FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (December 24, 2019) – After a successful non-conference portion of the season, the Northern Arizona men's basketball team begins the next phase – conference play – with road games at Montana and Montana State. The Lumberjacks' Big Sky opening road trip begins Saturday night at 7 p.m. in Missoula, Mont. inside the Dahlberg Arena before continuing on to Bozeman, Mont. on Monday. NAU and Montana State tip-off at 7 p.m. in Worthington Arena on Monday.
Both games will be streamed on Pluto TV and can be heard on the Lumberjack Radio Network with the Voice of the Lumberjacks
Mitch Strohman on the call. Saturday's meeting with the Grizzlies will be streamed on Pluto TV Channel 537 and Monday's meeting with the Bobcats will be streamed on Pluto TV Channel 538.
Although NAU closed the non-conference schedule with a narrow 75-73 loss to Pepperdine, NAU takes a 6-3 record into conference play. The Lumberjacks own the league's second-best winning percentage (.667) through the end of non-conference play and their 6-3 record is the program's best at the start of the conference schedule since the 2010-11 season.
Sophomore
Cameron Shelton is one of three players, along with Montana's Sayeed Pridgett and Northern Colorado's Jonah Radebaugh, to rank in the top 15 of the league in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals. Shelton, who has scored in double-figures in all nine games thus far, is averaging 14.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game.
Sophomore
Luke Avdalovic and senior
Ted McCree are second and third on the team with 11.9 and 11.3 points per game respectively. Both players are shooting exceptionally well from behind the arc. Avdalovic is shooting 51.3 percent - sixth-best in the country - and McCree is shooting at a 43.2 percent clip. As a team, the 'Jacks are 34th nationally, and second in the league, with a .377 three-point percentage.
The Lumberjacks have dropped their last five conference openers and are 8-11 in Big Sky openers going back to the 2000-01 season. NAU last opened the conference schedule with a victory on Jan. 2, 2014 during the 2013-14 season. Coincidentally, it was against Montana in Missoula – the location of Saturday's game and NAU's last win in Missoula – by a 73-65 score.
NAU and Montana will square off in the conference opener for the fourth time in the last five years that the two teams square off in the conference opener. However, unlike the last three instances, the two teams will open the conference slate in Missoula rather than Flagstaff.
Montana leads the all-time series 73-31. Montana has won the last nine meetings since NAU's 67-47 win over the last five years on March 8, 2014. The Grizzlies edged out the 'Jacks, 66-64, in the second-to-final game of the regular season last season on March 4.
NAU has come up short in its last five visits to Missoula with the Lumberjacks' last road win, 73-65, in the series coming on Jan. 2, 2014. NAU is 9-42 all-time versus Montana on the road.
NAU leads the all-time series, 59-43, versus Montana State. Over the last seven seasons, NAU and Montana State have split the last 12 meetings and neither team has swept the season series. The Bobcats snapped a modest two-game Lumberjack win streak in the series in the teams' last meeting on March 2, 2019 with an 84-73 win in Bozeman.
The two teams have split the last four meetings in Bozeman. The Lumberjacks last posted a road win against the Bobcats on Jan. 25, 2018 by a 77-75 score.
