Idaho State at Montana
Date: Wednesday Feb. 16, 2011
Tipoff: 7:05 p.m.
Site: Dahlberg Arena
TV: Big Sky TV
Radio: The Bengal Radio Network, flagshipped at ESPN Radio 930-AM KSEI, Pocatello. (
Jerry Miller, play-by-play). Carried throughout Southern Idaho and on the Internet at www.isubengals.com.
Up Next
Idaho State vs. Cal State Fullerton
Date: Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011
Tipoff: 4 p.m.
Site: Reed Gym
TV: Big Sky TV
Radio: The Bengal Radio Network, flagshipped at ESPN Radio 930-AM KSEI, Pocatello. (
Jerry Miller, play-by-play). Carried throughout Southern Idaho and on the Internet at www.isubengals.com.
Game Notes
POCATELLO, Idaho- Idaho State (8-16, 4-8) continues its quest to earn a berth in the Big Sky Tournament when it plays at the University of Montana (18-7, 10-3) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The game can be heard live on 930 KSEI with
Jerry Miller calling the action.
Montana leads the overall series 91-44. Montana won 75-65 in Pocatello this year but the two teams split last year with each squad winning on their home court. In the last 13 meetings Montana has won seven times to the Bengals six.
Will Cherry leads Montana in scoring at 15 points a game while Brian Qvale is scoring 14.8 points. In Big Sky play Qvale is scoring 16.2 points a game. Qvale is the Grizzlies top rebounder at 8.8 a contest. As a team, Montana is shooting 46 percent from the field and 47 percent in conference play.
Getting offensive
Last week Idaho State had its two best offensive outtings of the season, scoring 84 points in a win at Portland State and then following it up with 90 in an overtime win over Northern Arizona. At Portland, ISU was 32-for-67 from the field with a season-low seven turnovers. On Saturday, the Bengals were 34-for-71 with only nine turnovers. ISU shot 48 percent from the field in both games. Last weeks scoring by the Bengals was one of the highest offensive outputs since Joe O'Brien has been head coach at ISU. The 90 points on Saturday vs. Northern Arizona was the third best team-offensive performance under O'Brien while the 84 points at Portland State was the seventh-best offensive performance under an O'Brien coached team at Idaho State. The most points ISU has scored in a game under O'Brien was 98 in a 2OT loss to NAU on Feb. 1, 2007. Four of the eight top scoring games have come against Portland State and Northern Arizona.
Taking Care of the Rock
In the Bengals win at Portland State they had a season-low seven turnovers. ISU also had seven turnovers at Creighton. In the last 13 games, ISU is averaging 12 turnovers a game. In the first 11 games of the season ISU averaged 15.4 turnovers with a season-high of 23 at Iowa. During the 13-game stretch, the Bengals have had 10 games ofs 13 turnovers of less, three of the games being less than 10.
Solid off the Bench
Since coming off the bench, Phyl Taylor has played his best basketball of his Idaho State career over the last three games. He is coming off a career-high 22 points in an overtime win over Northern Arizona on Feb. 12. He had nine points and seven assists in the 84-79 win at Portland State and he added 16 in a loss to Eastern Washington.
Block Party
Deividas Busma's eight blocks against Montana State was a career-high and a Big Sky season-best mark. His eight blocks is the most since Slim Millien had eight blocks on Feb. 25, 2006 vs. Weber State. No other Bengal player has had eight blocks in a game. Busma currently has 81 blocks and ranks seventh in ISU history for most blocks. He needs five to pass Jim Potter (1991-95) to move into sixth place. Busma ranks 50 in the NCAA in blocks this season.
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