University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Saturday, March 7
Bozeman, Montana
4 pm
University of Northern Colorado
22-9,15-5Big Sky
75
at
61
Montana State
16-15,10-10Big Sky
1
2
F
Northern Colo.
38
37
75
Montana St.
35
26
61
Photo by: Dean Popejoy
Basketball Buries Montana State with Three-Pointers Saturday
3/7/2020 8:34:00 PM | Men's Basketball
UNC men's basketball clinched the second seed in next week's Big Sky Tournament
BOZEMAN, Mont. – It was simple math on Saturday, three is better than two. Northern Colorado made 16 3-point shots while holding Montana State to two en route to a 75-61 win to close out the 2019-20 regular season. The win locked up the second seed in the Big Sky Tournament for UNC and pushes them to 22-9 overall and 15-5 in the Big Sky.
The trio of Jonah Radebaugh, Trent Harris and Bodie Hume combined for all 16 of the makes behind the arc and 57 points. Harris led the team with 24 points matching his season-high in made 3s with seven. Hume just missed out on his first career double-double with 12 points all coming on made treys and a career-best nine rebounds.
Meanwhile, Radebaugh filled the stat sheet per usual with his third straight 20-plus point game. He ended up with 21 points, seven assists, five rebounds, two steals and a block.
Radebaugh and Harris led the way in the first half as Jonah scored 19 of his 21 points during it while Trent added in 12.
Montana State keyed in on Radebaugh in the second half triple-teaming him at times giving Hume and Harris plenty of open looks.
Leading by three at the break, Northern Colorado went on a 13-3 run during the middle of the second half to separate from MSU.
What They Said
Head Coach Jeff Linder
Overall Thoughts
"We knew coming in that we could not (Ladan) Rickets and (Harald) Frey get threes. Credit our defense to holding those two to just five points tonight. In the two games against us this year our defense was great on Rickets only allowing him to get one shot off. I challenged our guys at half to come out with a little more juice and energy. We did a good job of that and made a lot of winning plays with Kur and Rob drawing charges and Sam and Matt getting their hands on balls. Those are the things that allowed us to get out in transition and make a lot of threes in the second half."
On the performance of Jonah Radebaugh and Trent Harris
"At the end of the day, coaching can be overrated sometimes. You can put guys in good spots, but players make plays and give Trent and Jonah credit for doing that tonight making smart plays and making big shots."
About Montana State looking to attack inside
"We knew coming into the game that Montana State was going to attack us inside. Old school basketball would say you don't want teams to shoot within three or four feet of your basket, which is true, but I thought we did a good job in the second half of pushing them out a little further from the basket. I'm not a math major, but I know that while they were making a lot of twos if we kept making a lot of threes it was going to be our advantage. Our activity away from the ball was important in the second half to allow us to pull away."
Stat of the Game
MSU outscored UNC 34-20 in the paint, but the Bears outscored the Bobcats 48-6 from behind the arc. Simple math, three is greater than two.
Game Notes
- Jonah Radebaugh now holds the program's single-season assists record at 202. He passed Bin Graefe's 198 from the 1984-85 season. He is 11th in the Big Sky record book for assists in a season.
- Radebaugh moved into eighth place for program career scoring with his 1,337 points.
- Kai Edwards joined the 600 rebounds club on Saturday. He is the ninth Bear to do so sitting at 608.
- Trent Harris has the second most made 3s in a season at UNC with 97. He passed Tate Unruh and his 92 in 2012-13.
- It is the first time in program history that UNC has swept the Montana schools in a season. This is the second straight season Northern Colorado won at both Montana and Montana State.
- The Bears had 18 assists on 26 made baskets, six different players recorded an assist.
Around the Big Sky
Eastern Washington wrapped up the outright Big Sky Regular Season Championship with a 78-69 win over Weber State.
What's Ahead
Northern Colorado enters the Big Sky Tournament as the No. 2 seed for the second straight season. UNC's first game will come against the winner of the 7-10 game on Thursday, March 12 at 5:30 pm inside Century Link Arena in Boise, Idaho.
To stay up to date on all things UNC men's basketball, visit UNCBears.com and follow the team on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
The trio of Jonah Radebaugh, Trent Harris and Bodie Hume combined for all 16 of the makes behind the arc and 57 points. Harris led the team with 24 points matching his season-high in made 3s with seven. Hume just missed out on his first career double-double with 12 points all coming on made treys and a career-best nine rebounds.
Meanwhile, Radebaugh filled the stat sheet per usual with his third straight 20-plus point game. He ended up with 21 points, seven assists, five rebounds, two steals and a block.
Radebaugh and Harris led the way in the first half as Jonah scored 19 of his 21 points during it while Trent added in 12.
Montana State keyed in on Radebaugh in the second half triple-teaming him at times giving Hume and Harris plenty of open looks.
Leading by three at the break, Northern Colorado went on a 13-3 run during the middle of the second half to separate from MSU.
What They Said
Head Coach Jeff Linder
Overall Thoughts
"We knew coming in that we could not (Ladan) Rickets and (Harald) Frey get threes. Credit our defense to holding those two to just five points tonight. In the two games against us this year our defense was great on Rickets only allowing him to get one shot off. I challenged our guys at half to come out with a little more juice and energy. We did a good job of that and made a lot of winning plays with Kur and Rob drawing charges and Sam and Matt getting their hands on balls. Those are the things that allowed us to get out in transition and make a lot of threes in the second half."
On the performance of Jonah Radebaugh and Trent Harris
"At the end of the day, coaching can be overrated sometimes. You can put guys in good spots, but players make plays and give Trent and Jonah credit for doing that tonight making smart plays and making big shots."
About Montana State looking to attack inside
"We knew coming into the game that Montana State was going to attack us inside. Old school basketball would say you don't want teams to shoot within three or four feet of your basket, which is true, but I thought we did a good job in the second half of pushing them out a little further from the basket. I'm not a math major, but I know that while they were making a lot of twos if we kept making a lot of threes it was going to be our advantage. Our activity away from the ball was important in the second half to allow us to pull away."
Stat of the Game
MSU outscored UNC 34-20 in the paint, but the Bears outscored the Bobcats 48-6 from behind the arc. Simple math, three is greater than two.
Game Notes
- Jonah Radebaugh now holds the program's single-season assists record at 202. He passed Bin Graefe's 198 from the 1984-85 season. He is 11th in the Big Sky record book for assists in a season.
- Radebaugh moved into eighth place for program career scoring with his 1,337 points.
- Kai Edwards joined the 600 rebounds club on Saturday. He is the ninth Bear to do so sitting at 608.
- Trent Harris has the second most made 3s in a season at UNC with 97. He passed Tate Unruh and his 92 in 2012-13.
- It is the first time in program history that UNC has swept the Montana schools in a season. This is the second straight season Northern Colorado won at both Montana and Montana State.
- The Bears had 18 assists on 26 made baskets, six different players recorded an assist.
Around the Big Sky
Eastern Washington wrapped up the outright Big Sky Regular Season Championship with a 78-69 win over Weber State.
What's Ahead
Northern Colorado enters the Big Sky Tournament as the No. 2 seed for the second straight season. UNC's first game will come against the winner of the 7-10 game on Thursday, March 12 at 5:30 pm inside Century Link Arena in Boise, Idaho.
To stay up to date on all things UNC men's basketball, visit UNCBears.com and follow the team on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Team Stats
UNC
MSU
FG%
.448
.423
3FG%
.516
.182
FT%
.500
.750
RB
36
34
TO
8
10
STL
4
2
Game Leaders
Pts
24
FGM
7
3FGM
7
FTM
3
Pts
21
FGM
8
3FGM
5
FTM
0
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
F
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