Cats get drubbed in season opener

[Eastcoastgriz]

Cats get drubbed in season opener
Special to the Tribune


OREM, Utah — There's a lot of room for improvement.

There were few positives Friday night as the rebuilding Montana State Bobcats and new head coach Brad Huse suffered a 69-37 loss to Utah Valley State in a season-opening men's basketball game.


"This is not the first time I've been on this end of something like this," said Huse, a former MSU assistant and highly successful head coach at NAIA Jamestown (N.D.) who was hired to replace retired Cat coach Mick Durham last spring. "You hope this doesn't happen, but when it does you expect to go back to work and learn from it."

The veteran Wolverines, featuring a host of returners from last year's 16-13 squad, held MSU to 26 percent shooting, including just 2-of-20 from 3-point range, forced 22 Bobcat turnovers, and outrebounded MSU 41-to-34.

"You can't turn the ball over and give yourself a chance," said Huse, whose team played without starting junior guard Carlos Taylor (concussion). "We wanted to get the ball inside to Ted (Morris), but we didn't handle their pressure well. Give Utah Valley credit, they defended us hard."

The Wolverines, who have lost just four times on their home floor in their three seasons as a Division I institution, took much of the drama out of the game early. UVSC scored the game's first nine points, jumping to a 22-7 lead. From that point, the Bobcats held the Wolverines scoreless for four-and-a-half minutes, but could only score four points themselves in that time.

"I thought we had decent stretches defensively," Huse said. "You just can't expect the defense to bail the offense out all night."

Utah Valley State led 33-18 at halftime and coasted to the victory.

MSU's 22 turnovers eliminated any chance of continuity on the Bobcats' offensive end. Montana State made field goals on two consecutive possessions just three times on the night. Utah Valley had only three stretches on the night with more than three possessions without a basket.

Senior center Ted Morris was the only Bobcat in double-figures scoring, getting 10 points on 5-for-8 shooting. Morris tied junior guard Casey Durham for team honors with nine rebounds, a career-high for Durham.

Jordan Brady scored 14 to lead all scorers, while Ryan Toolson (11) and Chris Bailey (10) each added double-digit scoring efforts for the home team.

The Bobcats' home opener is Monday night against UC Santa Barbara. Tipoff is 7 p.m. at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.

[Hell's Bells]

Cats get drubbed in season opener
Special to the Tribune


OREM, Utah — There's a lot of room for improvement.

There were few positives Friday night as the rebuilding Montana State Bobcats and new head coach Brad Huse suffered a 69-37 loss to Utah Valley State in a season-opening men's basketball game.


"This is not the first time I've been on this end of something like this," said Huse, a former MSU assistant and highly successful head coach at NAIA Jamestown (N.D.) who was hired to replace retired Cat coach Mick Durham last spring. "You hope this doesn't happen, but when it does you expect to go back to work and learn from it."

The veteran Wolverines, featuring a host of returners from last year's 16-13 squad, held MSU to 26 percent shooting, including just 2-of-20 from 3-point range, forced 22 Bobcat turnovers, and outrebounded MSU 41-to-34.

"You can't turn the ball over and give yourself a chance," said Huse, whose team played without starting junior guard Carlos Taylor (concussion). "We wanted to get the ball inside to Ted (Morris), but we didn't handle their pressure well. Give Utah Valley credit, they defended us hard."

The Wolverines, who have lost just four times on their home floor in their three seasons as a Division I institution, took much of the drama out of the game early. UVSC scored the game's first nine points, jumping to a 22-7 lead. From that point, the Bobcats held the Wolverines scoreless for four-and-a-half minutes, but could only score four points themselves in that time.

"I thought we had decent stretches defensively," Huse said. "You just can't expect the defense to bail the offense out all night."

Utah Valley State led 33-18 at halftime and coasted to the victory.

MSU's 22 turnovers eliminated any chance of continuity on the Bobcats' offensive end. Montana State made field goals on two consecutive possessions just three times on the night. Utah Valley had only three stretches on the night with more than three possessions without a basket.

Senior center Ted Morris was the only Bobcat in double-figures scoring, getting 10 points on 5-for-8 shooting. Morris tied junior guard Casey Durham for team honors with nine rebounds, a career-high for Durham.

Jordan Brady scored 14 to lead all scorers, while Ryan Toolson (11) and Chris Bailey (10) each added double-digit scoring efforts for the home team.

The Bobcats' home opener is Monday night against UC Santa Barbara. Tipoff is 7 p.m. at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.

this is not good...not going to be a good year.

[bpcats]

If nothing else (hopefully it won't be that bad) but maybe the men's team will turn out to be like the women's team last year. We have got the right coach. We have got a semi young team. If Huse can get them to compete hard every night and grow as the season progresses we will be alright. We may not have the horses this year to do much, but we better show up to play.

Binford did an excellent job last year of getting the girls to compete night in and night out. I know Huse is up to the task.

[MSU01]

Wow, writing off the season after one game...was '04/'05 really that long ago?

[WYCAT]

Pretty hard not to somewhat "write the season off" after last night. I think everyone was hopeful that we would be a competitive team and finish somwhere around .500 when it ends. A 30+ point loss to a recently JC team doesn't indicate that is where we are headed. I think Huse is a guy who can get it done but it may very well be a long year. Reminds me of a few years ago when the football team was something like 0-11.

[rtb]

Does everyone remember we have a brand new coach with many new players? If you had high hopes for this season, forget those for now and think of how great the future of Bobcat Hoops looks!! We will improve throughout this year, bringing in Howard and Edwards next year, things are still looking up!! This loss doesn't look good, but remember its a new coach, new system, new players. The team won't be awesome instantly, but you can bet Huse will point them in the right direction.

[WYCAT]

Yea I think everyone remembers those things rtb but that was quite a drubbing by a team that shouldn't be THAT much better than us even right now. I, for one, am confident coach Huse feels the same way and is going to get it done but it may take a little longer than we had hoped. I think high hopes for this season, at least for me, were to be competitive and at least "in" most games especially against a team of this caliber and maybe even win a few we shouldn't have. We showed none of that last night. Frustration and disappointment are not out of the question right now.

[Potomac Griz]

I wouldn't give up on the season quite yet... Utah Valley State last year actually wasn't too bad. They were also 10-1 at home against division 1 opponents.

Also, teams can have horrible shooting games and it doesn't mean that it's going to be that way all year. Look at the Griz vs ISU game last year in Idaho. That game was flat out ugly in the 2nd half for the Griz, and they ended up being fine last year

One other thing..where are the box scores on msubobcats.com?

[Hell's Bells]

I wouldn't give up on the season quite yet... Utah Valley State last year actually wasn't too bad. They were also 10-1 at home against division 1 opponents.

Also, teams can have horrible shooting games and it doesn't mean that it's going to be that way all year. Look at the Griz vs ISU game last year in Idaho. That game was flat out ugly in the 2nd half for the Griz, and they ended up being fine last year

One other thing..where are the box scores on msubobcats.com?

i looked up the game at espn.go.com

[GrizinWashington]

Well, that was ugly. But Huse will have his guys improving. Realistically, that should be the goal of the cats this year anyway.

[alasax]

This is going to be a great season to watch the transformation from a run and gun; shoot first pass second; don't rebound...just run to the other end team to a team with skills on both ends of the floor.
One blow out shouldn't trigger the panic button on this team. The last game of the season will be a much better barometer for success.