Montana State (8-3, 5-0) vs. Northern Arizona (4-10, 3-5)
Walkup Skydome, Flagstaff, Arizona; Saturday, 2 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Montana State looks for its sixth straight conference win against Northern Arizona. Montana State’s last Big Sky loss came against the Northern Colorado Bears 75-61 on March 7, 2020. Northern Arizona lost 62-51 loss at home to Montana State in its most recent game.
PLENTY OF EXPERIENCE: Senior leadership could play a big role in the outcome of this game. Nik Mains, Luke Avdalovic and Jay Green have combined to score 30 percent of Northern Arizona’s points this season. For Montana State, Xavier Bishop, Amin Adamu and Abdul Mohamed have combined to account for 44 percent of the team’s total scoring, including 52 percent of all Bobcats points over their last five.
RAMPING IT UP: The Lumberjacks have scored 66.6 points per game and allowed 69.9 points per game across eight conference games. Those are both substantial improvements over the 68.5 points scored and 80.7 points allowed per game to non-conference opponents.
FUELING THE OFFENSE: Cameron Shelton has made or assisted on 59 percent of all Northern Arizona field goals over the last five games. The junior guard has accounted for 40 field goals and 27 assists in those games.
STREAK STATS: Montana State has won its last three road games, scoring 72.3 points and allowing 64 points during those contests. Northern Arizona has lost its last five home games, scoring an average of 60.8 points while giving up 73.
ACCOUNTING FOR ASSISTS: The Bobcats have recently used assists to create buckets more often than the Lumberjacks. Northern Arizona has 29 assists on 65 field goals (44.6 percent) over its past three contests while Montana State has assists on 32 of 64 field goals (50 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: The stout Montana State defense has held opposing offenses to a field goal percentage of 39.2 percent, the 29th-best mark in the country. Northern Arizona has allowed opponents to shoot 52.1 percent from the field through 14 games (ranked 342nd).
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