MBB: Home game vs. Northern Colorado tonite

[CATS2000]

Notes from the 'Cats athletic website:

A look at Montana State's Thursday night home game against Northern Colorado...


Two of the five Big Sky teams with three league wins on the season meet in Bozeman on Thursday, when Northern Colorado visits Worthington Arena at 7:05 pm. The Bobcats earned an important road win at Weber State last Thursday, before falling victim to its worst shooting half of the season in a Saturday loss at Idaho State. Northern Colorado stands 3-1 in Big Sky home games, with the only loss to Portland State, but enters this week’s action 0-2 on the road. The talented trio of Devon Beitzel, Jabril Banks and Will Figures combine for 37.5 points a game. The Bears lead the Big Sky in three point field goal percentage and are second in scoring offense (71.8 ppg). MSU stands second in the league in scoring defense. After Thursday’s game with NC, the Bobcats travel south for a game at Southern Mississippi on Saturday.

NEXT UP...
Montana State vs. Northern Colorado
DATE January 22, 2009
TIPOFF 7:05 pm
SITE Bozeman, MT
ARENA Worthington Arena
RADIO Bobcat Network (Jeff Lasky)
VIDEO Big Sky TV
LAST TIME NC 91-79, 3/8/08 at MSU

MISCELLANY...
* Montana State’s three non-league road wins are the school’s most since 1994-95 (excluding neutral site games)
* The Bobcats have out-rebounded only one of their last six opponents

SERIES NOTES...
* Northern Colorado topped MSU on Senior Day last March 1, the first Bears win over MSU as a Big Sky member
* NC is 3-1 in Big Sky home games this year, 0-2 on the road

ON THE OFFENSE...
* MSU shot 55.1% against NAU, the team’s best mark of the season, while the 17% first half at Idaho State was its worst half
* Montana State shoots 69.4% from the line in its wins, 61.5% in losses
* MSU is 7-3 when turning the ball over fewer than 15 times
* Six different Bobcats have led the team in scoring this season
* MSU’s 43 points at Idaho State was the program’s fewest since scoring 41 vs. Fresno State on Nov. 21, 2006

ON THE DEFENSE...
* MSU leads the Big Sky in scoring defense (63.0), although the Bobcats slipped to third in FG defense (.425) in league games
* The Bobcats have allowed only 28 three-pointers in league games, fewest in the Big Sky, which includes 0 by Idaho State last time out

[Old Skool Cat]

Huge game tonight, as we are currently tied for 5th place with the Bears. UNC brings a pretty good ball club into Bozeman tonight, so this is no gimme by any stretch of the imagination. Beitzel and Banks are in the top 10 in the conference in scoring, Banks is top 10 in rebounding and 2nd in scoring percentage, and team-wise UNC is 2nd in scoring offense. Our defense is definitely going to be put to the test; fortunately that is our team's strength this year. If we keep UNC somewhere in the 60s, we win. We have to rebound from our dismal performance in Pocatello last Saturday. LET'S GO CATS!!!

[mslacat]

The key to the game, will be which Bobcat team shows up on Offence. The one that shoots +50% or the one that shoots -33%. This team plays great defence and gets after the ball but we need some offencive consistency, or at least when one guy has a off shooting night some else picks up the slack.

[CelticCat]

Wow, a new low for BSTV. The feed is horrible, worse than usual, and the audio is for the women's game instead! Sigh.

[KittieKop]

I finally gave up trying. Couldn't even get the audio to come through consistently. Yahoo audio is fine!

[D-Wreck]

Anyone care to give me a score update? I'm stuck at Askus tonight.

[vike_king]

Down 10 with 5:40 to go

[D-Wreck]

Down 10 with 5:40 to go

thanks.

[grizzh8r]

Wow this team is playing like ****** right now. Doesn't help that the refs screwed Mbunga hardcore tonight. Took him out of the game from the get-go. The Cats kept it close by making all of their free throws, but then missed 4 or 5 in a row. No one could hit anything from the field tonight. Interior defense was also very much lacking, probably because of the absence of Mbunga. Seem like every shot UNC took from inside 10 feet in went in tonight. This team has A LOT of work to do.

[Gus]

Howard and Rush were two steps behind all night. I dont know what Johnson was doing but he looked like a lost child at the mall. An embarassing loss to a pretty good team at home.

[KittieKop]

The key to the game, will be which Bobcat team shows up on Offence. The one that shoots +50% or the one that shoots -33%. This team plays great defence and gets after the ball but we need some offencive consistency, or at least when one guy has a off shooting night some else picks up the slack.

mslacat was pretty prophetic - it was the 33% shooting team on the floor tonight.

[longhorn_22]

Awful.

[catzz]

Embarrassing! Awful game by the cats and no one could step up!

[MinusTheBear]

horrible shooting % and turnovers.

[A-Frame]

Turnovers killed us, we need to take care of the ball. We could not get any momentum rolling. No one stuck out tonight as a positive....

From what I've seen, we could use a lot of work on our zone offense, especially on nights when the baskets are so small If the shots aren't falling then we've got to get some penetration and break the zone collapse, it just seems like we can't do that. Has anyone else seen this?

[longhorn_22]

horrible shooting % and turnovers.

Killed the game.

[GOKATS]

[BelgradeBobcat]

Dear Coach Huse,

Your offense stinks. Please do something different...even if it's wrong.

That is all.

[catatonic1]

Props to Northern Colorado, sometimes they just have our number?
Oh and by the way, the same terrible refs were calling the Northern Colorado game tonight!

[bozbobcat]

Props to Northern Colorado, sometimes they just have our number?
Oh and by the way, the same terrible refs were calling the Northern Colorado game tonight!

The refs were using creative officiating again, but to be honest, I don't know if the refs were good for 10 points. The offense just wasn't there. They made 2 three pointers for the entire game. The defense tried to hold them, but they made shots and we did not. You don't win with a 33% shooting percentage, and this is now a 2-game slump. It's only one loss, but there aren't a whole lot of games left, and when the conference is so close, you want at least 9 conference wins to be sure of a tournament spot. 8 might not do it, and I'd hate to see the Cats in seventh place based on tiebreakers, and looking out of the tournament. Maybe this trip to Southern Mississippi (after 3 connecting flights, based on the postgame radio show) will do the team good and give them a break from Big Sky play. But I'm not feeling nearly as optimistic as I was last week. Of course, I still think the Cats can turn it around and finish in the top part of the conference standings.

And I think this video adds a little humor to tonight's game, even if it isn't completely true.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX4ox7aX_wc