryan Looney is one win away from equaling last year's win total.
Thursday will be a strength-on-strength matchup between Montana State's league-leading defense and Idaho State's second-leading scoring offense. The Bengals have averaged 78.7 points per game and shoot 84.0% from the free-throw line — both of which rank second in the league. Meanwhile. Montana State's defense ranks atop the Big Sky by allowing 59.5 points per game and limiting teams to shooting 37.1% from the field. So far, MSU has held Big Sky opponents to under 60 points on three occasions.
On offense, Idaho State is led by senior Brock Mackenzie, who averages 14.1 points per game in his first season of Division I play. Mackenzie, a transfer from Division II Point Loma, played for Looney during the latter's final season at Point Loma. Fellow first-year Bengal Miguel Tomley, who transferred in from Santa Clara, chips in 12.8 points and 4.1 rebounds per game, while ISU's frontcourt of Brayden Parker and Jared Rodriguez both average over 10 points per game.
Montana State will need to flex its defensive muscles again this week after two big wins at Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona last week. In both wins, the Bobcats held both teams under 60 points and limited two of the league's top scorers — UNC's Daylen Kountz and NAU's Jalen Cone — in check. Kountz came in as one of the league's leading scorers, but only managed five points against the Bobcats. On Saturday, Darius Brown II and Robert Ford III held Cone to just 12 points on 2-for-10 shooting and two turnovers.
Lest it is mistaken for a defense-heavy team, Montana State had plenty of offensive standouts on its first road trip. Jubrile Belo (17 points) and Great Osobor (15 points) helped MSU overwhelm Northern Colorado in the paint, plus Sam Lecholat chipped in seven points and a career-high nine rebounds in the win.
Darius Brown II is coming off a week of milestones, as the redshirt junior guard dished out his 500th assist against Northern Colorado and scored his 1,000th collegiate career point against Northern Arizona. The Pasadena, Calif. native, who started his career at Cal State Northridge, averaged 16.0 points (on 70.6% shooting) with 3.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.5 steals in both games last week.
Tyler Patterson has also experienced a resurgence during conference play. The sophomore has connected on a league-leading 52.0% (13-for-25) from three and has averaged 10.5 points per game in conference play. He scored 15 points against NAU — all on threes — while grabbing a career-high six rebounds.
Following this game, Montana State hosts Weber State for its Youth in Sports game on Saturday at 4 p.m. All children wearing sports jerseys will get in for $5. Season tickets and single-game tickets for all remaining home games can be found on msubobcats.info/tickets.
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