The Bobcat Nation

Crazy sloppy game so far. Adams hits a runner at the buzzer to go up by 5 at the half. MSU got a somewhat dubious tie-up to get the ball back to get the score. Neither team is shooting very well-actually they're both shooting terribly.

For the first time in 30 plus years of watching Cat-griz basketball on TV this broadcast has a decided MSU bias as Mark Durham (Kali Durham's dad) is the color commentator. So far he's dong a pretty good job though. He seems to know both teams pretty well.

Score?

What an awesome win for MSU. 58-49 I didn't get to tune in until about 12 minutes to go. MSU was up 36-32, but went on a big run and got up 14. UM switched to a zone and cut the lead down to five at one point, but MSU got a big hoop underneath from Semansky, then Emily Allen drained a trey and MSU got some breathing room again. The Cats got four huge FTs (Adams and Stockton) in the final minute to clinch it.

MSU was on the road on Thursday night and had less than 48 hours to prepare for this game. UM was off all week.

Cats win 58-49. Didn't expect that. griz shot very poorly, MSU's defense for sure had something to do with that. Not sure why the lady griz didn't go zone more, it's obviously an achilles heal for the Bobcats who don't shoot it particularly well from outside. But they did hit some big ones in the second half including Emily Allen who hit a dagger three after being 0-11 on season! Great game by Lindsay Stockton who is really improving. Her dad was in attendance so that was nice. Great job by Dawkins as well. Our freshmen are a very special group.

BelgradeBobcat wrote: Her dad was in attendance so that was nice.

He looked sharp in that Bobcat jacket.

MSU played really well during the time I watched. They may have struggled a bit against the zone, but they collected themselves and started working the ball inside and things came back together for them. Great poise and patience. A lot of teams would've fell apart.

TomCat88 wrote:MSU was on the road on Thursday night and had less than 48 hours to prepare for this game. UM was off all week.

That was the most surprising thing about this game. It's not easy to get from Cedar City to Missoula. The team is obviously well conditioned. It also helps that we have very deep bench. Good minutes from Stockton, Dawkins, and Hommes to spell the starters.

BelgradeBobcat wrote:

TomCat88 wrote:MSU was on the road on Thursday night and had less than 48 hours to prepare for this game. UM was off all week.

That was the most surprising thing about this game. It's not easy to get from Cedar City to Missoula. The team is obviously well conditioned. It also helps that we have very deep bench. Good minutes from Stockton, Dawkins, and Hommes to spell the starters.

That was weird. Normally they don't have the road team for Cat-Griz play on the road two days before. UM has a game two days before Cat-Griz in Bozeman, but their game is in Missoula. The Cats have two weeks?! off before hosting UM next time. That's odd, too.

MSU is now 7-1 in the league and 13-4 overall both tops in the BSC.
UM is 5-2 and is alone in second place since UNC lost to EWU today. EWU is third at 5-3.

The Lady Griz have to feel like they let this one get away. I have never seen their team miss so many close shots and free throws. The difference between winning and losing on the women's side of the conference is razor thin. Big Sky tournament is going to be crazy.

Cats went 15 of 18 from the charity strip while the Griz went 8 of 18(?).

Points from the bench MSU 14 UM 3.


Things that I liked:
Latisha Adams is playing lights out on both ends of the floor.
Semansky struggled to score points but this team found points from everywhere
Freshmen step up: Dawkins continues to develop as a presence on the offensive side of the floor. Very athletic. Stockton had a solid game and is very good and pressing the tempo.
Bench is probably the deepest that I have ever seen it under Coach Binford.
This team is starting to exhibit some mental toughness on a consistent basis

John Stockton in Bobcat gear

Things that I didn't like:
Allowing a lot of penetration into the lane which leads to bad things...

Any win on the road is a great win and to get one at Dahlberg on two days rest is a tremendous feat. Really good coaching to get true freshman to play fearlessly.

Why was John Stockton in cat gear?

ameriCATS wrote:Why was John Stockton in cat gear?

His daughter, Lindsay, is a freshman for the Bobcats. She's going to be a good one.

The Cats did a great job today. They played tough defense and smart ball. I was impressed with the offensive rebounding. It seemed like they cemented the win by getting some second and third possessions in the second half. The ladies still need to work on getting their three pointers to fall, but that was just a great win. It wasn't that long ago that this game would have been an automatic loss. I just hope they can finish the job on March 2.

All in all, that was a great win for the first place Montana State Bobcats!

HOME AWAY FROM HOME: MSU women win in Missoula for 3rd time in 4 tries
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I like the play of that Lindsay Stockton; hard to believe she's just a freshman. She's savy enough to be a BSC MVP sometime. One of the better freshmen playing that I've seen in thirty-three years.

That was a great win by the MSU women. Although not without some flaws, they do appear to be a really solid team, and I believe that they're a legitimate contender to win the BSC regular season title and host the tourney. It's amazing that after having not won in Dahlberg Arena in forever, they've now won 3 of the last 4 games played there, not to mention beating UM in the tourney last season. How great would it be to send Semansky out with a BSC title and NCAA tourney appearance?

WyomingGrizFan wrote:I like the play of that Lindsay Stockton; hard to believe she's just a freshman. She's savy enough to be a BSC MVP sometime. One of the better freshmen playing that I've seen in thirty-three years.

I was surprised that MSU landed her, since the Stockton family had sort of establiished a connection to UM. Wasn't that John's nephew that played hoops there, and I believe his son played football for UM?

John K wrote:

WyomingGrizFan wrote:I like the play of that Lindsay Stockton; hard to believe she's just a freshman. She's savy enough to be a BSC MVP sometime. One of the better freshmen playing that I've seen in thirty-three years.

I was surprised that MSU landed her, since the Stockton family had sort of establiished a connection to UM. Wasn't that John's nephew that played hoops there, and I believe his son played football for UM?

I think you're right. Shawn Stockton is John Stockton's nephew; went to Ferris High School in Spokane. His senior year with the Griz basketball team was 2012. Houston Stockton, son of John Stockton, went to Gonzaga Prep in Spokane; member of Griz football team senior year was 2010.

Lindsay's tiny, coach Binford is tiny. Maybe there's a connection there? If you're a budding point guard, Binford's playing resume certainly has to have some appeal.

This was an extremely impressive win for the Lady Cats. This team really drives me crazy. They are true road warriors. At home, sometimes they play like pussycats, such as losing to a lower division team-MSU-BIllings. In any case, the Lady Cats have now positioned themselves for a run at the Big Sky title. Does anyone know the last time MSU actually hosted a BSC tournament--men or women??? All I know is, it has been TOO LONG!!!!!!!!

I make a pleas for the fans to really come out and support the Lady Cats the rest of the way. Afterall, there were 4200 fans cheering on UM yesterday. We need to see crowds of 3000 supporting this team at home rather than 1200 for crying out loud.

Go Cats Go

As far as Lindsey Stockton becoming a Bobcat versus a player for the Grizzlies, I think that the decision was pretty easy, especially since she is a point guard.

MSU's offense is a fast paced offense that likes to press the issue. Coach Binford has played in the WNBA and internationally and is really good at developing players. Players from MSU have gone on to play internationally.

Coach Binford has done a tremendous job of addressing the team weaknesses each year. If you would have told me 5 years ago that her teams would run an up tempo offense and be one of the leaders in total defense in the conference, I would thought you would be joking.

I don't know the Lady Cats will win the conference because this league has a ton of parity, and as we saw last year, if you have a bad night of shooting at the wrong time..your done. I do think we will give it a heck of a shot though.

aucat wrote:Does anyone know the last time MSU actually hosted a BSC tournament--men or women??? All I know is, it has been TOO LONG!!!!!!!!

The last time MSU hosted the women's tournament was in 1993, when MSU won a coin toss to host over UM after both teams finished with just one conference loss on each other's home floor. MSU beat UM in the title game and played Washington in the NCAA tourney and haven't been back since despite numerous appearances in the Big Sky championship game.

MSU men hosted in '96 and '02. One of those was far more enjoyable than the other!