Weber State?s convincing 78-64 victory Saturday over Northern Colorado did move the Wildcats to 6-1 in Big Sky play, which puts them alone in first place.
But, with plenty of games to go, what?s right in front of WSU is, historically, the toughest conference road trip it takes. The Wildcats visit Montana State on Thursday and Montana on Saturday.
?Montana is the best team in the league, or picked to be the best, and Montana State has everyone back from last year,? WSU head coach Randy Rahe said.
?So we?re going to let (our team) know this is going to be the biggest challenge we?ve had on the road so far and we?re going to have to play with that edge, that energy and urgency to have a chance to compete with them. If you don?t have it, you won?t compete with them, in both games.?
In Ogden, Weber State is a whopping 51-7 all-time against Montana State. But in Bozeman, it?s a slim 30-28 advantage and that?s only because WSU has won four straight at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. Two of those wins came by just three points, and one of those was in overtime.
WSU is minus-14 at Montana?s Dahlberg Arena (23-37) and has won only one of the last 11 trips there ? an 84-81 overtime win that came on a Jeremy Senglin 3 right before the buzzer.
MONTANA STATE
The Bobcats (7-10, 4-3 Big Sky) are a hard team to pinpoint.
On one hand, MSU averaged 91.3 points per game in three of their four Big Sky wins. On the other, the Bobcats followed a 92-62 drubbing of Southern Utah to open Big Sky play with a loss to Northern Arizona in which they scored 68 points.
MSU has only played four home games against Division I teams, going 3-1. That mark is 2-1 in Big Sky play, but the two wins are against teams that are each 1-5.
So what?s mostly borne out for the Bobcats this season is they must score points efficiently, and score a lot of them, to win games. They?re last in the Big Sky in points allowed per game (79.9) and field goal percentage defense (48.2).
That makes for an interesting matchup as Weber State is first in scoring offense (82.3) and second in field goal percentage offense (48.1).
But when Montana State gets going, they can score with the best of them ? led, of course, by senior Tyler Hall. He just became the Big Sky?s all-time leading scorer and is averaging 19.6 points per game this season.
MONTANA
The Grizzlies (12-6, 5-2) entered the season looking like a juggernaut ? the defending conference champions returning nearly every piece from their title run. The season mostly looked that way, too, especially after they beat highly rated South Dakota State on the road.
But Montana curiously lost a home overtime game to Portland State, which remains PSU?s lone conference win. It followed that with another loss, a road defeat to Eastern Washington.
The Griz answered those losses by blowing out Northern Colorado by 24 and beating Idaho by holding them nearly scoreless over the final five minutes.
This matchup juxtaposes some opposites as well: Weber State is top-50 in tempo while Montana is in the lower one-third nationally. That doesn?t mean Montana isn?t good offensively ? quite the opposite. The Griz are top-100 nationally in offensive efficiency and are the best in the Big Sky in both field goal percentage offense and defense.
One more thing to watch: The lone pockmark on Montana?s resume is the frequency in which it puts opponents on the free-throw line, in the bottom 20 nationally. Weber State?s offense is good at that same thing, rating 54th in free-throw ratio.
You know the players who lead the Montana charge: Ahmaad Rorie scores 16 points per game, Michael Oguine 13.8 and Sayeed Pridgett 12.7.
But, with plenty of games to go, what?s right in front of WSU is, historically, the toughest conference road trip it takes. The Wildcats visit Montana State on Thursday and Montana on Saturday.
?Montana is the best team in the league, or picked to be the best, and Montana State has everyone back from last year,? WSU head coach Randy Rahe said.
?So we?re going to let (our team) know this is going to be the biggest challenge we?ve had on the road so far and we?re going to have to play with that edge, that energy and urgency to have a chance to compete with them. If you don?t have it, you won?t compete with them, in both games.?
In Ogden, Weber State is a whopping 51-7 all-time against Montana State. But in Bozeman, it?s a slim 30-28 advantage and that?s only because WSU has won four straight at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. Two of those wins came by just three points, and one of those was in overtime.
WSU is minus-14 at Montana?s Dahlberg Arena (23-37) and has won only one of the last 11 trips there ? an 84-81 overtime win that came on a Jeremy Senglin 3 right before the buzzer.
MONTANA STATE
The Bobcats (7-10, 4-3 Big Sky) are a hard team to pinpoint.
On one hand, MSU averaged 91.3 points per game in three of their four Big Sky wins. On the other, the Bobcats followed a 92-62 drubbing of Southern Utah to open Big Sky play with a loss to Northern Arizona in which they scored 68 points.
MSU has only played four home games against Division I teams, going 3-1. That mark is 2-1 in Big Sky play, but the two wins are against teams that are each 1-5.
So what?s mostly borne out for the Bobcats this season is they must score points efficiently, and score a lot of them, to win games. They?re last in the Big Sky in points allowed per game (79.9) and field goal percentage defense (48.2).
That makes for an interesting matchup as Weber State is first in scoring offense (82.3) and second in field goal percentage offense (48.1).
But when Montana State gets going, they can score with the best of them ? led, of course, by senior Tyler Hall. He just became the Big Sky?s all-time leading scorer and is averaging 19.6 points per game this season.
MONTANA
The Grizzlies (12-6, 5-2) entered the season looking like a juggernaut ? the defending conference champions returning nearly every piece from their title run. The season mostly looked that way, too, especially after they beat highly rated South Dakota State on the road.
But Montana curiously lost a home overtime game to Portland State, which remains PSU?s lone conference win. It followed that with another loss, a road defeat to Eastern Washington.
The Griz answered those losses by blowing out Northern Colorado by 24 and beating Idaho by holding them nearly scoreless over the final five minutes.
This matchup juxtaposes some opposites as well: Weber State is top-50 in tempo while Montana is in the lower one-third nationally. That doesn?t mean Montana isn?t good offensively ? quite the opposite. The Griz are top-100 nationally in offensive efficiency and are the best in the Big Sky in both field goal percentage offense and defense.
One more thing to watch: The lone pockmark on Montana?s resume is the frequency in which it puts opponents on the free-throw line, in the bottom 20 nationally. Weber State?s offense is good at that same thing, rating 54th in free-throw ratio.
You know the players who lead the Montana charge: Ahmaad Rorie scores 16 points per game, Michael Oguine 13.8 and Sayeed Pridgett 12.7.
