A recap of recent men’s basketball news in the Big Sky Conference from Assistant Commissioner Jon Kasper:
Montana puts its 15-game home-court winning streak on the line as the Griz host South Dakota State of the Summit League on Saturday. South Dakota is ranked 14th in this week’s Mid-Major Top 25. Montana senior guard Will Cherry will see action for the first time this season. Cherry, a two-time All-Conference pick and the 2011-12 Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year, broke his foot in the fall.
Streaks on the Line: Two of the 10 longest active home-court winning streaks in NCAA Division I are held by Big Sky teams, and both will be tested this Saturday. Weber State enters its game at the Dee Events Center riding a 20-game home-court winning streak. The Wildcats haven’t lost at home since their final regular-season game of the 2010-11 season. Brigham Young is 6-3 and ranked 13th in the Mid-Major Poll. Montana puts a 15-game home-court winning streak on the line on Saturday against South Dakota State of the Summit League. Montana hasn’t lost a home game since losing to Nevada on Dec. 10, 2011. South Dakota State is ranked 14th in the Mid-Major Poll with an 8-3 record. Syracuse has the longest current home winning streak at 28 games, followed by Kansas at 26 and South Dakota State at 23. Colorado State and Southern Mississippi are tied for fifth at 17 games. Ohio is seventh with a 16-game home winning streak.
RPI Report: The first RPI report from the Collegiate Basketball News was released Monday. Weber State leads the Big Sky with a very strong RPI of 69. Montana is at 138, followed by Northern Arizona at 144 and Sacramento State at 145. The Big Sky is rated 25th among Division I conferences, just behind the Colonial and just ahead of the SWAC. The Big Sky’s non-conference schedule strength ranks 13th overall. Portland State (45), Northern Arizona (53), Northern Colorado (59), North Dakota (61), Weber State (68), Montana (76) and Idaho State (100) all have schedule strength in the top 100. Duke is currently No. 1 in the RPI, followed by Michigan, Colorado, Florida and New Mexico. The Big Ten is rated No. 1 among conferences, followed by the Pac-12, Big East, ACC and Mountain West.
The 400 Club: Northern Arizona senior Stallon Saldivar dished out seven assists in the Lumberjacks 92-86 overtime loss to Loyola Marymount last week. Saldivar now has 395 career assists, and is on the verge of becoming just the 17th player in league history to amass 400 career assists. Saldivar currently ranks 17th on the all-time list, as he recently past former Boise State guard and NBA player Chris Childs (392). Eastern Washington’s Deon Williams (1997-2000) is next on the list with 411.
Wanted for Theft: Northern Colorado’s Tim Huskisson was credited with nine steals in the Bears’ 80-54 loss to Wichita State. The nine steals were the most by a Big Sky player against a Division I opponent since Sacramento State’s Dashawn Freeman had 10 steals on Feb. 17, 2005 against Montana. Montana’s Will Cherry had nine steals on Dec. 9, 2010, in a win over NAIA Great Falls.
NCAA Leaders: Three Big Sky teams rank second in the nation in statistical categories this week. Weber State is second in the nation in scoring margin at 15.8 points. Eastern Washington remained second in 3-pointers per game with an average of 10.3. Montana is second in 3-point field-goal percentage at 44.5 percent. Weber State is fourth in the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage defense (23.2 percent). Montana State is eighth in the nation in turnover margin at 6.0 percent. Idaho State’s Tomas Sanchez is fifth in the nation in free-throw percentage (95.8 percent). Sacramento State’s Dylan Garrity is eighth at 94.3 percent, followed by NAU’s DeWayne Russell (94.1)
Young Talent: True freshmen lead the Big Sky in scoring and rebounding this week. Northern Arizona’s DeWayne Russell is averaging a league-best 17.1 points per game. He has scored in double figures in all eight of his games so far. For comparison sake, NBA player Rodney Stuckey scored in double figures in his first eight games at Eastern Washington in 2005-06, scoring 159 total points. Weber State’s Damian Lillard, the sixth overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, netted just 58 total points in his first eight collegiate games. EWU freshman Venky Jois leads the Big Sky with an average of 9.3 rebounds per game. Jois also leads the league with five double-doubles. He had double-doubles in three straight games. Weber State true freshman Joel Bolomboy is second at 8.5 rebounds per game. Bolomboy is playing just 21.8 minutes per game. Russell is also tied for the league lead in steals with an average of 2 per game. He is fourth in assists with an average of 3.9 per game.
Tip-Ins: SUU has out-rebounded its last five opponents and has tallied over 40 boards four times this season; the team had 40 or more rebounds just four times all last season … UND made just 14-of-30 free throws in a 3-point home loss to Missouri-Kansas City … NAU guard Gabe Rogers needs 23 points to reach 1,000 for his career … Rogers is tied for 23rd all-time in Big Sky history with 176 3-pointers … Weber State and Montana received votes in this week’s CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll … Big Sky teams are 19-9 at home and 5-37 in road games.
Big Sky Conference Standings
(No conference games played)
Men’s
Weber State 4-2
Sacramento State 5-3
Montana 4-3
Northern Arizona 3-5
Montana State 2-5
North Dakota 2-5
Southern Utah 2-6
Eastern Washington 2-7
Portland State 1-4
Idaho State 1-6
Northern Colorado 1-6Women’s
Montana State 6-2
Portland State 5-2
Montana 5-3
Idaho State 4-3
Sacramento State 4-4
Southern Utah 4-4
North Dakota 3-4
Eastern Washington 3-5
Northern Colorado 2-5
Northern Arizona 1-7
Weber State 0-7
Source: Big Sky Conference