FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (January 18, 2022) – Coming off a thrilling win on Monday, the Northern Arizona men's basketball team hopes to carry that momentum into a pair of games against two of the top teams in the Big Sky in the Walkup Skydome this weekend. NAU hosts Montana State at 6 p.m. on Thursday and Montana at 2 p.m. on Saturday with both games available on ESPN+ and the Lumberjack Radio Network.
"We have a lot of respect for Montana State and Montana," said head coach
Shane Burcar. "It's a great opportunity to have them come into our building. Montana State has had our number the last couple of years and we've had some good games against Montana. Both coaches are great coaches. We look forward to the challenge and we'll see where we are. They are two of the best teams in the league."
NAU posted its second consecutive victory on Monday to open a five-game in 13-day stretch in the Dome, holding on for a 74-72 victory over Idaho to improve to 6-9 overall and 2-2 in Big Sky play. Sophomore
Jalen Cone scored the final eight points of the game for the Lumberjacks, clinching NAU's first win in the Skydome since Feb. 27, 2020.
Cone's final surge pushed his final tally to 24 points, marking his seventh 20-point game of the season. He holds steady in the Big Sky rankings with his 18.4 point per game average placing him second in the league. Shooting 41.6 percent from behind the arc, Cone leads the Big Sky and ranks 21st nationally with 3.13 threes made per game and 45th with 47 three-point makes.
Over his last seven games, Cone is shooting 33-of-64 (.516) from behind the arc while averaging 22.7 points per contest.
Similarly, redshirt junior
Nik Mains also continued his torrid play of late, matching his career-high of 24 points as well knocking down 4-of-8 from three-point range versus the Vandals. Mains lifted his season average to 12.7 points per game as he ranks second in the conference in three-point percentage at .440, including a .476 clip through four Big Sky games.
In his last three games, Mains is averaging 21.3 points per game and shooting 16-of-26 (.615) from deep.
Defensively, redshirt sophomore
Ezekiel Richards totaled a career-high tying five blocks on Monday as he came up one block shy of the single-game school record for the second time this season. After Monday's game, Richards now leads the Big Sky in blocks per game at 1.79, which ranks 57th nationally. Richards has recorded nine blocks in his last two games and 12 in his last five at a robust 2.4 per game.
With Richards leading the way, NAU accumulated eight blocks for the second time this season. It is the first time since the 2014-15 season that NAU has had two games with at least eight blocks.
NAU, riding a two-game winning streak and looking to tie its season-high of three consecutive victories, on Thursday versus Montana State, a team that NAU has dropped five straight to dating back to NAU's last win in the all-time series on Dec. 31, 2018. While Montana State has had NAU's number of late, the Lumberjacks have defeated Montana in two of the last three meetings after suffering 10 consecutive defeats.
Montana State has won its last three games although the Bobcats have not played since a 66-59 victory over Montana on Jan. 9. Their three-game winning streak has lifted Montana State to a 4-2 Big Sky mark and 12-5 overall. The Bobcats are the Big Sky's third-highest scoring team in the conference at 77.1 points per game, while also ranking third in scoring defense at 68.3 points per game. As a team, Montana State leads the league in field goal percentage at .467.
Montana State is a balanced scoring team with five players averaging at least 8.9 points per game led by Jubrile Belo, who averages 13.6 points per game. Belo also averages 6.3 rebounds per game and is second in the league with 1.6 blocks per game. Xavier Bishop is the Bobcats' second-leading scorer at 12.2 points per game and ranks second in the Big Sky with 4.6 assists per game.
Montana comes into the week with an 11-6 overall record and 4-2 Big Sky record. Like Montana State, the Grizzlies have not played since the Brawl of the Wild matchup between the two rivals, but Montana will play at Portland State on Thursday prior to arriving in Flagstaff. Montana leads the Big Sky in scoring defense by a wide margin, allowing 63.2 points per game on average while averaging 73.7 points per game.
Josh Bannan leads the Grizzlies with 12.4 points and 8.2 rebounds per game with the latter ranking sixth in the conference. Montana's offense is run by Cameron Parker, who has dished out a league-high 101 assists at 5.9 per game which places him 15th in the country. Parker, who has the league's other triple-double alongside redshirt freshman
Carson Towt, is also 11th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.06.
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WEEKEND PROMOTIONS
- Thursday – The first 250 students will receive cowboy hats.
- Saturday – All fans will be entered into a raffle to win several NAU flannels.
