Eastern Washington and Montana State have at least one thing in common: the Eagles and the Bobcats have played more home games than any other teams in the road-weary Big Sky Conference.
MSU plays at EWU in Cheney on Thursday night. The game will be Eastern’s eighth at Reese Court this season. The Eagles are 7-0 at home thus far. Montana State is fresh off an 80-63 win over Idaho State in Bozeman in the Bobcats’ league-high ninth home game.
Eastern Washington opened up Big Sky Conference play with a 69-62 win at Idaho in the lone game for both schools on the opening weekend of league play. Idaho hosts Montana on Thursday and the Bobcats on Saturday. The Griz play in Cheney on Saturday.
“We are the underdog in both of those because they both beat us last year,” EWU sixth-year head coach Jim Hayford said on Tuesday. “We found a way to get one done at Idaho. They beat us two of three last year (including in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Tournament). We got swept by these guys last year (played UM & MSU once each in Montana). My guys just need to embrace the challenge of reversing that.”
Related: Eastern Washington looks to regain first-place form in 2017
Montana State’s Tyler Hall scored 24 points and senior point guard Marcus Colbert added 23 points and eight assists in MSU’s 85-71 win over EWU in Bozeman last January.
Montana State head coach Brian Fish addressed the media about MSU’s upcoming road swing at MSU’s first press conference to 2017 on Tuesday afternoon.
Montana State head coach Brian Fish against Weber State/ by Brooks Nuanez
What do you expect from Eastern Washington?
Fish: “They score it real easy. They are one of the few teams that start 6-8, 6-8, 6-8, 6-5, 6-5. They are a big team. They’ve had some really, really nice wins and they are really good at home. For Montana State, Eastern has kind of become one of our rivals because of football, because of basketball. I figure it will be an intense game.”
Can you talk about how Eastern has changed without Venky Jois?
“They’ve had Jake Wiley, the young man who has transferred in, give them the same type of influence so it hasn’t been that much of a drop off. He’s actually a little more athletic than Venky was. They aren’t much different. They are still a powerful group.”
What is Harald Frey doing different now than he was doing?
“I think you are seeing him grow up a little bit,” Fish said. “He’s being more aggressive. He is starting to believe in himself a little more. That’s about the timeframe for new guys, 14, 15 games before they settle in. He was certainly aggressive the other night and I really liked how he played. He had one or two turnovers that I would like to take away but we will grow from that. I hope he continues to be aggressive.”
Eastern looks like they can play four or five different guys at the point. That sort of matchup, how do you combat that?
“There’s some situations there where they are playing a little different style and we will have to adjust a little bit. We are working on some things we will do. Having said all that, they are pretty comfortable. The more comfortable they get, the more problems they call.”
You mentioned Jake Wiley. What sort of strengths does he have?
“He doesn’t score from outside but he’s effective catching the ball from outside and getting to the basket. He’s 0-for-1 from 3 but he’s really, really good in the paint. His athleticism…I think, 45, 46 blocked shots has to be at the top of the league. He’s an active, athletic big man down there that we have to eliminate down there.”
Do you notice anything different about your team when it’s on the road as opposed to at home?
“No because we haven’t really been on the road that much (MSU has played 10 of its 15 games at home). And the teams we’ve played on the road have been pretty darn good teams. I’m anxious to get into league play and start playing like-like teams and see how we handle it.”
Do you think they are asking more of Bliznyuk all around this year?
“Yeah, I don’t think Bliznyuk handled the ball that much last year since they had the young man transfer (Austin McBroom) from Saint Louis. But (Bliznyuk) seems to be comfortable in that role. They play team type basketball. We will have to see what we can do to disrupt that.”
Going on the road on the bus, does that change things at all? I know you had the one bus trip to Washington State.
“We’ve done it. Our travel has been good this year. Everything has been good. We just need to go over and play well and that starts on the defensive end. Hopefully, guys start to buy in on the defensive side of the ball.”
Other key information:
- Montana State is ranked No. 244 in the kenpom.com rankings and is No. 329, third in the Big Sky, in ESPN RPI rankings.
- Eastern Washington, led by sixth-year coach Jim Hayford, is ranked No. 238 in the kenpom.com rankings and is No. 95, first in the Big Sky, in the ESPN RPI rankings.
When: Thursday, 7 p.m. PST
Where: Reese Court
Radio: KMMS 1450 AM
Watch: watchbigsky.com
Series: 44-39, MSU leads
Last: Montana State won 85-71 on January 21 of 2016.
Probable starters
Montana State
G – Harald Frey, 6-1, Fr., 11.8 ppg
G – Tyler Hall, 6-5, So., 23.1 ppg
G – Devonte Klines, 6-1, So., 4.1 ppg
F – Zach Green, 6-4, Jr., 12.3 ppg
F – Sam Neumann, 6-5, So., 6.3 ppg
Eastern Washington
G – Luka Vulikic, 6-5, Fr., 3.1 ppg
G/F – Bogdan Bliznyuk, 6-7, Jr., 19.8 ppg
F – Mason Peatling, 6-8, Fr., 3.5 ppg
F – Felix Van Hofe, 6-6, Sr., 14.1 ppg
C – Jake Wiley, 6-7, Sr., 14.3 ppg
