MONTANA STATE SPORTS INFORMATION
BOZEMAN, Mont. – Montana State makes its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 26 years on Friday at 11:45 a.m. MDT when the Bobcats, the No. 14 seed in the West Region, take on No. 3 seed Texas Tech in San Diego at Viejas Arena on the San Diego State campus.
The Bobcats are in the midst of arguably their most successful men’s basketball season in nearly a century. Montana State completed its regular season with 24 wins which was three more victories than any other Bobcat team had posted during its Big Sky Conference era which began in 1963-64. Following its Big Sky Conference Tournament title, MSU is now 27-7 overall. That is the most wins for the program since the Golden Bobcats era which saw the 1928 and 1929 teams each go 36-2, while the 1927 squad went 30-7.
MSU claimed victories in a three-day span over Sacramento State (83-61), Weber State (69-66) and Northern Colorado (87-66) from March 10-12 to earn its third Big Sky Conference Tournament title. MSU’s previous Big Sky Tournament Championships came in 1986 and 1996. The program’s previous Big Sky Conference regular season titles prior to this year came in 2002, 1996, 1987, 1967 and 1964.
The Bobcats will be making their fourth ever showing at the NCAA Tournament. MSU’s most recent visit, with now head coach Danny Sprinkle then a freshman on the squad, came in 1996 when the No. 13 seed Bobcats fell to No. 4 seed Syracuse 88-55 in Albuquerque. The Bobcats were the No. 16 seed in 1986 when they took on No. 1 St. John’s in Long Beach, Calif. MSU fell to the Red Storm 83-74. The Bobcats also played in the NCAA Tournament in 1951 when they faced Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State). MSU lost to the then Aggies in Kansas City, 50-46.
The Bobcats are 56-32 during Sprinkle’s tenure as head coach. His .636 winning percentage is the second most among 12 coaches in program history that have won at least 40 games. Sprinkle only trails Ott Romney’s .829 mark (145-30) that he accumulated over six seasons in the 1920s. His 55 victories within his third season at Montana State are the most for a Bobcat coach since Schubert Dyche won 66 contests in a span from 1928-31.
MSU is led by a trio of 1,000-point scorers during their college careers in Amin Adamu, Jubrile Belo and Xavier Bishop. Several others see valuable minutes such as starters Abdul Mohamed and Tyler Patterson, while others that see more than double digits on the court off the bench are RaeQuan Battle, Nick Gazelas and Great Osobor.
Bishop leads the trio with over 1,800 points with a majority of those coming in three seasons at Kansas City. A First Team All-Big Sky selection this season, Bishop leads the team in points per game (13.9), assists per game (4.3) and minutes per game (34.0) and is coming off a Big Sky Tournament in which he earned MVP honors.
Belo was named the 2022 Big Sky Conference Most Valuable Player, the Defensive Player of the Year and unanimous First Team All-Big Sky. He became the first player in program history this season with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocks.
Adamu became the program’s 40th member of its 1,000-point club during the Big Sky Tournament. He was an all-tournament team choice for MSU for his efforts.
