They were picked to finish first in their conference. They were a tournament team each of the last three seasons, and are one of the most experienced teams in the country. They have a lot size.
Don’t Sleep on Montana State
- Thread starter Hungry Jack
- Start date
They're all between 6'4" and 6'8", which is good because little quick Guards kill NU. I'll take NU's chances with guys the same size.
And That's the NJCat kiss of death.....
And That's the NJCat kiss of death.....
Montana State played Univ of Denver this past weekend. I didn't see the game but heard it on streamed audio. For most of the game Denver was safely ahead. But in just the last nine minutes the Bobcats evidently put on a monster full-court press and nearly overcame a 19 point lead. (Final score: a 79-78 win for the DU Pioneers.) In whatever practice time NU's coaching staff will have had by game time in Evanston, I trust they're working on press break. I don't think it's the team's strength so far.
I have it on good authority he will play tonight.
I have it on gut feeling that I agree.
Just remember that last year early in the season he was leaving a lot of his shots short. It may happen again until the rest wears off.
If you remember, Barnhizer suffered a hand injury in December and it affected his shooting for awhile, I was at the Depaul game where he missed numerous open shots, but as the hand healed so did his shooting,
Lacks the normal in depth analysis I have come to expect out of “scouting the opponent” savant such as your self.
If you subscribe to Hungry Hoops Weekly you can get all the depth you need.
MSU shoot a LOT of 3's (29/game, 47th in the nation) but not particularly well (31%, 250th). If they get hot in any given game they can be dangerous.
NU has averaged 18/game and 35%.
NU has averaged 18/game and 35%.
I think @CoralSpringsCat posted it on the premium basketball board.
Cats are 14.5 point favorites, which seems high.
Oddly, they have 10 guys averaging at least 13 minutes a game, and nobody averaging over 25 minutes. Their leading scorer, Brandon Walker, is averaging 13.5 points in 17.8 minutes. He has the #2 usage rate in the nation per KenPom.
They had a big lead over Grambling in the 2nd half of a First Four game in Dayton back in March, then lost in OT.
A preview of tonight's opponent:
Starters
G - 6'6" Jabe Mullins. A two-time transfer, first from St. Mary's and then Washington St., two years at each place. Has really only had one season when he was a contributor throughout the whole season, his first year at Wazzu. Has shown flashes of 3-point skill in the past, and seems to primarily shoot from distance so far this season, but also fills up the stat sheet all around. Has struggled with turnovers so far, so hopefully we can pressure him into some mistakes tonight.
F - 6'8" Tyler Patterson. His 5th year at Montana St, and has been a starter every year. Also primarily a catch-and-shoot 3-point shooter, last year shot 37.8% from distance while taking the most 3s of anyone on the team. Doesn't turn the ball over, doesn't pass it to anyone either - if he gets it, it's likely going up.
F - 6'7" Patrick McMahon. His 4th year at Montana St., looks like he has suffered season-ending injuries the past two seasons after just 13 and 2 games, respectively, and didn't play much his first year. Will try to create his own shot, either at the rim or midrange, not really a three point threat, though he made 1 against Wisconsin. One of their better rebounders, and is another guy who generally doesn't give up the ball when he receives it. His biggest issue is fouling too much, limiting his minutes.
F - 6'9" Max Agbonkpolo. In his 6th season of college basketball at his 4th school. A former 4-star top-100 recruit that has never lived up to his potential. Spent 3 years at USC, mostly as a reserve, before transferring to Wyoming, having a terrible season, then transferring to Utah St., where it looks like he took a medical redshirt after 10 games, and now to Montana St. He takes a lot of shots despite not being a great shooter, is a decent defensive rebounder and shot blocker, but also fouls too much. Takes over half his shots from 3 despite a career percentage of 26.5%.
C - 6'7" 265lb Brandon Walker. His 2nd year at Montana St. after transferring from UT Arlington. When this guy is on the court, the Bobcats get him the ball as much as possible. He takes the 9th-most shots of any player in the country as a percentage of time on the court. Last year he was 7th in the country. He draws a ton of fouls using his bulk, though he's not a great FT shooter. He's their best rebounder as well. Wisconsin held him to just 9 points and 3 boards with 3 turnovers.
Bench
G - 6'4" Bryce Zephir. The only true PG on the team, he splits time at the position evenly with Mullins. Spent one season at North Texas before going the JUCO route the last two seasons. Appears to have quick hands on defense, but also gets in foul trouble due to his aggression, and has been turnover-prone so far. Looks to be a good shooter on very small sample size.
F - 6'6" Brian Goracke. Former JUCO who's in his 2nd season at Montana St. Was a starter last year but has seen reduced minutes so far this season and his role has been more of a primary outside shooter, vs last year he was more balanced. Very good 3-point and FT shooter and decent rebounder.
F - 6'7" Sam Lecholat. 4th year at Montana St. Had developed into a solid reserve in their rotation, but seeing a reduced role so far this season due to foul trouble. Seems to be a solid offensive rebounder and blocked a good number of shots last year while in the game. Has a passable distance game and was very efficient inside the arc as well.
F - 6'5" Chika Nduka. 2nd year at Montana St. after two years at Portland. Was in the rotation more as a reserve last season until fell out of favor/got injured later in the year. Is not a 3-point threat at all. Doesn't appear to really do anything well.
G - 6'2" Jed Miller. 3rd year at Montana St. Lightly used reserve the last two seasons, didn't do much against the Badgers.
Starters
G - 6'6" Jabe Mullins. A two-time transfer, first from St. Mary's and then Washington St., two years at each place. Has really only had one season when he was a contributor throughout the whole season, his first year at Wazzu. Has shown flashes of 3-point skill in the past, and seems to primarily shoot from distance so far this season, but also fills up the stat sheet all around. Has struggled with turnovers so far, so hopefully we can pressure him into some mistakes tonight.
F - 6'8" Tyler Patterson. His 5th year at Montana St, and has been a starter every year. Also primarily a catch-and-shoot 3-point shooter, last year shot 37.8% from distance while taking the most 3s of anyone on the team. Doesn't turn the ball over, doesn't pass it to anyone either - if he gets it, it's likely going up.
F - 6'7" Patrick McMahon. His 4th year at Montana St., looks like he has suffered season-ending injuries the past two seasons after just 13 and 2 games, respectively, and didn't play much his first year. Will try to create his own shot, either at the rim or midrange, not really a three point threat, though he made 1 against Wisconsin. One of their better rebounders, and is another guy who generally doesn't give up the ball when he receives it. His biggest issue is fouling too much, limiting his minutes.
F - 6'9" Max Agbonkpolo. In his 6th season of college basketball at his 4th school. A former 4-star top-100 recruit that has never lived up to his potential. Spent 3 years at USC, mostly as a reserve, before transferring to Wyoming, having a terrible season, then transferring to Utah St., where it looks like he took a medical redshirt after 10 games, and now to Montana St. He takes a lot of shots despite not being a great shooter, is a decent defensive rebounder and shot blocker, but also fouls too much. Takes over half his shots from 3 despite a career percentage of 26.5%.
C - 6'7" 265lb Brandon Walker. His 2nd year at Montana St. after transferring from UT Arlington. When this guy is on the court, the Bobcats get him the ball as much as possible. He takes the 9th-most shots of any player in the country as a percentage of time on the court. Last year he was 7th in the country. He draws a ton of fouls using his bulk, though he's not a great FT shooter. He's their best rebounder as well. Wisconsin held him to just 9 points and 3 boards with 3 turnovers.
Bench
G - 6'4" Bryce Zephir. The only true PG on the team, he splits time at the position evenly with Mullins. Spent one season at North Texas before going the JUCO route the last two seasons. Appears to have quick hands on defense, but also gets in foul trouble due to his aggression, and has been turnover-prone so far. Looks to be a good shooter on very small sample size.
F - 6'6" Brian Goracke. Former JUCO who's in his 2nd season at Montana St. Was a starter last year but has seen reduced minutes so far this season and his role has been more of a primary outside shooter, vs last year he was more balanced. Very good 3-point and FT shooter and decent rebounder.
F - 6'7" Sam Lecholat. 4th year at Montana St. Had developed into a solid reserve in their rotation, but seeing a reduced role so far this season due to foul trouble. Seems to be a solid offensive rebounder and blocked a good number of shots last year while in the game. Has a passable distance game and was very efficient inside the arc as well.
F - 6'5" Chika Nduka. 2nd year at Montana St. after two years at Portland. Was in the rotation more as a reserve last season until fell out of favor/got injured later in the year. Is not a 3-point threat at all. Doesn't appear to really do anything well.
G - 6'2" Jed Miller. 3rd year at Montana St. Lightly used reserve the last two seasons, didn't do much against the Badgers.
Also, they seem to play a very aggressive defense, predicated on limiting 3 point attempts and trying to force turnovers. As a result, they also foul a ton. On offense, they like to chuck up a lot of 3s, which worked well for them last year when they were #32 nationally in 3-point percentage, but less well this year when they are #209. They are also dead last in the country at FT defense, with opponents making 91% on the season (yes, I know this is not really controllable, just a funny aside).
I tried to watch some of their game against Wichita State and they looked really bad. WSU kept taking them to the hole for easy layups, while at the other end, Montana State kept chucking up threes whether they're open or not, but
Still, a team that shoots a lot of threes will sometimes MAKE a lot of threes. Just not tonight please.
Still, a team that shoots a lot of threes will sometimes MAKE a lot of threes. Just not tonight please.
Montana State played a terrific game tonight. Very disciplined play. Attacked the paint early and then hit threes off of that. And they have really good length and experience all through the lineup and have a decent bench as well. It will be interesting to see how they wind up.
Ooops. We seemed very disjointed on defense in the first half. Much better in second half.
Too bad you did not have the players numbers so could compare what we saw but nice rundown. Felt like it was a team of small forwards and that is reflected in your list
If what we saw tonight was the real Montana State, they had very strong “let’s check in on TruTV where #15 Montana State leads #2 Alabama by six with 3:38 to play” vibes. Course they also lost to Denver so who knows.
Good point, will incorporate that next game.
As far as the analysis, I didn't think their backup center BJ Kolly would play, let alone get 21 minutes last night, so that's a bad scout on my part. He caused a lot of problems last night when he came in for Walker.
Mullins flashed his 3-point skills and filled up the stat sheet, but we did not force him into turnovers. He was their star and kept them in the game all night.
Patterson played according to script and shot 6 3s, with no assists and no turnovers.
Seems like we really focused on denying McMahon from getting the ball, as he only took 1 shot all game after taking 7, 10, and 7 in their previous 3, though that caused problems in other spots for us.
Agbonkpolo showed that potential last night, and also changed up his game, shooting only one 3-pointer out of his 12 shots while pulling down 10 boards, 1 block and 2 steals.
Walker lived up to expectations, taking 11 shots in just 19 minutes. He scored 14 points, but 6 of them were in the first 5 minutes of the game, and we were largely able to contain him after that, as he shot 2-8 the rest of the way, with only 3 boards and 4 turnovers, including the huge one at the end of the game when Berry swiped it (actually they apparently called it a blocked shot and rebound instead of a steal, so make that 5 turnovers).
Zephir didn't really play, as he suffered an apparent concussion after a whistle on an inadvertent elbow to his head by Hunger.
Goracke didn't do much, with one made 3, three boards and three assists.
Lecholat had four offensive boards and hit two 3s, but missed all of his three layups.
Miller made an impact in limited minutes with 5 assists against 0 turnovers in 16 minutes. 4 of the assists were on made 3-pointers.
As mentioned, Nduka didn't play, and instead Kolly, who transferred this year from D2, had his best game, with 8 points, 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 steal, and one posterization of Nick Martinelli after Nicholson couldn't fight through a screen.
They were definitely aggressive on defense and limited our 3-point attempts, but they didn't force a ton of turnovers. On offense, they didn't chuck up as many 3s, but they made them last night, as they moved the ball around very well over and over for open shots. They started 1-6 from 3 in the first 13 minutes, and then went 8-16 over the final 27 minutes. The difference between this game and the UIC game was that we made our 3s against UIC and didn't last night.
Didn't realize Martinelli ended up as the top scorer last night with 22, though he needed 22 shots to do it. Brooks was the MVP though, with a 20 point 10 board double double in his first game back. Really need to fix the defensive positioning and communication though, and we need to make more 3s if we're going to make the tourney again this year.
I read the background on Montana State coach and players on their website. Very impressive. Their coach has been very successful rising from the lowest ranks of Div III. They are a very experienced team and have a combination of players that rose through the ranks and transfers. They have had a tough schedule to date. Couple that with the previous game loss at Denver that they came back from 19 points down after playing what they felt was far from their best ball, and they must have been fired up for NU.
They list a couple of new recruits and at least on paper they seem comparable to the caliber of player NU is recruiting.
Competitive world out there. They weren't a slouch team at all. Even with Barnhizer back and playing well last night, NU has to find another gear.
Official statistics are so weird. I saw that too, because I wanted to see how many steals Berry got and was shocked he had zero, considering his steal was the most important play of the game! I don't know how much the official guys review a random Tuesday night game between NU and Montana State, but I would expect if there were a review, it'll get changed appropriately.
I felt really bad for the kid. Head injuries like that are no joke, and he was really struggling last night. Hope he's ok.
Agree on Berry's steal. I'll give him a steal instead of a blocked shot and defensive rebound.
Regarding the concussion, I'm not sure what the rule is for flagrant fouls, but it didn't look like the refs even reviewed it.
Hunger clocked the guy - and everybody who plays sports knows how to "accidentally" bruise somebody if they want to.
It is difficult to judge intent, but Hunger had a clear view of the guy and there was nobody else in the play.
If it had been the other way, we'd probably be screaming.
Sprinkle is an outstanding coach.
His record since 2021:
27-8
25-10
17-18 (won conference tourney to make NCAA)
I think if they hadn't already blown the whistle because he was out of bounds, they definitely would've called the foul and reviewed it.
Sprinkle isn't their coach though, he was at Utah St. last year and Washington this year.
Matt Logie. This is his second year. Last year got into the NCAA's by winning the Big Sky tournament. 9-9 in conference play. Third year in a row getting to the NCAA tournament.
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