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M: Montana Road Trip

SDHornet

SDHornet

Moderator
Staff member
M: at Montana State
The Hornets (7-5) stay on the road as they travel to play the Montana’s. First up is Montana State (6-8, 1-1 BSC) who has been exceeding expectations by quite a bit so far. They split their trip to SUU-NAU last week with a loss at SUU and an OT win at NAU.

The Bobcats are led by freshman guard and phenom Tyler Hall (17.7 ppg, 5.6 rpg) with senior guard Marcus Colbert (17.4 ppg, 5.3 apg) along side. MSU only has one player with good size inside, forward Sarp Gobeloglu, and they are last in the BSC in blocked shots (1.7/g).

Comparison: Hornets - Bobcats
Points/Game: 75.4 – 76.9
Rebounds/Game: 37.9 - 37.6
Assists/Game: 16.1 – 12.6
Turnovers/Game: 12.4 – 13.1
Points Allowed/Game: 70.2 – 81.6

It’s early, but the Hornets need to split this road trip to avoid falling too deep into a hole and be removed from contention for a top 4 seed. The game notes indicate that Demps and Hornsby are both questionable for the MSU game. The Hornets are likely to be swept without these players in the lineup, especially since this team looks like it is going to struggle on the road.
 
The schedule was always tough in the early part of the season and gets easier toward the end of the season so a 1-4 start in no way will remove us from a potential top 4 finish. Our last 10 games on the schedule are all very winnable games (besides @ Weber State), that stretch will be key.

If Demps and Hornsby don't play tonight it is going to be tough, but we can still win if Graves can step up a little bit. He played really well those first two games of the season, but has struggled a little bit recently. I am surprised Sac State was even in the game against Portland State with him going 2-13 with 4 turnovers in addition to those injuries. Strings need to keep stepping up big he has been the only guy that has brought it consistently every single game this season, he needs to be big on the boards again tonight.

Eric Stuteville is averaging 16.3 points over his last four games and playing the best basketball of his career. This is a matchup tonight that he should be able to take advantage of because Montana State likes to play small and they have nobody that can handle him down low.

Keys:

Defensive Rebounding. It seems like this is a key every game because Sac State has been terrible on the defensive glass this season, couple that with the fact that Montana State is terrific on the offensive glass (even though they like to play small lineups).

Paint Points. Sac State needs to take the ball to the painted area tonight because Montana State has absolutely zero rim protection. Whether it's driving the ball or posting the ball, get to the hoop and good things will happen.
 
I think SD and mattman have it pretty well covered...the one thing I'd add is we should be able to score on the fast break because of MSU's tendency to crash the offensive boards...I too think this game is important for psychological reasons as well..this team NEEDS a road win right now..If Demps can't go I wonder who will be put on Hall...
 
71-64 loss. I didn’t get to watch this one. Demps didn’t play. Per the recap, this was a close game late that the Hornets couldn’t close out. Probably a game this team should have won, the Hornets essentially got beat by 3 players. Not good as the road woes continue.
 
I wouldn't say the Hornets couldn't close this one out as they only had 1 lead in the second half, (61-60) but this was a winnable game....we have to find a way to keep Eric and Nick on the floor for the end of games...Eric was just starting to get effective when he got his 5th foul and Nick somehow got called for 4 second half fouls...we definitely need Cody to heal up as he is a steadying influence on the rest of the team...Montana will be a tall order but I don't think it is impossible to win in Missoula but we will need Demps to play and the rest of the guys to play up to their abilities...
 
Sure will be nice to get Demps back and be in the Nest again....tough roadie for sure, even though we could have won 2 of these with a little luck and a full roster....
 
I never realized how much Cody meant to this team..I thought we had enough depth to play through injuries but I was definitely wrong again...Losing your point guard who is also your best man defender and Co-Captain has devastated this team...I wish I knew what his injury was so I could kind of look forward with some surety..any ideas about his injury? He was sitting kinda sideways with his legs looking like he wanted to keep them together and his arms sorta crossed at his stomach..looked very awkward....
 
I heard on the radio broadcast that he has a quad injury. I think most quad injuries take 2 to 3 weeks to heal so hopefully he is back next weekend.
 
77-58 loss to Montana box score.

Sucks that we are missing Demps. Losing big to Montana is not a surprise, we're not a contender this season. However I would like to believe the Hornets are good enough to knock off programs like PSU (yeah yeah I know were were down more than just Demps in that game) and MSU without him. As PGP alluded to, unfortunately this program is just not to that level yet. We desperately need a win this week.
 
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