Eastern Washington (8-6, 7-2) vs. Montana State (9-5, 6-2)
Max Worthington Arena, Bozeman, Montana; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Eastern Washington looks for its sixth straight conference win against Montana State. Eastern Washington’s last Big Sky loss came against the Northern Colorado Bears 78-76 on Jan. 21. Montana State lost 82-74 on the road to Weber State in its most recent game.
PLENTY OF EXPERIENCE: Senior leadership has been on display for both of these teams. Amin Adamu, Xavier Bishop and Abdul Mohamed have collectively accounted for 47 percent of Montana State’s scoring this season and 53 percent of the team’s points over its last five games. For Eastern Washington, Tanner Groves, Kim Aiken Jr. and Jacob Davison have scored 50 percent of the team’s points this season.
CLAMPING DOWN: The Bobcats have given up just 68.9 points per game to conference opponents thus far, an improvement from the 74 per game they gave up to non-conference competition.GIFTED GROVES: T. Groves has connected on 31.3 percent of the 32 3-pointers he’s attempted and has made 3 of 11 over the last five games. He’s also made 80.3 percent of his free throws this season.
STREAK SCORING: Montana State has won its last four home games, scoring an average of 87.5 points while giving up 67.3.
ASSIST RATIOS: The Eagles have recently gotten baskets via assists more often than the Bobcats. Montana State has an assist on 37 of 77 field goals (48.1 percent) over its previous three outings while Eastern Washington has assists on 58 of 98 field goals (59.2 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: Eastern Washington has committed a turnover on just 16.3 percent of its possessions this season, which is the second-lowest rate among all Big Sky teams. The Eagles have turned the ball over only 11.9 times per game this season.
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