Big Sky Tournament

[BelgradeBobcat]

That was a war. We have questioned this team's defense at times throughout the season, but our defense in the stretch run in the 4th quarter was absolutely perfect.
For three quarters the refs were bound and determined to not call fouls on them. I was just amazing. In the fourth quarter they were pretty much checking us into the hockey boards and finally we got some calls. The key was getting the double bonus and making just enough free throws. Meanwhile they were 4-11 from the line which probably never happens to them.
KJ Limardo was so clutch-so was Leia Beattie. Darian's defense was incredible-she's incredible. Mocchi and company held Bea to 4 points after halftime. To win a title you needs some breaks, a little luck, and have a lot of heart. I like our chances against NAU!
Load of the family truckster-don't look at the price of gas and get here by Friday!!!

[BelgradeBobcat]

Is there like a legitimate reason that our 3pt defense is so bad?

When the shooter is at 30', it's hard to close out on them. Idaho made some really long 3's that are not high percentage shots. I had no problem with the defense tonight. It's more a credit to Idaho for making absurdly long shots.

We had to sacrifice a perimeter defender to help on Beyonce Bea. She is an incredible player. We had to pick our poison. UI is a good three point shooting team. Fortunately, they finally missed a few in the 4th quarter and we were able to keep a lid on Bea. I agree. Credit should go to Idaho for the shooting not blame on our defense.

[MSU01]

21 turnovers for Idaho to only 6 for MSU is the difference here with how well Idaho was shooting for much of the game. Here's another crazy stat, when MSU came from behind to beat Idaho in Moscow last month Idaho scored its final points with 4:48 left in the game. Tonight, Idaho scored their final points with 5:25 to play and MSU won without making a single shot from the field in the last 7 minutes.

[HelenaCat]

That was a war. We have questioned this team's defense at times throughout the season, but our defense in the stretch run in the 4th quarter was absolutely perfect.
For three quarters the refs were bound and determined to not call fouls on them. I was just amazing. In the fourth quarter they were pretty much checking us into the hockey boards and finally we got some calls. The key was getting the double bonus and making just enough free throws. Meanwhile they were 4-11 from the line which probably never happens to them.
KJ Limardo was so clutch-so was Leia Beattie. Darian's defense was incredible-she's incredible. Mocchi and company held Bea to 4 points after halftime. To win a title you needs some breaks, a little luck, and have a lot of heart. I like our chances against NAU!
Load of the family truckster-don't look at the price of gas and get here by Friday!!!

Great summary and yes, it was a war. What a battle…I was proud of how our ladies kept finding ways to keep it close all game long even when we were not shooting well. I think the turnover difference was something like 21-6, which was obviously how we won this game on a poor shooting night. KJ was definitely our player of the game.

[tetoncat]

We had quite a few times of not coming off switches fast enough where they did hand offs and guard would pop to side. Those were not Bea. And no reason to keep double that long. We benefitted from them playing 3rd day in row and only playing 7 players. Interesting their coach complained about Cats physical play and them shooting no free throws in the fourth. They had three total fouls in middle two quarters.

[rivercat]

That was a war. We have questioned this team's defense at times throughout the season, but our defense in the stretch run in the 4th quarter was absolutely perfect.
For three quarters the refs were bound and determined to not call fouls on them. I was just amazing. In the fourth quarter they were pretty much checking us into the hockey boards and finally we got some calls. The key was getting the double bonus and making just enough free throws. Meanwhile they were 4-11 from the line which probably never happens to them.
KJ Limardo was so clutch-so was Leia Beattie. Darian's defense was incredible-she's incredible. Mocchi and company held Bea to 4 points after halftime. To win a title you needs some breaks, a little luck, and have a lot of heart. I like our chances against NAU!
Load of the family truckster-don't look at the price of gas and get here by Friday!!!

Very good synopsis. I'm burning plenty of expensive gas but unfortunately it's not in the direction of Boise. I like the match up with NAU and am feeling optimistic.

[BobcatDel]

The sessions I have attended had more Cat fans than any other team!

Wished you were here!

[BobcatDel]

That was a war. We have questioned this team's defense at times throughout the season, but our defense in the stretch run in the 4th quarter was absolutely perfect.
For three quarters the refs were bound and determined to not call fouls on them. I was just amazing. In the fourth quarter they were pretty much checking us into the hockey boards and finally we got some calls. The key was getting the double bonus and making just enough free throws. Meanwhile they were 4-11 from the line which probably never happens to them.
KJ Limardo was so clutch-so was Leia Beattie. Darian's defense was incredible-she's incredible. Mocchi and company held Bea to 4 points after halftime. To win a title you needs some breaks, a little luck, and have a lot of heart. I like our chances against NAU!
Load of the family truckster-don't look at the price of gas and get here by Friday!!!

Wow..just wow. Echoing BB, for those not here and watching on TV I am hoping you could appreciate how intense D was particularly in Q4..….probably most intense D I have seen all season….just like the Cats found a whole other level!!!

Not mentioned on any comments so far….but did anyone else notice the balanced effort across the entire starting crew. We win a lot of games with our depth and points off the bench but this game was entirely the opposite. Per the BigSky box score, they had KJ 17 points, Darian 16 pts, Leia 16 points, Kola 15 points, and Gabbi 7 pts. And already mentioned elsewhere that Gabbi was huge on defense of Bea in second half and added 8 rebounds to lead the team.

Hey, I am with others and certainly critical of the D from the arc again…but gosh Idaho was shooting some of those shots from NBA range. Our own “team” 3 pt average was less than Idaho…..but but but…. did anyone comment on our own 3 pt shooting by those 5 starters….they shot 9 of 16 or 56% from the arc!!!

This is best all around effort I have seen from the Lady Cats this year. I thought it was better than the home SUU game. And I have been critical of the season lapses but they showed they wanted to win tonight….. and I will gladly eat crow if they win Chipper on Friday…..and you know what, I don’t think they can be beat if they play like they did tonight.

[Bobcat4Ever]

Yea, Schofield is a real showboat. He told me if I said one more thing he would throw me out of a women's game a few years ago. I told him to shake his head...his eyes were stuck!
Binford told me he threw her dad out of one game.

My ongoing issues with Mr. Scofield started from row 5 of a women’s game. During a break in play, I politely (truly) suggested that the strong arm bar the opposing point guard was throwing as she came around the top was a foul and should be whistled as such. The back of his neck and head started getting redder and redder. That was how I discovered his “rabbit ears”. His crew seemed to preside over more brawl games than any other. He’s done women’s Final Four games and I suspect he’ll get the championship game in Boise. Go, ‘Cats!

[Helcat72]

I don't think he and Binford see eye to eye, at least philosophically. Physically, pretty close! Just my opinion. It will be more difficult with Schofield refereeing, but I would still bet on the Cats.

[Catfanatic84]

Great win for the Cats against a tough, physical Idaho team.....proud of this group! One more Friday please!!

Go Cats!

[wbtfg]

This team fought hard for that win.

[MSU01]

On to the men's quarterfinal at noon today! Really hoping Xavier can play but MSU showed against UNC that they can still win without him. Go Cats!

[BelgradeBobcat]

Just saw the Sprinkle interview at halftime of the women's game. Really great. He did some on-air recruiting talking about MSU's recent successes.

Beating Sac State is pretty easy. All you have to do is stop Bryce Fowler...unfortunately lately, nobody has been able to. Even DeCuire who I think is the best defensive coach in the league, saw his team give up almost 40 to him.

Here's an interesting tid-bit. They're bigs are also from England. We'll be seeing 4 British centers going at it today. Their bigs are very skinny. Belo and Osobor should be dominant. To counter, they will play a saggy zone defense. So Patterson, Gazelas, Battle, Mohamed, Adamu etc will need to knock some outside shots down.

[wbtfg]

Just saw the Sprinkle interview at halftime of the women's game. Really great. He did some on-air recruiting talking about MSU's recent successes.

Beating Sac State is pretty easy. All you have to do is stop Bryce Fowler...unfortunately lately, nobody has been able to. Even DeCuire who I think is the best defensive coach in the league, saw his team give up almost 40 to him.

Here's an interesting tid-bit. They're bigs are also from England. We'll be seeing 4 British centers going at it today. Their bigs are very skinny. Belo and Osobor should be dominant. To counter, they will play a saggy zone defense. So Patterson, Gazelas, Battle, Mohamed, Adamu etc will need to knock some outside shots down.

Fowler is definitely a concern. I thought we did a pretty good job on him a couple weeks ago...I don't remember how we gameplanned him. Part of me thinks Fowler will get his, we just need to make sure we don't allow guys like fitzpatrick or chappell get hot from 3.

Additionally, for most of the year, SAC hasn't played very good defense. I'd say that's been the biggest improvement on their end, is that they are starting to be more phyiscial and aggressive on the defensive end. X was the....dare I say it...X factor in the previous matchup. Hopefully he's able to go, if not Nicky G will need continue his aggressiveness that we saw against UNCU.

[thefrank1]

Binfords bench use won the day. Idaho ran out of legs in the end and we still had plenty. Also an assist to Dutch Brothers Coffee, I encountered most of the team about 5 and they were loaded with caffeine. Great group and fun to talk with.

[wapiti]

Binfords bench use won the day. Idaho ran out of legs in the end and we still had plenty. Also an assist to Dutch Brothers Coffee, I encountered most of the team about 5 and they were loaded with caffeine. Great group and fun to talk with.

Our bench was 1 for 12 shooting. Must have been a defensive effort from the bench??

[wbtfg]

Binfords bench use won the day. Idaho ran out of legs in the end and we still had plenty. Also an assist to Dutch Brothers Coffee, I encountered most of the team about 5 and they were loaded with caffeine. Great group and fun to talk with.

Our bench was 1 for 12 shooting. Must have been a defensive effort from the bench??

Idaho had 4 players log 35+ minutes, you could tell they ran out of gas that 4th quarter. Our bench didn't light the world on fire, but they did enough to keep the starters legs fresh for the home stretch. Definitely a team effort.

[CelticCat]

Just saw the Sprinkle interview at halftime of the women's game. Really great. He did some on-air recruiting talking about MSU's recent successes.

Beating Sac State is pretty easy. All you have to do is stop Bryce Fowler...unfortunately lately, nobody has been able to. Even DeCuire who I think is the best defensive coach in the league, saw his team give up almost 40 to him.

Here's an interesting tid-bit. They're bigs are also from England. We'll be seeing 4 British centers going at it today. Their bigs are very skinny. Belo and Osobor should be dominant. To counter, they will play a saggy zone defense. So Patterson, Gazelas, Battle, Mohamed, Adamu etc will need to knock some outside shots down.

Fowler is definitely a concern. I thought we did a pretty good job on him a couple weeks ago...I don't remember how we gameplanned him. Part of me thinks Fowler will get his, we just need to make sure we don't allow guys like fitzpatrick or chappell get hot from 3.

Additionally, for most of the year, SAC hasn't played very good defense. I'd say that's been the biggest improvement on their end, is that they are starting to be more phyiscial and aggressive on the defensive end. X was the....dare I say it...X factor in the previous matchup. Hopefully he's able to go, if not Nicky G will need continue his aggressiveness that we saw against UNCU.

Tynes.

[Joe Bobcat]

Just saw the Sprinkle interview at halftime of the women's game. Really great. He did some on-air recruiting talking about MSU's recent successes.

Beating Sac State is pretty easy. All you have to do is stop Bryce Fowler...unfortunately lately, nobody has been able to. Even DeCuire who I think is the best defensive coach in the league, saw his team give up almost 40 to him.

Here's an interesting tid-bit. They're bigs are also from England. We'll be seeing 4 British centers going at it today. Their bigs are very skinny. Belo and Osobor should be dominant. To counter, they will play a saggy zone defense. So Patterson, Gazelas, Battle, Mohamed, Adamu etc will need to knock some outside shots down.

Fowler is definitely a concern. I thought we did a pretty good job on him a couple weeks ago...I don't remember how we gameplanned him. Part of me thinks Fowler will get his, we just need to make sure we don't allow guys like fitzpatrick or chappell get hot from 3.

Additionally, for most of the year, SAC hasn't played very good defense. I'd say that's been the biggest improvement on their end, is that they are starting to be more phyiscial and aggressive on the defensive end. X was the....dare I say it...X factor in the previous matchup. Hopefully he's able to go, if not Nicky G will need continue his aggressiveness that we saw against UNCU.

Part of our pretty good job against Fowler in the last game was that Fowler got in some foul trouble and spent more time on the bench than normal.
Every minute that Fowler is on the bench increases our chance of victory. Play like we have been in last couple of games and we win.