MISSOULA — It’s going to be a packed house at Dahlberg Arena on Saturday for the second Brawl of the Wild doubleheader matchup between the Montana and Montana State men's and women's basketball teams.
Last month, the Bobcats won both games in Bozeman. But since then all four teams are in a different place from earlier in the season.
WATCH THE VIDEO:
In the men’s game, the winner will take control of second place in the Big Sky standings.
“Right now you're playing for the extra bye,” Montana coach Travis Decuire said. “If you can control an opportunity to be in Boise (for the conference tournament) and not have to win three days in a row, it could be huge for us.
“So right now we're trying to own that spot. But at the end of the day, it's still one game and it's one day at a time.
Although the Bobcats took the first matchup against the Griz, the lineup will look different from the first matchup with Davian Brown out of the lineup with a season-ending injury.
Brown led both teams in scoring in the last matchup with 24 points, but Bobcat coach Matt Logie says the remaining players need to step up.
“You know, this team has never been designed around one leading scorer or even two leading scorers,” Logie said. “We've had a lot of different guys step up and hit double figures at multiple times this year. So, that's who we are. That's who we'll continue to be.”
In the women’s matchup, Montana State is sitting in second place behind Idaho.
The Bobcats' lone two conference losses have come on the road, and they expect their rivals to play them tough in Missoula.
Montana State guard Brianne Bailey spoke on the importance of winning on the road coming up.
“These last couple of road trips, I know we've, like I said, struggled a little bit, but I think we're really looking forward to embracing these next road trips,” Bailey said. “Especially where we're going to be more on the road at the end of the season.”
After losing to the Bobcats, the Lady Griz pulled off four wins in a row but are again currently on a slide with three straight losses.
Lady Griz coach Nate Harris hopes a win against their rival can get Montana back on track in time for the postseason.
