FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (February 8, 2022) – Continuing on the road, the Northern Arizona men's basketball team faces two of the league's top four teams in the Treasure State starting on Thursday at 7 p.m. versus Montana in Missoula, Mont. before squaring off against Montana State at 12 p.m. in Bozeman, Mont. on Saturday. Both games will be available on ESPN+ and can be heard on the Northern Arizona Healthcare NAU Lumberjack Radio Network.
This weekend's games will be NAU's second and third on the road this week as part of a greater four-game stretch away from Flagstaff overall, following an 82-60 loss to Northern Colorado on Monday. NAU sliced a 19-point first half deficit down to two before Northern Colorado pulled away. With eight games remaining before the conference tournament, NAU is in eighth-place at 4-8 in the league, and 8-15 overall. The Lumberjacks are a game behind Eastern Washington for seventh and a game and a half back of Portland State for sixth.
"We've got to keep pushing," said head coach
Shane Burcar. "That is the only option that we have. We can all take some individual responsibility and that starts with me to fix this. We're in eighth-place right now when we were picked 10th. Some people feel like we're exceeding expectations, but we most certainly do not. We're going to hold each other accountable to have the success we're looking for."
Sophomore
Jalen Cone led the Lumberjacks with 22 points, 15 coming off five three-pointers, versus the Bears on Monday. Cone now has 11 20-point games this season and seven games with at least five threes made. Cone ranks second in the Big Sky in scoring at 19.4 points per game, and an average of 20.0 points per game in conference play, while ranking 10th and 15th in the country respectively with 76 three-pointers and 3.30 threes per game.
Cone is approaching the top 10 in program history in season scoring and three-pointers made. With 446 points scored, Cone is 47 points behind Ruben Boykin Jr. (493) for 10th in a single season. His 76 three-pointers are also six behind moving ahead of Andrew Mavis, Gabe Rogers and Quinton Upshur – each of whom hit 82 threes in a season – for eighth-most treys in a season.
Redshirt
Carson Towt chipped in 10 points on Monday, marking his third consecutive double-digit scoring game following four straight with six points or fewer. Over the last three games, Towt is shooting 63.6 percent from the floor and averaging 10.7 points per game. Towt's nine double-digit scoring games this season are third-most on the team behind Cone (21) and redshirt junior
Nik Mains (14).
Due to foul trouble, Towt played a season-low 18 minutes versus Northern Colorado on Monday and finished with just four rebounds, his lowest total in a month and a half. Towt also did not record an assist for the first time this season. Still, he remains second in the league with 9.1 rebounds per game and eighth with 3.6 assists, just behind Cone's team-leading 3.8 helpers per game.
The Lumberjacks will be meeting both Montana and Montana State for the second time this season. NAU fell to the Grizzlies, 58-48, on Jan. 22 and two days prior, lost another close one to the Bobcats, 89-84, with both games in the Walkup Skydome.
NAU won its most recent matchup with Montana in Missoula, last season by a 62-58 score. With a win on Thursday, the Lumberjacks would secure back-to-back wins in Missoula for just the fourth time ever and first since 2007 and 2008. Meanwhile, NAU – which did not travel to Bozeman last season – has dropped two straight in the Bobcats' Worthington Arena. The Lumberjacks last won in Bozeman on New Year's Eve of 2018.
Montana rebounded from a winless road trip through Weber State and Idaho State last week with an impressive 78-67 home victory over Southern Utah on Monday. The Grizzlies, who are 16-8 overall and 9-4 in league play, remained undefeated at home this season at 12-0 and have won 14 straight at Dahlberg Arena dating back to last season. The Grizzlies are second in the country in free throw shooting, converting at a an 80.2 percent clip and also commit the eighth-fewest turnovers per game at 9.7. Montana is first in the Big Sky in scoring defense overall (64.2) and second in conference games (67.1).
Josh Bannan, with nine double-doubles to his name this season, leads the Grizzlies with 14.1 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, the latter in which ranks fifth in the conference. He is shooting 49.4 percent from the floor. Robby Beasley is the team's second-leading scorer at 11.3 points per game. He is Montana's top three-point shooter in terms of makes with 48 and is shooting 36.6 percent behind the arc.
Montana State is the Big Sky's hottest team having won nine straight games since a New Year's Day win over Idaho State. The Bobcats' win streak has lifted them to second-place in the Big Sky standings, although they are tied in the loss column with conference-leading Weber State, who has played one more game than Montana State. In conference play, Montana State (18-5, 10-2 Big Sky) has allowed a league-low 65.2 points per game, while controlling the glass with the second-best rebounding margin of +4.5.
Jubrile Belo leads a very balanced Bobcat scoring attack with 13.3 points per game. All five Bobcat starters average at least eight points per game. Belo is tied for the team-lead with Abdul Mohamed in rebounding at 6.8 per game and is shooting 59.2 percent from the field. Xavier Bishop ranks second on the team in scoring with 12.7 points per game and is the Bobcat leader with 102 assists. His assist average of 4.4 per game ranks second in the Big Sky.
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