2018-19 BIG SKY MEN’S BASKETBALL PROSPECTUS BIG SKY CONFERENCE Big Sky Conference 2491 Washington Blvd., Suite 201 Ogden, Utah 84401 Phone: 801.392.1978 Website: www.bigskyconf.com Interim Commissioner ...........................................................Ron Loghry Assoc. Commissioner/Compliance ..........................Jaynee Nadolski Assoc. Commissioner/Championships .............................Jon Kasper Asst. Commissioner/Communications ............... Denise Thompson Director of Communications (MBB Contact) ...... Blake Barington Assistant Director of Communications ......................... Lea Williams Men’s Basketball Sports Information Contacts Director of Championships .....................................................Alex Kelly Director of Compliance ...................................................... Ty Singletary Eastern Washington Business Manager ............................................................ Stacy Freeman Dave Cook Administrative Assistant...............................................Desiree McPhail Phone ...................................................................................................(509) 359-6334 Big Sky Sports Properties Manager ..............................Brett McPhail Email ...................................................................................................dcook@ewu.edu Idaho Men’s Basketball Contact: Blake Barington Joe St. Pierre Office Phone: 801.392.1978 ext. 19 Phone ..................................................................................................... (208) 885-0211 E-mail: [email protected] Email ..........................................................................................jstpierre@uidaho.edu Idaho State Internet Steve Schaack The official website of the Big Sky Conference can be accessed Phone .....................................................................................................(208) 282-2621 by visiting www.bigskyconf.com. Weekly game notes, news Email ................................................................................................ [email protected] releases, statistics and standings are updated on the website. Montana Basketball statistics are updated at the conclusion of each day Nic Hallisey of competition. Phone .....................................................................................................(970) 231-4789 Email .................................................................................nic.hallisey@mso.umt.edu Weekly Press Release Montana State The Big Sky Conference communications department produces Bill Lamberty a weekly men’s basketball release on Tuesdays. Media can Phone ....................................................................................................(406) 994-5133 receive releases as a PDF document via email by contacting Email .........................................................................blamberty@msubobcats.com Blake Barington at 801.392.1978 ext. 19 or by email at Northern Arizona [email protected]. Randy Press Phone ....................................................................................................(928) 523-6792 Player of the Week Email ..........................................................................................randy.press@nau.edu Each week during the 2018-19 men’s basketball season, the Big Northern Colorado Sky Conference selects a player of the week, announced on Ryan Ronan the day of the weekly release. Nominations are made by each Phone ..................................................................................................... (970) 351-1065 institution’s sports information director. Winners are announced Email .........................................................................................ryan.ronan@unco.edu via email and on BigSkyConf.com. Portland State Mike Lund All-Conference/Individual Awards Phone ................................................................................................... (503) 725-5602 Following completion of the 2018-19 regular season, the Big Sky Email ................................................................................................... [email protected] announces the All-Big Sky First, Second, Third and Honorable Sacramento State Mention Teams. Individual awards consist of Most Valuable Ryan Bjork Player, Newcomer of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Defensive Phone ..................................................................................................... (916) 278-7426 Player of the Year and Coach of the Year. Email ...................................................................................................rbjork@csus.edu Southern Utah Bryson Lester Phone ....................................................................................................(801) 860-8653 Email ........................................................................................brysonlester@suu.edu Weber State Paul Grua Phone ......................................................................................................(801) 626-7414 E-mail ...............................................................................................pgrua@weber.edu 2 2018-19 Big Sky Men’s Basketball 2017-18 REVIEW Big Sky Notables 855 In his lone season competing in the Big Sky Conference, Northern Colorado senior Andre Spight broke the » The Big Sky Conference gears up for its 56th season of men’s conference’s single-season scoring record of 845 points basketball in 2018-19 in his final collegiate game with a 23-point performance » The Big Sky claimed its first national postseason title in 2017- in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament Championship to 18 with Northern Colorado winning the CollegeInsider.com reach 855 points on the season. Spight’s new standard Tournament (CIT) surpassed the 52-year conference record set by Idaho » Montana earned the league’s automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA State’s Dave Wagnon during the 1965-66 season. Tournament as a No. 14 seed in its 11th postseason appearance » Six teams totaled 20 or more wins for the first time in league 776 Bogdan Bliznyuk’s 776 career field goals made tied the history (Montana, Northern Colorado, Idaho, Weber State, 41-year record first set by Idaho State’s Steve Hayes in Eastern Washington, Portland State) 1977 following his four-year career from 1973-77. » The Big Sky saw a climb of 11 spots to No. 17 in the RPI, the highest for the league since the 2005-06 season. The RPI 320 Andre Spight’s 320 three-point field goal attempts in ranking tied for the third highest since the 1998-99 and 1999- 2017-18 blew out the previous record of 265 by Weber 2000 seasons where the Big Sky was 16th State’s Jeremy Senglin in 2016-17. Spight finished with » The Big Sky’s strength of schedule also improved from 29th to 128 three-pointers to tie for the second most in 18th among the nation’s 32 conferences last season. The ranking conference history. also tied for the third best, coming in behind the 1999-2000 (13th) and 1998-99 (17th) seasons 138 Bogdan Bliznyuk’s 138 career games played broke the » Seven Big Sky student-athletes were named to the National previous conference record of 132 by Weber State’s Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District 6 Team Jordan Richardson from 2010-14. (Eastern Washington’s Bogdan Bliznyuk, Northern Colorado’s Andre Spight, Weber State’s Jerrick Harding, Idaho’s Victor 38 Northern Colorado’s Andre Spight, Jordan Davis, Jonah Sanders and Brayon Blake, Montana’s Ahmaad Rorie and Radebaugh, Jalen Sanders, Anthony Johnson and Sacramento State’s Justin Strings Tanner Morgan tied the league record for games played » Montana head coach Travis DeCuire was tabbed the NABC in a single season, matching Northern Arizona’s Quinton District 6 Coach of the Year Upshur and Ako Kaluna in 2014-15. Northern Colorado’s » Bogdan Bliznyuk was the lone Big Sky player to garner 38 games played this season tied for the most by a Big accolades from the Associated Press by being named an AP All- Sky team in league history alongside Northern Arizona’s American Honorable Mention selection 38 in 2014-15. » Bliznyuk, Spight and Harding were named to the Lou Henson All-America Team highlighting the nation’s top mid-major 27 Portland State’s 27 steals against Portland Bible on Dec. players 2 broke a 44-year single-game Big Sky record held by Northern Arizona (vs. Southern Utah, Nov. 30, 1974). Big Sky Records Broken or Tied 3,082 Northern Colorado scored a Big Sky record of 3,082 points last season to surpass the previous record of 2,820 points by Eastern Washington during the 2014-15 season. 2,347 Northern Colorado’s 2,347 field goal attempts bettered a 52-year conference best of 2,258 attempts by Idaho in the 1965-66 season. 2,169 Eastern Washington senior Bogdan Bliznyuk broke a 24-year conference record on Mar. 9 in the Big Sky Conference Tournament semifinals by surpassing 2,102 career points set by Idaho’s Orlando Lightfoot in 1994. Bliznyuk finished his career with 2,169 points in 138 games. 1,104 Northern Colorado connected on 1,104 field goals last season to break the previous record of 990 by Weber State in 2012-13. 930 Northern Colorado’s 930 three-point attempts surpassed Montana State’s record of 853 set in 2016-17. BigSkyConf BigSkyMBB BigSkyConf BigSkyConf #BigSkyMBB 3 2017-18 REVIEW 2017-18 BIG SKY CONFERENCE BASKETBALL STANDINGS BIG SKY GAMES ALL GAMES W-L Pct. W-L Pct. Home Away Neutral Streak Montana*# 16-2 .889 26-8 .765 14-0