The two most important are:
n Have the Griz successfully put the 52-point shellacking at the hands of Portland State in their last outing behind them?
Montana coach Wayne Tinkle said he thinks he has the answer to the first question.
“I hope so,” Tinkle said. “I talked about it briefly at practice on Tuesday. I talked about a couple of things we did wrong and said, ‘Hey, Portland State played like the Monstars from ‘Space Jam.' There wasn't much we could do about it, but we have to make sure we put forth an energetic, united effort come Saturday.”
The Bengals may have a psychological edge by virtue of the way their last meeting with the Griz ended. The Griz tied that game at 58-58 on a late 3-pointer by Jordan Hasquet, then survived a last-second shot by ISU guard Matt Stucki. Hasquet, though, rebounded the miss and signalled for a timeout with less than a second to play.
Because the Griz were out of timeouts, they should have been assessed a technical foul, but the officiating crew said the horn sounded at the same time the whistle blew to recognize the timeout. The game went to overtime, where the Griz won 72-63.
“We've talked to our guys about what the atmosphere will be like,” Tinkle said. “They're going to come out with a bunch of energy and physicality and the crowd's going to be raucous. I think it's going to be a positive for us because our guys rally together on the road.”
True. The Griz were as good on the road (4-4) as they were at home (4-4) during Big Sky play. Only league champ Portland State won more road games.
“The first 10 minutes are big,” Tinkle said. “We've got to make sure we come out and establish the fact that we're going to be there from tip to finish. If we can match their early aggression, I think we'll be fine the rest of the way.”
The Griz played a fairly indifferent game two weeks ago in Pocatello before coming to life in the last few minutes of regulation and in overtime. ISU owned a 29-24 edge in rebounding in regulation, but the Griz controlled the glass 7-1 in overtime.
“Rebounding's going to be a big focus,” said Montana senior Andrew Strait, who had 22 points and 10 rebounds in the last game against ISU. “ISU has some big guards and we need to keep them off the glass. It's probably going to be the difference in the game.”
ISU scored 16 of its 58 points in regulation off of offensive rebounds. That ended in overtime, when Cam Rundles and Ryan Staudacher hit a couple of clutch shots.
“That's all we have to show our team, the last three or four minutes of regulation and overtime to make it clear what we do when we're successful,” Tinkle said. “It wasn't perfect basketball, but when you made a mistake there was somebody there to pat you on the butt. When guys hit shots, you could see our entire bench stand up and cheer.”
NOTES: Matt Martin is 5-for-34 (15 percent) from 3-point range in his last five games. ... Ryan Staudacher has at least one 3-pointer in his last 12 games since going 0-for-6 against ISU in Missoula. He had another streak of 12 games with a 3-pointer prior to that. ... Tinkle said he won't know until game time whether Brian Qvale will be healthy enough to put back in the starting lineup. Qvale sprained an ankle prior to the Montana State game on Feb. 9. ... Strait, who broke his nose prior to the Portland State game, will wear a mask again against ISU. ISU's starting center Lucas Steijn broke his nose last week, too, and will be wearing a mask.
Sports editor Bob Meseroll can be reached at 523-5265 or at sportsdesk@missoulian.com.
Montana Griz at Idaho State
Saturday, 7:05 p.m., Holt Arena
Radio: KGVO 1290 AM. TV: None.
Web: montanagrizzlies.com.
Records: Montana finished Big Sky play at 8-8, 14-15 overall. Idaho State is 8-8, 11-18.
Last outing: Montana fell 108-56 to Portland State last Saturday in Missoula. Idaho State dropped a 76-53 decision at Northern Arizona the same night.
Series: Montana leads 87-41.
Regular season: Idaho State beat Montana 56-54 on Jan. 17 in Missoula. Montana beat Idaho State 72-63 in overtime on Feb. 24 in Pocatello.
Up next: The winner faces either Portland State or Northern Arizona in the tournament semifinals on Tuesday in Portland's Rose Garden.
Probable starters
Montana
2-Jordan Hasquet, 6-9, jr. 13.9 ppg
40-Kyle Sharp, 6-7, jr. 4.8 ppg
34-Andrew Strait, 6-8, sr. 13.3 ppg
3-Ryan Staudacher, 6-4, so. 8.9 ppg
11-Ceylon Elgin-Taylor, 6-2, jr. 6.1 ppg
Idaho State
4-Logan Kinghorn, 6-5, sr. 6.6 ppg
14-Lucas Steijn, 6-10, jr. 7.0 ppg
1-Amorrow Morgan, 6-5, so. 9.7 ppg
20-Donnie Carson, 6-2, so. 6.0 ppg
31-Matt Stucki, 6-5, jr. 11.6 ppg
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