Tonight's game will be a tough game for sure. Both teams need wins to stay near the top of the standings. Montana has a lot more to gain tonight, with PSU's back up against the wall. If PSU drops this one, they'll have a 3 game losing streak and they'll be hurting.
Seamus Boxley is the man. This guy has dominated Big Sky play, nobody has stopped him. He plays almost every minute. He won't leave the floor because PSU can't compete without him. 20 points, 7 boards, 2.5 assists, 1.5 blocks and shoots 62%. This guy gets the job done every night. Last year's defensive player of the year. The only negative to his game is that he averages over 3 turnovers/game. But the guy plays 36 min/game and gets a touch every posession. Not too bad actually.
Blake Walker is a stud as well. This guy is one of the best players in the league as long as he doesn't let his attitude get in the way. He's not the most consistent player as he really lets things get to him at times. He's an amazing athlete though and he'll get to the rim whenever he wants. Not a big scorer form the outside. Doesn't create whole lot, but doesn't turn the ball over either.
Will Funn gets a little bit of offense on his own, but he's in charge of spreading the scoring around. He's 2nd in the nation in assists and has a 2.4 to 1 assist/turnover ratio. That's pretty impressive. He plays almost every minute like Boxley does. He's getting over 2 steals/game too. Looks to be a pretty quick guy.
Jake Schroeder would be their next weapon. He's out for 6 weeks with a broken foot though. He's strictly a 3-point shooter, had made 40% of his 3's. Of his 117 shots, 99 have been three's. He really didn't do anything else for them. Just stepped up and hit 3's when they needed a release.
Scott Morrison will start. He's a 6'11" freshman who only ways 225lbs. He plays 20 minutes, but he really doesn't get much done. Only 4.5 boards/game and only 11 blocks on the season. He's got a ways to go before he'll became a threat. We should be able to exploit him while he's in.
Antone Jarrell and Tyler Hollist make up the rest of their big guys. They're both around 6'6"-6'7" 210-220lbs. Jarrell is a much bigger scoring threat, but both of these guys' roles is to come in get some boards and play tough D. Jarrell will get into double figures every once in awhile.
Oduniyi started against ISU, but only played 7 minutes. I'm not sure if PSU will try to match up to us, or just go with their big guy lineup. They had 5 guys play over 30 minutes against ISU when Schroeder was out.
We have to get out and make these guys work hard the entire game. They aren't very deep and don't like to go more than 6 guys normally, now 5 with one of them injured. Our big guys have to step up and do their best to contain Boxley. If we hold him reasonably below his average, we have a much better chance of winning. Boxley is tough on D, but we have to attack their other big guy. The rest of their big guys tend to rack the fouls up. Allred and Riggs had huge days inside, Logan played a big game for ISU inside as a freshman and Nelson tripled his average for EWU against PSU's big guys. We have to take advantage of that as well.
PSU is hard to read right now because of their last two losses. They had 31 turnover's against ISU but only 4 against WSU. It looks like they played a terrible game against ISU, but I'm wondering if Schroeder's unexpected absence is what got to them. They've got a week without him now to practice, so I don't see them playing that bad tonight.
This is a very winnable game for UM and it would give us a lot of momentum for the EWU game. Like I said up front, the Griz have a lot to gain going into this game while PSU has a lot to lose. It's hard to win when you're playing not to lose.
Seamus Boxley is the man. This guy has dominated Big Sky play, nobody has stopped him. He plays almost every minute. He won't leave the floor because PSU can't compete without him. 20 points, 7 boards, 2.5 assists, 1.5 blocks and shoots 62%. This guy gets the job done every night. Last year's defensive player of the year. The only negative to his game is that he averages over 3 turnovers/game. But the guy plays 36 min/game and gets a touch every posession. Not too bad actually.
Blake Walker is a stud as well. This guy is one of the best players in the league as long as he doesn't let his attitude get in the way. He's not the most consistent player as he really lets things get to him at times. He's an amazing athlete though and he'll get to the rim whenever he wants. Not a big scorer form the outside. Doesn't create whole lot, but doesn't turn the ball over either.
Will Funn gets a little bit of offense on his own, but he's in charge of spreading the scoring around. He's 2nd in the nation in assists and has a 2.4 to 1 assist/turnover ratio. That's pretty impressive. He plays almost every minute like Boxley does. He's getting over 2 steals/game too. Looks to be a pretty quick guy.
Jake Schroeder would be their next weapon. He's out for 6 weeks with a broken foot though. He's strictly a 3-point shooter, had made 40% of his 3's. Of his 117 shots, 99 have been three's. He really didn't do anything else for them. Just stepped up and hit 3's when they needed a release.
Scott Morrison will start. He's a 6'11" freshman who only ways 225lbs. He plays 20 minutes, but he really doesn't get much done. Only 4.5 boards/game and only 11 blocks on the season. He's got a ways to go before he'll became a threat. We should be able to exploit him while he's in.
Antone Jarrell and Tyler Hollist make up the rest of their big guys. They're both around 6'6"-6'7" 210-220lbs. Jarrell is a much bigger scoring threat, but both of these guys' roles is to come in get some boards and play tough D. Jarrell will get into double figures every once in awhile.
Oduniyi started against ISU, but only played 7 minutes. I'm not sure if PSU will try to match up to us, or just go with their big guy lineup. They had 5 guys play over 30 minutes against ISU when Schroeder was out.
We have to get out and make these guys work hard the entire game. They aren't very deep and don't like to go more than 6 guys normally, now 5 with one of them injured. Our big guys have to step up and do their best to contain Boxley. If we hold him reasonably below his average, we have a much better chance of winning. Boxley is tough on D, but we have to attack their other big guy. The rest of their big guys tend to rack the fouls up. Allred and Riggs had huge days inside, Logan played a big game for ISU inside as a freshman and Nelson tripled his average for EWU against PSU's big guys. We have to take advantage of that as well.
PSU is hard to read right now because of their last two losses. They had 31 turnover's against ISU but only 4 against WSU. It looks like they played a terrible game against ISU, but I'm wondering if Schroeder's unexpected absence is what got to them. They've got a week without him now to practice, so I don't see them playing that bad tonight.
This is a very winnable game for UM and it would give us a lot of momentum for the EWU game. Like I said up front, the Griz have a lot to gain going into this game while PSU has a lot to lose. It's hard to win when you're playing not to lose.
