STOCKTON, Calif. - Following their first road contest of the season on Monday, the Pacific men's basketball team will return to the Alex G. Spanos Center on Wednesday afternoon as they welcome the visiting Montana State Bobcats.
This meeting will mark the first matchup between the two schools in exactly 35 years as they last met on Dec. 2, 1985 in Bozeman, a game the Bobcats won by a final score of 82-72.
GAME DETAILS:
Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Matchup: Montana State (1-0) at Pacific (1-1)
Location: Stockton, California
Venue: Alex G. Spanos Center
Time: 2:00 p.m. PST
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THINGS TO KNOW:
- Despite Monday's loss at Nevada, the Tigers were led by sophomore guard Daniss Jenkins who paced all scorers with 19 points on 8-for-18 shooting from the floor while also pulling down five rebounds and two assists.
- Jeremiah Bailey and Broc Finstuen scored 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Tigers as Pacific had a tough shooting night from the floor (33.8 percent) and from the line, where they made only six of 16 free throws.
- Despite leading by five with just over 10 minutes to play, the Tigers saw Nevada end the game on a 21-12 run over the final 10:04 as the Wolf Pack hung on for the victory to improve to 3-0.
- Wednesday marks the eighth all-time meeting between Pacific and Montana State. The Tigers are 4-3 all-time versus the Bobcats with their most recent win coming on Dec. 31, 1984 at the Spanos Center by a final of 73-70.
STARTING HOT:
- Looking to build off an impressive freshman season that saw him be named the program's first-ever WCC All-Freshman selection, Jenkins has scored in double figures in both contests so far for the Tigers, sitting at second on the team with an average of 14.5 points. As a whole, he leads Pacific with 12 field goals made through two games in addition to being tied for second with four assists.
- Aiming to dominate in his final year in Stockton, Bailey has shot the basketball extremely well in Pacific's first two games, as the senior forward currently leads the Tigers with an average of 18.5 points per game. Proving to be a force on both sides of the ball, the Fairbanks, Alaska native also leads the team with four steals and two blocks while placing second in rebounding with an average of 5.5 per game.
- Locking in on the fundamentals, Finstuen was one rebound shy of his first career double-double on Monday night in Reno (10 points, 9 rebounds) as the senior has tallied averages of 7.5 points and a team-high 7.5 rebounds through the first two contests for Pacific.
SCOUTING THE BOBCATS:
- Montana State is playing its second game of the season on Wednesday. The Bobcats won at UNLV by a 91-78 final on Wednesday in their season opener.
- Montana State plays only four non-conference games before they begin Big Sky Conference play on Dec. 31., and all their non-conference games are on the road as they play at Washington State on Dec. 18 and Portland on Dec. 22.
- The Bobcats went 16-15 in 2019-20, including a 10-10 mark in the Big Sky. They were picked to finish sixth in the Big Sky Preseason Coaches' Poll.
- The Bobcats lost their leading scorer from a year ago, Harald Frey, but return their other top two leading scorers in Jubrile Belo and Amin Adamu, who averaged 13.1 and 11.7 points per game, respectively. Belo was also their leading rebounder last season, averaging 6.4 rebounds per contest. Both Belo and Adamu scored 14 points in their win at UNLV, while redshirt senior guard Xavier Bishop led the way with 22 points. Bishop redshirted last season after transferring from UMKC following the 2018-19 season.
FOLLOW US:
For more updates and more information on the 2020-21 Pacific men's basketball team, be sure to follow @PacificMensBB on Twitter, @pacificmensbb on Instagram and @PacificMensBB on Facebook.
