Montana State University
Portland State
West Coast Swing Awaits Men's Basketball This Weekend
2/26/2025 5:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Coming down final stretch of regular season, Bobcats visit Portland State on Thursday and Sacramento State on Saturday
BOZEMAN, Mont. -- With just three games left in the regular season for the Montana State men's basketball team, the final push towards Boise begins this weekend with a West Coast road swing.
Montana State (12-16, 7-8) faces off with Portland State on Thursday night from Viking Pavilion at 7 p.m. PT/8 p.m. MT, then takes on Sacramento State on Saturday afternoon inside The Nest at 1 p.m. PT/2 p.m. MT.
Both games will be streamed on ESPN+, with live radio play-by-play from Voice of the Bobcats Keaton Gillogly airing on the Bobcat Sports Network.
Montana State sits in a tie for fifth in the Big Sky standings with Idaho, but is just one game back of Portland State for third.
Portland State has been nearly unstoppable at home this season, going 10-1 at Viking Pavilion this season including 6-0 against Big Sky opponents.
The Cats knocked off the Vikings 74-73 on Feb. 1, one of Montana State's best wins of the season. Patrick McMahon scored 21 points on 8 of 12 shooting and added nine rebounds to lead the way. MSU led by 12 with three minutes to play before Portland State mounted a furious comeback—but the Cats made 11 of their last 12 free throws to help ice the result.
Sacramento State sits at the bottom of the standings but have had three of their last five losses decided by four or fewer points, plus got a road win last week at Weber State.
Montana State defeated the Hornets 70-58 on Jan. 30. Patrick McMahon scored 20 points off the bench, with Brandon Walker scoring 15 of his 17 points in the first 15 minutes of the game.
BIG SKY RECORD-HOLDER: Tyler Patterson will play in his 156th game on Thursday night, setting a new Big Sky Conference record and breaking a tie with Montana's Josh Vazquez (2019-24). Patterson has started in a program-record 144 games and is tied with Montana guard Brandon Whitney for the most starts at the same school among active players in NCAA Division I. Patterson has been a starter on three straight Big Sky Championship teams that have gone to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments. The native of Snoqualmie, Washington, is 8 points away from hitting 1,000 for his career and has knocked down 263 3-pointers--tied for the third-most in school history with his former coach Danny Sprinkle. Patterson is shooting 43.3% from beyond the arc on the season, the best percentage of his career, and is shooting 45.5% beyond the arc in conference play. The veteran ranks fifth in the Big Sky in made 3-pointers this season (52).
BENCH WORK: In each of the last eight games, Montana State's leading scorer has come off the bench--with Patrick McMahon leading the Bobcats three times over that span and Jabe Mullins leading in scoring each of the last five outings. Montana State ranks 30th in the country in bench minutes (39.1%) and 49th in bench points (26.07). In conference play, McMahon and Mullins have been the Bobcats second and third-leading scorers, respectively, starting the first five games of conference play before being moved to the bench ahead of a road contest at Weber State on Jan. 18. Since the switch, the Cats' are 6-1 against teams not named Montana or Northern Colorado.
BIG IMPACT B WALK: Brandon Walker has been the second-most valuable player in the Big Sky according to KenPom.com's All-Conference metrics. The junior forward ranks eighth in the Big Sky in scoring (14.6 ppg) and sixth in field goal percentage (52.3%) while playing an efficient 21.2 minutes per game. Walker has scored in double-figures in 12 of his last 13 games. Walker ranks 11th in the country in fouls drawn per 40 minutes (7.3), and ranks fourth in the country in percentage of possessions used when the junior forward is on the court (35.4%)
MORE FROM MULLINS: Over his last five games off the bench, graduate student Jabe Mullins is averaging 18.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game hile shooting 54.9% from the floor. Mullins tied his career-high with 24 points off the bench on 8-of-12 shooting at Northern Colorado two weeks ago, including scoring 19 points in the second half alone. Since the start of February, Mullins is second in the Big Sky Conference in offensive rating (139.1). Mullins has scored at least 16 points in each of his last five games.
ALASKA AIR: Patrick McMahon scored a career-high 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting off the bench in the Cats' 89-84 loss to rival Montana last Saturday. The redshirt junior from Palmer, Alaska, nicknamed "Alaska Air" has come into his own after missing the bulk of each of the last two seasons with an injury, playing just 10 games before a foot injury in 2022-23 and just three games before another foot injury in 2023-24. McMahon is third on the team in scoring (9.5) and rebounding (3.4), ranking fourth on the team in minutes (23.3).
SERIES HISTORY (PORTLAND STATE): Montana State and Portland State collide for the 71st time on Thursday. The Bobcats have won eight of the last nine over the Vikings, with the one loss in that span coming last year in heartbreaker in Portland. The Cats led 85-70 with just over minutes left in the game, but watched the Vikings stage a furious comeback that ended in a 94-91 defeat despite a heroic performance from Portland native Robert Ford III, who finished with 26 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and four steals.
DEFENSE LEADS THE WAY: Montana State boasts the second-best defense in the Big Sky, allowing just 70.3 points per game. The Cats rank second in adjusted defensive efficiency in conference play and lead the Big Sky in defense on two-point shots, holding opponents to 50.2% shooting inside the arc. Opponents are shooting just 30.4% from beyond the arc against the Bobcats this season, the 26th-lowest mark in all of NCAA Division I
PROTECT THE BALL: Montana State has been the best team in the Big Sky at avoiding turnovers, averaging just 10.0 per game. Portland State has been the best team in the Big Sky at forcing turnovers, causing 14.8 per game. Tyler Patterson is fifth in the country in turnover rate, with only 5.5% of turnovers with him on the court resulting from him. In 633 minutes of game action, Patterson has turned it over just seven times this season.
CLOSE MARGINS: All eight of Montana State's losses in conference play have come by seven points or fewer--the average margin of defeat in those seven games has been 5.0 points. Out of 31 conferences, the Big Sky has had the third-fewest number of blowouts. Only 6 of 76 conference games have been decided by 20 or more points.
FREE THROW LINE NUMBERS: Teams are shooting 77.4% at the free throw line against Montana State--the seventh-highest mark in the country. Jabe Mullins is 12th in the country in free throw percentage, going 69 of 75 at the line (92.0%). The program record for free throw percentage in a season is 90.7%, set by Tyler Hall in 2017-18.
IRON MAN: Tyler Patterson missed a game against Eastern Washington on January 20 with an injury, his first career missed game in five years. It broke a streak of 147 games straight that Patterson had played in since arriving on campus ahead of the 2020-21 season. Patterson has started 144 games for MSU, a school record, and his 155 games played also represents a school record. The graduate student's 144 starts are the most at ONE school for any active player in NCAA Division l. Patterson is tied for third in program history in made 3-pointers (263) with his former coach Danny Sprinkle (1996-99).
MR. 300: With the 'Cats win over Weber State on January 18, 2025, head coach Matt Logie achieved his 300th career victory in college basketball. Logie is the 22nd-winningest coach all-time in men's college basketball history (.769) and tenth among active head coaches. Logie went 194-35 over eight seasons at Whitworth (Division III) and 82-23 over four seasons at Point Loma (Division II). Logie is currently 27-33 at Montana State, and led the Bobcats to the NCAA Tournament last year.
GOLDEN AGE OF BOBCAT BASKETBALL: Montana State has played in four straight Big Sky Tournament championship games, gone 49-16 against Big Sky opponents over the last three seasons, and made three straight NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in school history. The Bobcats are the Big Sky Conference's first three-peat champion since Idaho from 1981-83. In 2021-22, Montana State went 27-8, which included a 13-1 record at home and a program-record 16 wins in conference play. In 2022-2023, Montana State went 25-10, collected a 12-1 record at Worthington Arena, and went 15-3 in conference action.
THE MATT LOGIE FILE: Second-year MSU head coach Matt Logie has taken his teams to the NCAA Tournament in 12 of his 13 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 21st in NCAA men's basketball history in career winning percentage (.770) and is tenth 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.
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