We looked at NAU's stunner over Arizona State, but a brief look at the other action in the Big Sky yesterday.
Northern Colorado went to Marquette and predictably lost 93-72, but there were a couple of bright spots for the Bears. First was guard sophomore Tate Unruh, who scored a career high 25 points to lead the team. He was 10/18 from the floor and hit five from downtown, showing his excellent shooting range. Early in the year it looked like Paul Garnica was morphing into "The Guy" for the Bears, but Unruh has really come on. He has one of the purest strokes in the conference, and is becoming a heck of a player for UNC.
Another bright spot was freshman Tim Huskisson, who continued his strong play. I ranked him as the 4th best freshmen in the conference so far, but he is trying to move up the list. He scored 17 points in 20 minutes for the Bears (including 10/11 from the line), and is one of the big reasons why the future is bright for the Bears even with their struggles this season.
UNC lost to Marquette, but that is an understandable loss. Marquette is a real good team and will win a lot of games. But BJ Hill still has to be happy with a few bright spots coming from this game, most notably Unruh and Huskisson.
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The other Big Sky game on Saturday featured Montana taking on Portland. The Grizzlies hadn't played since their loss to Nevada, but they came out with fresh legs in this one, winning 80-65 on the road. The big thing was that the Grizzlies three best guys all came to play in this game.
Derek Selvig had 15 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks in this game, showing a nice inside game both on the glass and defensively, which is huge for this team. No matter how many points he scores, if he can rebound and be a factor down low defensively, it will be successful for him. Will Cherry did not shoot the ball particularly well, but he had a nice all-around impact. He finished with 20 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals.
The other star is Kareem Jamar, who finished with 15 points and 7 assists. He has really become a great playmaker for them, and in my mind is the biggest reason the Grizzlies probably should still be seen as the second best team in the Big Sky. The Grizzlies made 9 threes compared to 2 for the Pilots, and got 20 more attempts from the FT line, which was the difference in this one.
Any other thoughts on these two games?
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