Montana (5-3, 1-0) vs. Northern Colorado (4-5, 1-0)
Bank of Colorado Arena, Greeley, Colorado; Saturday, 8 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Big Sky foes meet as Montana squares off against Northern Colorado. Montana knocked off Sacramento State by seven on the road in its last outing. Northern Colorado is coming off a 77-75 overtime home win against Montana State in its most recent game.
STEPPING UP: Northern Colorado’s Daylen Kountz has averaged 18.4 points and 4.4 rebounds while Kur Jongkuch has put up 10.1 points and 9.7 rebounds. For the Grizzlies, Josh Bannan has averaged 12.1 points and 7.8 rebounds while Robby Beasley III has put up 9.9 points.JUMPING FOR JOSH: Bannan has connected on 50 percent of the 18 3-pointers he’s attempted and has made 6 of 8 over his last five games. He’s also converted 81.8 percent of his free throws this season.
PERFECT WHEN: Montana is a perfect 5-0 when its defense holds opponents to a field goal percentage of 45.5 percent or less. The Grizzlies are 0-3 when allowing opponents to shoot any better than that.
PASSING FOR POINTS: The Grizzlies have recently created baskets via assists more often than the Bears. Northern Colorado has an assist on 45 of 83 field goals (54.2 percent) across its previous three contests while Montana has assists on 33 of 59 field goals (55.9 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: The Montana offense has recorded a turnover on only 15.2 percent of its possessions, which is the 30th-best rate in the nation. The Northern Colorado defense has forced opposing teams to turn the ball over on just 14.9 percent of all possessions (ranked 342nd among Division I teams).
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