Preview: @UNCO_MBB Look to End 2017 with a Win

Sunday, December 31

Greeley, Colo.

2pm

University of Northern Colorado

University of Idaho

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

12/30/2017 4:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Kurt Maddox, UNCBears.com

Greeley, Colo.—The Northern Colorado men (10-4, 1-0) are coming off a big win in their first Big Sky Conference game of the season. UNC now has to keep the momentum going against a very tough Idaho Vandal squad who comes into Greeley after beating the Big Sky defending champion North Dakota Friday 74-57.
The game between the Bears and Vandals is set for 2 pm at Bank of Colorado Arena New Years Eve. The contest will be broadcast on Pluto TV channel 241 and as always you can listen to KFKA 1310 for the radio broadcast. If you are a stats person, just go to UNCBears.com to follow live.

Opening Tip

With the Idaho Vandals being new to the Big Sky, the Bears will only play them for the fifth time ever New Year's Eve. UNC has never put a W on U of I as the Bears have lost all four meetings including an 88-76 defeat in Greeley during the 2016-17 season.
The Bears charge into this conference game with a 10-4 record and 1-0 in the Big Sky. Their losses were to teams with a combined record of 27-11. UNC sits one game behind Portland State (10-3) for Big Sky standings.

Big Sky Player of the Week

UNC goes into conference play with the defending Big Sky Player of the week in Andre Spight. Spight continues to thrive in the Northern Colorado offense. The Arizona State transfer is scoring at will with 45 points total last week. He recorded his first double-double of his UNC career (24pts, 10 assists) in the big win versus Wyoming, 91-84. In their close loss (94-91) to Mountain West-leading UNLV, Spight went off for 21 and most of those were in the second half. Spight has upped his points per game by 2.2 since the beginning of December. In his two games for the week, the redshirt senior went 16-38 (42.1%) from the field and was very consistent as he shot 8-of-18 in both games. He followed up with another double-double in the Big Sky opener versus Eastern Washington. Spight scored a Bear high 21 points and 10 rebounds.

Record-Book Watch

Jordan Davis now trails Dennis Colson (1965-68) by 39 points for 15th all-time points in UNC history. JD moved up to 9th overall for assists in his career with 261 dishes. He has passed Scott Watson (1986-90) and Jordan Wilson (2013-16) so far this season and only needs 13 more dimes to move into 8^th.

Last Time Out

The Bears used a total team effort to win the first Big Sky game of the year 88-75 over Eastern Washington. Six players, including all five starters, scored in double figures in the victory. Spight led the way with his second double-double of the season (21pts, 10rbs). UNC never trailed and avenged the embarrassing 70-44 loss at home last season versus the Eagles.

Last Time vs Idaho

The Bears fell behind early and trailed 43-29 at the half. UNC came out of the locker room in the second and outscored the Vandals but the first half deficit was too much for Northern Colorado as they lost 88-76. DJ Miles scored 30 and Jordan Davis scored 21 for the Bears in the defeat. Current Idaho star Victor Sanders put up 25 in the Idaho win.

Bear Tracks

Northern Colorado is both third in margin of victory, scoring offense and defense in the Big Sky. They score 78.5 points per game while holding their opponents to 69 points. On average, UNC puts up 9.5 more points per game.
UNC is tied with Idaho for the league lead in rebounding offense. Both teams average 39.2 in offensive rebounding.
Spight (17.9ppg) is back in the lead for the Bears in scoring. His outstanding week vaulted him past Jordan Davis (16.5ppg) for the team lead. One other Bears averages in double digits and that is Anthony Johnson (12.5ppg) and all those points are off the bench.
UNC continues to rebound as a team. The Bears have seven players averaging 3.5 to 5.8 rebounds a game and the leader is the freshman Jalen Sanders. Sanders also leads the team in offensive boards with 22 and Tanner Morgan is at the top for defensive rebounds with 59.

Scouting Idaho

Don Verlin is in 10^th season as Vandals head coach. In his nine seasons with the Vandals, Verlin has won more games than any previous coach at Idaho and has five top-three conference finishes, four CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournaments, one appearance in the College Basketball Invitational, a 2-3 record against Associated Press Top-25 opponents and a 77-39 (.664) record in home games. Additionally, Verlin's players have earned eight all-WAC honors, two all-Big Sky honors, two NABC All-District honor, one WAC Player of the Year, one honorable mention All-American honor and seven have gone on to play professionally.
Idaho's make up is a lot similar to Northern Colorado. The Vandals starting lineup hasn't changed from game one and the Bears have only changed their starters once. U of I has four players in double-figure in points as Victor Sanders sits atop the list with 19.1ppg while Brayon Blake scores 13.9, Nate Sherwood averages 11.3 and Perrion Callandret just broke into double-digit average (10ppg) for points by putting 13 on North Dakota. The main difference is rebounds where Idaho's leader (Brayon Blake) is cleaning the glass 9.5 times per game.
Like Eastern Washington, Idaho is consistent in both halves of the game. The Vandals outscore the competition by 70 in the first half and 56 in the second.
The Vandals are stingy on allowing their opponents 3's from going through the hoop. Idaho only grants 6.4 3's made against them per game and their foes are shooting a lowly 27.2% (83-305). On the other hand, Idaho makes around nine deep shots a game and shoots a decent 41% from beyond the arc.
Idaho shares the ball well as they have 200 assists on 322 made baskets. This means 62% of the time the Vandals make the extra pass to get the open shot. Compare this to UNC who has 161 assists on 398 buckets made which is only 40%.

What's Ahead
Northern Colorado will kick off the New Year on the road as they head up to Montana State on the 4^th. The Bears will face the Bobcats in Bozeman with tipoff scheduled for 7 pm in the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. UNC will stay in Montana and take I-90 Northwest to face the Montana Grizzlies January 6^th at 7 pm.
The Bears will be back home for a three-game stretch starting January 11^th as the Weber State Wildcats come to town. Idaho State visits Bank of Colorado Arena the 13^th at 2 pm and the homestand finishes up the 20^th with North Dakota starting at 7 pm. Tickets are available at UNCBears.com, at the UNC Box Office M-F from Noon-5pm or at 970.351.1679 during business hours. January 2^nd through the 5^th the office is open from noon to 5 pm and the ticket office will be back to normal hours January 8^th which is 10-5pm.