Feb. 6, 2008

Weekly Release: at Idaho State, at Weber State

 

Games #23-24

Northern Colorado (9-13, 3-7 Big Sky) at Idaho State (9-13, 6-3 Big Sky)

Thursday, Feb. 7 • Pocatello, Idaho • Holt Arena (8,000) • 7:05 p.m.

Northern Colorado at Weber State (11-10, 6-3 Big Sky)

Saturday, Feb. 9 • Ogden, Utah • Dee Events Center (12,000) • 7:05 p.m.

 

The Series........................... ISU.................. WSU

   Overall Record................. 10-25................. 1-2

   In Greeley........................ 6-12.................. 1-1

   At Opponent..................... 1-13.................. 0-1

   At Neutral Sites.................. 3-0................... 0-0

   Last Meeting.................... Jan. 3.............. Jan. 6

   Boyle vs........................... 0-3................... 1-2

 

The Coaches

   Northern Colorado......... Tad Boyle (13-37, 2nd year)

   Idaho State................ Joe O'Brien (22-30, 2nd year)

   Weber State.............. Randy Rahe (31-22, 2nd year)

 

Radio

   KFKA 1310 AM......... Troy Coverdale, play-by-play

 

Audio Streaming

   Idaho State........... http://KFKA2.serverroom.us:7528

   Weber State..................................... 1310kfka.com

 

Television

   None

 

Video Streaming

   Big Sky............................................. bigskytv.org

 

Live Stats

   Idaho State.................................... isubengals.com

                Weber State               weberstatesports.com

 

A Pair of 6-3 Teams

Northern Colorado will face two of the three teams tied for second place in the Big Sky Conference standings playing at Weber State on Thursday evening and at Idaho State on Saturday evening. In the first meeting, the Bears defeated the Wildcats 55-52 and fell 76-65 to the Bengals at Butler-Hancock.

 

Series History

Thursday marks the 36th meeting between Idaho State and Northern Colorado with the Bengals holding the 25-10 advantage. The Bears have won only once in Pocatello, back in 1949-50, and have 13 losses. NC will be playing for just the fourth time against Weber State and the Bears are looking for their first win in Ogden after dropping a 76-65 decision a year ago.

 

Down To The Wire

Seven of the last eight games have come down to the waning seconds for Northern Colorado, with the lone exception being the loss to Montana. The Bears are 3-4 in games decided as the clock winds down with one of the wins being over Weber State.

 

It Figures

Sophomore guard Will Figures has now scored in double figures in the last three games for Northern Colorado, including sinking the game-winning three-pointers against Northern Arizona. Figures is now averaging 5.7 points per game after scoring 13 against Montana, 14 against Northern Arizona and 10 against Sacramento State.

 

Sharing The Wealth

For the first time since the season opener against VMI, five players scored in double figures in the loss at Sacramento State. The starting five all scored at least 10, led by 13 by junior guard Robert Palacios. Senior Terry Anderson scored 11, while junior Jabril Banks, Will Figures and Jefferson Mason each chipped in 10.

 

Mason Dixon Line

Sophomore Jefferson Mason has had seven straight games with at least eight points and has had five or more rebounds in eight of the last nine contests. Mason is now averaging 9.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game and is the top rebounding sophomore in the Big Sky Conference.

 

Taking Care of the Ball

In the win over Northern Arizona on Thursday, the Bears committed a season-low nine turnovers, the lowest number since Feb. 15, 2006 at Denver when Northern Colorado had just seven fumbles.

 

Turning Up The Heat

With the injury to senior guard Thanasi Panagiotakopoulos, senior guard Terry Anderson has stepped up for the Bears. He has scored 17 points in the last two games after scoring just 16 points in the previous 13 contests. Against Northern Arizona, he notched a career-high 11 points and played a career-most 31 minutes in the win over the Lumberjacks.

 

Stepping Up To The Line

Against non-conference opponents, Northern Colorado shot just .669 from the free throw line, but have improved that number to .718 in Big Sky Conference play. In seven of the 10 conference games, the Bears have shot over 70 percent from the charity stripe, including three games over 80 percent.

 

Robert's Ratio

Junior guard Robert Palacios has a positive assist-to-turnover ratio for the season with 50 assists and 43 turnovers, but he has really turned it up over the last six games, notching 17 assists with just four turnovers in 165 minutes (27.5 minutes/game) of action.

 

Arc-Madness

For the third time in the last five games and the fourth time on the year, the Bears made more than 10 three-pointers in a game, making 13 against Northern Arizona. Senior guard Sean Taibi made 6-of-7 from beyond the arc, while sophomore guard Will Figures sunk 4-of-5, including one with 1.3 seconds on the clock to win the game.

 

Read All About It

Junior forward Jabril Banks is this week's featured student-athlete on the Big Sky Conference website. Check out the transcript of his interview at www.bigskyconf.com.

 

Double Your Fun

The win against San Diego State was the second this year against a team from the Mountain West (Colorado State), and doubled the Bears win total from a year ago. The nine wins is the most wins since becoming a member of Division I in 2003-04. In 2004-05 the Bears were 8-21.

 

Back On Track

After scoring in double figures in 12 of the first 15 games of the season, junior forward Jabril Banks went three straight without scoring 10 points in a contest, but rebounded to hit double digits in the last four. Banks leads the team with 12.8 points per game, which also ranks seventh in the Big Sky.

 

Injury Plagued Class

Senior guard Thanasi Panagiotakopoulos got bitten by the same bug as his fellow fourth-year seniors, the injury bug. Panagiotakopoulos injured his knee in the game against Montana and is out for the remainder of the year. Fellow seniors Kirk Archibeque and Sean Taibi have also suffered injuries this season with Archibeque missing 18 games due to a concussion, while Taibi has missed six games with a knee injury.

 

Thank You Fans

Northern Colorado is averaging 1,333 per game in attendance this season, the highest average in school history. In 2005, the Bears averaged 1,085 fans per game for the only other season in recent history where they averaged more than 1,000 per game.

 

The Future's So Bright

Northern Colorado has the top rebounding freshman and sophomore in the Big Sky Conference this season. Freshman Taylor Montgomery is averaging 4.1 caroms a game to rank 18th overall, while sophomore Jefferson Mason averages 5.3 to rank 13th in the league.

 

Six And Twenty

For the sixth time this season, a Bear scored at least 20 points in a game when senior guard Sean Taibi poured in 26 against Northern Arizona. Senior guard Thanasi Panagiotakopoulos went for a career-high 22 at Portland State, while sophomore guard Will Figures (20), Taibi (22) and junior forward Jabril Banks (21) all scored 20 or more in the season-opener against VMI. Taibi also had 24 against Sacramento State.

 

Making Them Count

Sophomore forward Jefferson Mason tied a school record by hitting all 10 of his free throws at Portland State, which is also the second best in the Big Sky this season (two others have made all of their attempts, but went 9-9 and Huff went 17-17 from Portland State).

 

Sky High

Several Bears have the top individual performances in the Big Sky this season. Juniors Jabril Banks and Robert Palacios and sophomore Jefferson Mason are tied for the best in the conference shooting 100 percent from the field (minimum five makes), and Banks has done so twice. Sophomore forward Jefferson Mason has the best free throw percentage after making all 10 of his attempts against Portland State. Palacios is tied for the best rebounding performance with his 14 against Colorado State and has the most steals in a game with his seven against Johnson + Wales.

 

Thank You Sir, May I Have Another

Freshman guard Devon Beitzel became the first-ever men's basketball player to be named Big Sky Conference Player of the Week, sharing the honors with Kyle Landry of Northern Arizona after the Bears' victory at San Diego State. Beitzel notched a career-high in scoring with 15 points and steals with four. He shot 7-of-12 from the field with one three-pointer and two rebounds in the 62-56 win.

 

Who Are You Going To Guard?

In the last six games, Northern Colorado has had five different players lead the team in scoring, with only senior guard Thanasi Panagiotakopoulos leading twice. Freshman Devon Beitzel, junior Jabril Banks, senior Sean Taibi and junior Robert Palacios have each led the team once during the stretch.

 

Double, Double, Toil & Trouble

Of the 12 players who have seen action on the court this season, 10 of them have scored at least 10 points in a game. The Bears have five players on the team who are averaging between 7-13 points per game, led by junior forward Jabril Banks with 12.8 a contest.

 

Starting Off

Head coach Tad Boyle has now used nine different starting lineups this season. Junior guard Robert Palacios is now the only player on the team to have started in all 22 games and 11 of the 12 players on the roster have started in at least one game with the lone exception being freshman guard Monice Garrett.

 

Milestones

Terry Anderson is now just nine rebounds shy of 100 for his career. Jabril Banks needs just 19 points for 300 for the season and is three field-goals shy of 100. Devon Beitzel is 20 points shy of 100 for his career, while sophomore Will Figures will have 50 three-pointers in his career after making four more. Taylor Montgomery is 10 rebounds away from the century mark, while Sean Taibi needs seven for 300 and is 28 points shy of 1300. With nine more three-pointers he will also hit the 250 mark for his career.

 

Lucky Sevens

Twice this season, junior forward Jabril Banks has been perfect from the field when taking seven shots. In the season opener against VMI Banks posted an unblemished night, hitting all seven attempts from the field. He then repeated that performance at Denver. He has also made seven shots from the floor four other times (Denver, Colorado State, Bowling Green State, Montana). 

 

Leading The Way - As A Team

In the latest Big Sky Conference statistics, Northern Colorado leads the way in offensive rebounds  (12.27), is second in steals (7.27) and third in rebounding offense (35.3), rebound margin (+3.0) and defensive rebounds (23.00). In conference play, the Bears are second in offensive rebounds (11.70) and three-pointers made (8.20) and third in three-point field goal percentage (.380), rebounding offense (34.1) and steals (7.10).

 

Leading The Way - Individually

In the Big Sky individual statistics, junior forward Jabril Banks ranks eighth in scoring (12.8), seventh in rebounding (6.0) and sixth in field goal percentage (.551), while Robert Palacios ranks 10th in rebounding (5.6) and fifth in steals (1.57). Jefferson Mason ranks ninth in free throw percentage (.768) and Will Figures leads in three-point field goal percentage (.509).

 

It's An Honor

Following the action on the court during the Air Force Classic, Northern Colorado had a pair players named to the All-Tournament Team in guards sophomore Will Figures and senior Sean Taibi. Figures averaged 19.5 point per game in the tournament while Taibi chipped in 16 points per game.

 

Postseason Eligible

The Northern Colorado men's basketball team is now eligible to compete in postseason play in 2007 after successfully making the transition to Division I. This year also marks the first year NC is eligible to win the Big Sky Conference Championship as well as compete in the Big Sky Tournament.

 

Picked Seventh/Eighth

Northern Colorado was chosen seventh by the coaches and eighth by the media in the Big Sky's Preseason Poll. The Bears received 19 points in the coaches poll and 56 in the media poll. The polls were also split with Weber State taking the coaches poll and Montana being chosen as the favorite by the media.

 

Scouting Idaho State

Idaho State is one of three teams tied for second place in the Big Sky standings with a 6-3 record, and they are 9-13 overall. The Bengals played Weber State twice last week, winning by four in Pocatello, 63-59 and losing by two, 59-57 in Ogden.

 

Matt Stucki leads the team in scoring with 12.0 points per game and Logan Kinghorn leads the team with 4.9 rebounds per game. Stucki also leads the club with 3.6 steals and 1.1 steals per game, while Austin Kilpatrick leads with 0.82 blocks per game.

 

Idaho State is averaging 60.0 points, 30.5 rebounds, 4.3 three-pointers, 12.0 assists, 14.2 turnovers, 5.2 steals and 2.7 blocks per game, while shooting .434 from the field, .302 from the three-point line and .693 from the free throw line. Opponents are averaging 69.3 points, 32.7 rebounds, 8.1 three-pointers, 14.2 assists, 12.1 turnovers, 6.6 steals and 3.0 blocks per game and shooting .433 from the floor, .389 from the arc and .752 from the charity stripe.

 

Scouting Weber State

Weber State is also tied for second place with a 6-3 league mark and they are 11-10 overall. They split last week with Idaho State with each team winning narrowly on its home floor.

 

Dezmon Harris leads with 10.5 points per game, while Arturas Valeika is right behind him with 10.2 points and leads the team with 9.0 rebounds per game. Brody Van Brocklin leads in both assists (2.1) and steals (1.0) and Daviin Davis leads with 1.3 blocked shots per game.

 

Weber State is averaging 64.2 points, 30.0 rebounds, 6.5 three-pointers, 11.6 assists, 15.4 turnovers, 4.9 steals and 3.0 blocked shots, while shooting .453 from the field, .374 from the arc and .730 from the free throw line. The opposition is averaging 65.4 points, 28.9 rebounds, 7.9 three-pointers, 13.8 assists and turnovers, 6.2 steals and 2.6 blocks per game, while connecting on .460 from the floor, .401 from three-point range and .676 from the charity stripe.