Montana State Bobcats invade Dahlberg Arena Saturday
Former Highwood star Rachel Semansky and her MSU teammates take on UM Saturday in Missoula. Tribune file photo
There are a pair of big games in Missoula Saturday as the Montana State men’s and women’s basketball teams visit Dahlberg Arena to take on their Montana counterparts.
We’ll have full coverage in tomorrow’s Tribune, as well as game coverage on Twitter and in Sunday’s print edition.
The men’s game comes second, of course, and Brad Huse brings a fairly hot team into the city where he grew up against the school where he was once an assistant coach.
The Griz, meanwhile, played Thursday and held on against Southern Utah by single digits.
“We’re excited to be where we’re at,” UM men’s coach Wayne Tinkle said, “but we know we have a ton of season in front of us, so we just need to stay humble and hungry, like we always talk about.”
The Griz have won seven straight and are tied with Weber State for first place. The Bobcats are a distant third at 3-3 in conference action. As you saw in this week’s player feature, the Griz don’t think they are even playing their best basketball yet, despite having won 18 straight Big Sky games.
“We’ve got enough guys that know the deal,” Tinkle said. “We want to peak in March, not in mid-January.”
On the women’s side, the game will launch one of the two teams into first place. Both teams have one conference loss, but Montana State is a half-game in front of UM because it has an extra win.
UM women’s coach Robin Selvig has repeatedly discussed how even the conference is. Preseason favorite and defending conference champ Idaho State has rebounded from an 0-3 start in conference play to go 4-3 and is in fourth place.
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