PREVIEW: Northern Colorado Opens Starch Madness Against Montana Monday

Monday, March 9

Boise, Idaho

5:30 p.m. MST

University of Northern Colorado

Montana

Photo by: Jesus Ayala, UNC Athletics

3/6/2026 2:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Brooke Richards, Director of Strategic Communications

GREELEY, Colo. – The Bears open postseason play Monday evening as the they face Montana in the third round of the 2026 Big Sky Men's Basketball Championships at Idaho Central Arena in Boise, Idaho. Tipoff between the No. 5 seeded Bears and No. 4 Grizzlies is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. MT, marking the third meeting between the teams this season. UNC enters the tournament with momentum after closing the regular season with a decisive win over Montana, while both teams finished tied in the conference standings at 10-8.

LAST TIME OUT: Northern Colorado closed the regular season with an 85-57 win over Montana at Bank of Colorado Arena, using a dominant second half to pull away after leading 27-23 at halftime. The Bears scored 58 points after the break while shooting 66.7 percent from the field, stretching the lead to as many as 29 points. Quinn Denker finished with 16 points, four assists and seven rebounds while breaking the program's single-season assists record as UNC also set a new team record for assists in a season. Zach Bloch and Ring Nyeri each added 16 and 15 points, respectively, as the Bears improved to 20-11 overall and 10-8 in Big Sky play entering the conference tournament.

STARCH MADNESS: Northern Colorado enters the 2026 Big Sky Men's Basketball Championships as the No. 5 seed after finishing the regular season 10-8 in conference play. The Bears were part of a three-way tie with Montana and Weber State, with the final seeding determined by the league's tiebreaker procedures. All three teams finished 2-2 against each other, sending the decision to records against the highest-seeded teams in the standings. Montana secured the No. 4 seed with a 2-0 mark against regular season champion Portland State, while Northern Colorado earned the No. 5 seed after splitting its two meetings with the Vikings. Weber State, which went 0-2 against Portland State, was placed sixth.

The Bears will open tournament play on Monday, March 9, facing No. 4 Montana in the third round at 5:30 p.m. MT at Idaho Central Arena in Boise, Idaho. The winner will advance to the semifinals on Tuesday, March 10, to face the winner of No. 1 Portland State and the first-round winner between No. 9 Idaho State and No. 10 Northern Arizona.

The 2026 Big Sky Basketball Championships will take place March 7–11 at Idaho Central Arena, with all 10 conference teams competing in the single-elimination tournament. All games will stream on ESPN+, while the men's and women's championship games will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks. The tournament champions will receive the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship.

RECORD WATCH: Brock Wisne moved into 9th place on UNC's all-time scoring list with 1,398 career points and now sits fifth in program history in field goals made with 581.

Zach Bloch continues to make steady progress across multiple career categories, ranking seventh all-time at UNC in three-pointers made (201) and sixth in three-point attempts (512), while sitting in a tie for first in games played with 132, just one game shy of holding the program record. Bloch also has 101 career steals, 12 away from cracking the all-time top 10, and is closing in on single-season marks as well, sitting in fourth in made three's with 91 and is one steal shy of the season top 10.

Quinn Denker remains one of the most productive playmakers in program history, breaking UNC's single-season assists list with 203 in Monday nights game.

As a team, the 2025-26 squad broke the programs single season record of 506, set by the 2024-25 team. The team has 515 assists and counting.

NATIONAL & CONFERENCE RANKINGS SNAPSHOT (Through March 5, 2026):
Northern Colorado continues to rank among the most efficient offensive teams in the Big Sky while maintaining strong national positioning across several statistical categories. The Bears rank 52nd nationally and first in the conference in scoring offense at 82.3 points per game, while also sitting 44th nationally and first in assists per game at 16.6. UNC's ball movement remains a defining strength, ranking 54th nationally and first in the Big Sky in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.50). Their efficiency is further reflected in an 18th national ranking and conference-best .570 effective field-goal percentage, along with a 25th national ranking and first in the league in overall field-goal percentage (49.2).

On the glass, the Bears rank 51st nationally and first in the conference in rebound margin (+4.9), while also sitting 28th nationally and second in defensive rebounds per game (27.35). Defensively on the perimeter, UNC ranks 21st nationally and first in the Big Sky in three-point percentage defense (29.9), highlighting their ability to limit opponent efficiency from beyond the arc.

Individually, Quinn Denker continues to be one of the nation's top point guards, ranking seventh nationally and first in the Big Sky in assists per game (7.0) while also sitting 10th nationally in total assists (203). He also leads the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.99 and ranks third in the Big Sky in scoring at 18.9 points per game.

Brock Wisne ranks first in the conference and 42nd nationally in field-goal percentage at 56.8 while also leading the league in total field goals made with 200. He ranks eighth in the Big Sky in scoring at 16.3 points per game and seventh in rebounding at 6.3 per contest.

Zach Bloch continues to lead Northern Colorado's perimeter attack, ranking 11th nationally and first in the conference in three-point percentage (43.3). He also leads the Big Sky in both total three-pointers made (91) and three-pointers per game (2.94), providing consistent spacing for the Bears' offense.

POSTSEASON AWARDS: Northern Colorado placed three players on the 2025–26 Big Sky All-Conference teams, highlighted by Quinn Denker earning unanimous First Team honors. Denker averaged 18.9 points and a conference-leading 7.0 assists per game while shooting 49.1 percent from the field, finishing the regular season with 547 points and 203 assists as the leader of the Bears' offense. Brock Wisne was named to the All-Big Sky Second Team after averaging 16.3 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 56.8 percent from the floor, providing a consistent interior presence. Zach Bloch rounded out the honors with a selection to the Big Sky All-Defensive Team, starting all 31 games while averaging 11.6 points and adding 44 steals and 72 assists.

BEARS IN THE BIG SKY TOURNAMENT: Northern Colorado has made several notable runs in the Big Sky Men's Basketball Championship, including a conference title in 2011, though that victory was later vacated due to NCAA violations. The Bears have reached the championship game twice in the Division I era, most recently in 2025 when they advanced as the No. 1 seed with wins over Weber State and Montana State before falling to Montana, 91-83, in the title game. Northern Colorado has also reached the championship game in 2022, finishing as runner-up after a run to the final against Montana State. In recent appearances, the Bears advanced to the semifinals in both 2025 and 2022 and reached the semifinals in 2018 after defeating Northern Arizona and Weber State before falling to Montana in overtime.

SCOUTING THE GRIZZLIES: Montana enters the matchup at 16-15 overall and 10-8 in Big Sky play after falling to Northern Colorado 85-57 in the regular-season finale. The Grizzlies are 11-6 at Dahlberg Arena this season and 5-9 on the road. Offensively, Montana averages 77.1 points per game while shooting 49.0 percent from the floor and 35.8 percent from three-point range, while converting 76.8 percent of its free throws and averaging 15.3 made free throws per contest. The Grizzlies also average 15.3 assists per game with a +3.0 scoring margin but carry a negative turnover margin (-2.9) and allow 74.1 points per game.

Money Williams leads the Grizzlies with 19.6 points per game while adding 4.2 rebounds and 155 assists on the year. Te'Jon Sawyer provides 11.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game while shooting 58.5 percent from the field, and Tyler Thompson adds 8.5 points per contest while leading Montana from the perimeter with 65 three-pointers at a 40.4 percent clip.

SERIES HISTORY: Montana leads the all-time series 27-17 dating back to Jan. 27, 2007. The teams have split the two meetings this season, with the Grizzlies winning 88-79 in Missoula on Jan. 3 before Northern Colorado responded with an 85-57 victory in Greeley on March 2. The Bears have a one game advantage in the last 10 meetings (6-4) dating back to Dec. 4, 2021, with several tight finishes in recent seasons, including UNC's 98-92 overtime win in Missoula (Jan. 11, 2024) and an 81-57 victory in Greeley on Jan. 11, 2025, underscoring the competitive nature of the matchup in recent years.

BUT TICKETS FOR STARCH MADNESS: The 2026 Big Sky Men's & Women's Basketball Championships will be held March 7-11 at Idaho Central Arena in Boise, Idaho. For the 11th consecutive season, all Big Sky member institutions will compete in the conference tournament, with 10 teams participating on both the men's and women's sides.
Tournament champions will earn automatic berths to the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship. All games will stream on ESPN+, with both championship games airing on the ESPN family of networks.

FOLLOW THE BEARS: Fans can follow and stay up to date on all the Bear action at uncbears.com and on social media. Follow the Bears on X (formerly Twitter) (@UNC_BearsMBB), Instagram (@UNC_BearsMBB), and Facebook (/UNCBearsMBB).