Idaho, Montana State meet in Big Sky tourney

No. 11 seed Idaho (5-26, 2-18) vs. No. 6 seed Montana State (14-16, 11-9)

Big Sky Conference Tourney First Round, CenturyLink Arena, Boise, Idaho; Wednesday, 3:30 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Idaho is set to take on Montana State in the first round of the Big Sky tournament. In the regular season, Montana State won both of the head-to-head matchups. The teams last played on Feb. 9, when the Bobcats outshot Idaho 54 percent to 50.9 percent and hit 22 more foul shots on the way to the 14-point victory.

STEPPING UP: Montana State’s Tyler Hall has averaged 20.5 points and 4.5 rebounds while Harald Frey has put up 17.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and five assists. For the Vandals, Trevon Allen has averaged 13.8 points and 4.1 rebounds while Jared Rodriguez has put up 11 points and 6.5 rebounds.

FACILITATING THE OFFENSE: Hall has been directly responsible for 47 percent of all Montana State field goals over the last three games. The senior guard has 28 field goals and nine assists in those games.

WINLESS WHEN: Montana State is 0-6 this year when it scores 68 points or fewer and 14-10 when it scores at least 69.

ASSIST-TO-FG RATIO: The Bobcats have recently converted buckets via assists more often than the Vandals. Montana State has 45 assists on 79 field goals (57 percent) over its previous three outings while Idaho has assists on 40 of 74 field goals (54.1 percent) during its past three games.

DID YOU KNOW: Montana State is rated second among Big Sky teams with an average of 78.1 points per game. The Bobcats have averaged 81.8 points per game against conference opponents.