FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (March 9, 2020) – The Northern Arizona men's basketball team opens the Big Sky Tournament in Boise, Idaho on Wednesday versus Idaho State at approximately 1:30 p.m. Arizona time. The first round matchup between the No. 6 seeded 'Jacks and the No. 11 seeded Bengals will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of the previous game.
Wednesday's meeting with the Bengals from the CenturyLink Arena will be streamed on Pluto TV Channel 531 and can be heard on the Lumberjack Radio Network with the Voice of the Lumberjacks
Mitch Strohman on the call.
An NAU win on Wednesday would propel the 'Jacks into the conference quarterfinals versus No. 3 seeded Montana at approximately 7 p.m. on Thursday. NAU's potential semifinal game would be Friday at approximately 7 p.m. and the championship game is slated for 5 p.m. on Saturday. All times are local to Flagstaff (MST).
NAU enters the conference tournament as the sixth-seed following its most successful regular season in five years. The Lumberjacks posted a 16-13 overall record and 10-10 league mark with both win totals (overall and Big Sky) marking their highest since the 2014-15 season.
Just missing one of the top five seeds and the first round bye that accompanies it, NAU will need to win four games in four days this week to capture its first Big Sky championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in 20 years.
After an 80-66 loss to Portland State to cap the regular season, NAU finished the regular season by splitting its final six games.
The Lumberjacks have dropped their last five conference tournament games since the 2015 Big Sky semifinals. NAU has lost its first tournament game in each of the last four seasons.
In last season's first round loss to Sacramento State, junior
Bernie Andre led the 'Jacks with a double-double performance of 19 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore
Cameron Shelton added 11 points and sophomore
Luke Avdalovic made three treys for nine points as all three players played in their first career conference tournament game.
Shelton has been on a tear of late, scoring 20 or more points in four of his last six games to up his season average to 14.8 points per game. In that span, Shelton is averaging 19.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.3 steals per game while shooting 47.5 percent overall and 47.6 percent behind the arc.
Senior
Brooks DeBisschop, who became the first NAU men's basketball First Team Academic All-American earlier on Monday, is second on the team in scoring with 11.8 points per game. DeBisschop leads the team and ranks third in the Big Sky in rebounding at 8.0 per game.
NAU and Idaho State will meet for the 106th time on Wednesday. The two teams played two closely contested games during the regular season with the combined margin of victory just five points. Both teams were victorious on the road with Idaho State posting a 71-67 victory on Jan. 11 in Flagstaff and NAU winning in overtime, 88-87, on Feb. 6 in Pocatello.
Idaho State leads the all-time series 57-48 with the two teams splitting the season series each of the last two years. The road team has won each of the last four meetings overall. Six of the last seven meetings have been decided by four points or fewer.
Wednesday will mark the fourth all-time meeting between NAU and Idaho State in the conference tournament. NAU is 2-1 all-time versus Idaho State in the conference tournament with the most meeting coming in Cheney, Wash. in the Big Sky semifinals resulting in a 91-72 win by the Lumberjacks.
