Bobcat Basketball GAME #25: MSU Returns Home to Face Sac State in Worthington Arena Hornets got the best of Montana State in The Nest a month ago Basketball SID: Bill Lamberty 406/994-5133 [email protected] www.msubobcats.com MISCELLANY... N E X T U P MSU has shot more free throws than the Bobcats Hornets opponent in six of the last seven games ‘17-18 RECORD 12-12 6-17 The Southern Utah game in Bozeman re- Home/Road/Neu 7-3/3-9/2-0 5-4/1-9/0-4 mains MSU’s only win this season in which it Conf./Record Big Sky/5-6 Big Sky/3-7 was out-shot in fi eld goal percentage in each half and for the game HEAD COACH Brian Fish Brian Katz MSU has lost two of its last three games Alma Mater Marshall/’89 Sacramento St/’80 decided by less than 10 points after beginning At School/Years 49-68/4th 110-182/10th the season 5-1 in that category Overall/Years same same UNC out-rebounded the Cats 48-to-31 vs. Opponent 4-3 (2-0/2-2/0-1) 7-12 (5-4/1-7/1-0) Saturday, but MSU has been at least even in SCHOOL INFO rebounding in all fi ve Big Sky home games Nickname/colors Bobcats/Blue, gold Hornets/Green, gold Sacramento State is -4.9 in rebounding Location Bozeman, MT Sacramento, CA margin during the league season, but out- Arena Worthington Arena The Nest rebounded MSU 35-to-25 last month GAME INFO vs. SACRAMENTO STATE Game #25 Montana State vs. Sacramento State ON THE OFFENSE... Montana State has shot below 50% in Specifi cs Thursday, February 8 at 7:05 pm in Bozeman every game since knocking down 54% of its Audio Bobcat Radio Network/msubobcats.com shots at Southern Utah to open Big Sky play, (Jay Sanderson) and has been below 40% in fi ve of those 11, Video WatchBigSky.com, Pluto.tv including the last three in a row Last Time Sac State 87-68 on January 13 in Sacramento The Cats shoot 40.7% from the fl oor in Big Series 31-19 (20-5/11-13/0-1) Sky games, 11th in the league, and 37.3% in Series Notes MSU is 20-5 against the Hornets in Bozeman the last fi ve games TEAM STAT COMPARISON Tyler Hall’s 295 career treys (an MSU re- cord) is tied for 3rd in Big Sky history, and his Shooting Other 1,738 career points is 15th (4th at MSU) FG Pct 3FG Pct FT Pct Reb Avg TO Avg Scoring Avg In the nine league games against oppo- Own/Opp Own/Otepp Own Own/Opp Own/Opp Own/Opp MSU .420/.472 .346/.340 .732 36.7/35.5 13.0/14.0 75.0/76.4 nents other than Portland State, the Bobcats SAC .448/.452 .344/.367 .663 31.7/35.9 12.9/12.3 66.1/72.7 turn the ball over just 11.5 times a game A QUICK LOOK... ON THE DEFENSE... Montana State looks to get back on the winning track Thursday, when After holding both Southern Utah and North the Bobcats host Sacramento State at 7 pm in Worthington Arena. MSU’s Dakota below 45% shooting, UNC hit 51.5% struggling offense - the team’s 41% shooting in Big Sky play is 11th in the of its shots on Saturday league - squares off against a Hornets defense that allows conference Montana State is 5th in the Big Sky in foes to shoot 47%. Sac State’s Justin Strings is one of the Big Sky’s top defensive rebounding, snagging 75.3% of op- stars, averaging 18.7 points and 6.8 boards in league action. ponent shots in league play MSU’s PROJECTED LINEUP... Ht Wt Cl Exp PPG RPG Quickly F #3 Tyler Hall ...................................... 6-5 210 Jr 2V 18.3 3.5 44 career 20-point games (out of 86) F #2 Keljin Blevins (like heavens) ........6-6 200 Jr TR/RS 9.4 5.9 One double-digit scoring game in last 6 C #4 Sam Neumann............................. 6-6 220 Jr 2V 3.7 4.8 Season-high 14 points vs. NAU at home G #5 Harald Frey (fray) ........................ 6-2 180 So 1V 13.8 2.8 21 points at UND is most in last 10 gms G #10 Devonte Klines ............................ 6-0 175 Jr 1V 6.0 1.8 10+-points vs. NAU, SUU at home BOBCAT RESERVES #0 Zach Green.................................. 6-5 200 Sr 3V 4.7 4.4 10 points at UND was season high #1 Joe Mvuezolo Jr. (vuh-ZO-lo) ......6-5 180 Sr 1V 7.5 3.4 MSU’s top scoring reserve #21 Benson Osayande (oh-sah-YAWN-day) . 6-8 188 Sr 1V 2.7 1.4 Season-high 10 points at Sac State #22 Konner Frey (like fry) ...................6-6 200 Sr TR/RS 6.1 4.6 52.4% shooting tops the team #33 Lassi Nikkarinen (LAW-see nick-uh-RIN-ehn) .6-1 180 Fr HS 0.6 0.6 2 boards vs. NAU at home #31 Devin Kirby (DEV-in) ................... 6-10 195 Fr HS -- -- Will redshirt this season Specialty Stats BOBCAT SCHEDULE In Paint Off Turnovers 2nd Chance Fast Break N10 Omaha at Great Falls, 89-80+ Opponent MSU/Opp MSU/Opp MSU/Opp MSU/Opp N13 at Utah State, 73-81 Omaha at GF 38/38 22/16 17/15 4/2 at Utah State 26/32 20/17 9/5 12/4 N15 Montana Western, 109-81 UM Western 34/22 17/7 17/2 2/2 N18 %at Louisiana Tech, 58-71 at La Tech 26/32 14/20 3/23 4/6 N21 %Binghamton at Cancun, 74-64 vs Bingh 24/18 18/20 11/10 12/5 N22 %SE Missouri at Cancun, 88-82 vs. SEMO 28/44 13/17 8/13 7/6 N26 %at Fresno State, 67-80 at Fresno St 26/42 14/23 6/16 10/10 N29 Bethesda (Calif.), 98-61 Bethesda 46/28 10/18 15/2 6/6 D2 at Milwaukee, 68-64 at Milwaukee 14/24 14/15 9/4 0/2 D5 at Central Michigan, 48-73 at Ctl Mich 28/38 6/16 3/11 6/5 UCSB 24/38 10/12 12/10 4/2 D9 UC Santa Barbara, 69-91 Denver 14/20 30/8 10/15 2/0 D18 Denver, 79-65 at Omaha 30/46 17/20 17/10 3/7 D21 at Omaha, 71-84 at SUU 32/30 22/21 15/14 0/2 D28 *at So. Utah, 104-99 at NAU 32/28 17/5 15/15 6/6 D30 *at Northern Arizona, 76-73+ UNC 28/30 17/12 6/10 2/2 J4 *Northern Colorado, 76-64 UND 30/24 11/8 15/2 6/2 J6 *North Dakota, 79-68 at PSU 30/30 15/24 6/9 18/12 J11 *at Portland State, 74-93 at SAC 34/50 8/15 7/19 0/6 UM 16/40 6/10 11/7 0/0 J13 *at Sacramento State, 68-87 NAU 22/22 9/13 12/5 4/8 J20 *Montana, 52-67 SUU 24/30 9/12 8/5 4/0 J25 *Northern Arizona, 75-77 at UND 22/30 14/15 17/4 4/4 J27 *Southern Utah, 69-66 at UNC 14/38 7/14 6/18 0/2 F1 *at North Dakota, 74-75 SAC F3 *at Northern Colorado, 63-86 PSU F8 *Sacramento St., 7 pm at Idaho F10 *Portland St., 2 pm at EWU at UM F15 *at Idaho, 8 pm MT/7 pm PT ISU F17 *at Eastern Wash., 3 pm MT/2 pm PT WSU F24 *at Montana, 7 pm M1 *Idaho State. 7:35 pm M3 *Weber State, 2 pm M6 Big Sky Tourney at Reno *-Big Sky +-OT periods %-Cancun Challenge Free Throw Facts - Late 2017-18 Montana State Active Roster & Close 0 Zach Green, F 6-5 200 Sr 3V Business Gilbert, AZ (Mesquite) Player Last 5 Min* Last 2 Min* 1 Joe Mvuezolo Jr., F 6-5 180 Sr 1V+ Business London, England (Miami Dade CC/Barking Abbey) Isaac Bonton 17-18 6-8 5-6 2 Keljin Blevins, F 6-5 210 Jr RS+ Socio Hot Springs, AR (Southern Miss/Bishop O’Connell) Career 6-8 5-6 3 Tyler Hall, G 6-5 210 Jr 2V Univ Stu Rock Island, IL (Rock Island) Keljin Blevins 17-18 8-10 4-6 4 Sam Neumann, F 6-6 220 Jr 2V Business St. Paul, MN (Cretin-Durham Hall) Career 8-10 4-6 5 Harald Frey, G 6-2 180 So 1V Psych Oslo, Norway (Wang Sports Academy) Harald Frey 17-18 14-15 14-15 10 Devonte Klines, G 6-0 175 Jr 1V+ HHD Los Angeles, CA (Saddleback JC/Santa Margarita) Career 25-32 24-31 21 Benson Osayande, F 6-8 190 Sr 1V+ Ex Sci/Kinesio Elk Grove, CA (Casper College/Franklin) Konner Frey 17-18 2-2 0-0 Career 2-2 0-0 22 Konner Frey, F 6-6 210 Sr RS+ Poli Sci Bountiful, Utah (UVU/USU/NW Coll./Viewmont) Zach Green 17-18 1-5 1-4 31 Devin Kirby, C 6-10 195 So 1V Business Chandler, AZ (Basha) Career 20-31 8-14 33 Lassi Nikkarinen, G 6-1 180 Fr HS Univ Stu Helsinki, Finland (Hakelanrinne) Tyler Hall 17-18 14-14 13-13 *-has used redshirt season +-transferred to MSU current redshirt players in italics Career 65-79 55-68 HEAD COACH: Brian Fish Assistants: Eric Jackson, Chris Haslam, Luke Fennelly Devonte Klines 17-18 1-3 0-0 Director of Operations: Luke Fennelly Athletic Trainer: Brett Ritter Career 6-13 4-8 Joe Mvuezolo 17-18 7-9 7-9 Career 9-11 9-11 Sam Neumann 17-18 4-4 2-2 Career 12-16 8-10 BOBCATS BY MONTH B.