It's the most difficult road trip in the Big Sky Conference, and will be even more demanding thanks to recent changes in the league. But nevertheless, the Weber State Wildcats are anxious for what lies ahead.
The first-place Wildcats (14-7, 8-1 Big Sky) take on one of the hottest teams in the league as they visit the Montana Grizzlies. Since losing to WSU in Ogden last month, the Grizzlies (15-7, 6-4 Big Sky) have won five of their last six games, including an eye-raising victory at Northern Colorado.
No other team, including WSU, has beaten the Bears in Greeley, Colo., this season.
"To go down to Greeley and get a win, obviously we weren't able to do it or even close, was an impressive victory on their part," said WSU forward Kyle Bullinger. "We have our hands full, it's always tough to play there, but we're excited."
Two days following its win over the Bears, Montana picked up another huge road win by beating Northern Arizona. The Lumberjacks had won four in a row, another streak started following a loss to WSU.
"It was one of the more impressive wins of the year," WSU coach Randy Rahe about Montana's win over Northern Colorado. "Then they just carried it over and just flat out beat the heck out of (NAU) in the second half."
Tonight's game presents a huge challenge in itself, but the difficult weekend continues as the Wildcats will take a three-hour bus ride to Bozeman immediately after the game. WSU plays at Montana State (11-10, 6-4) on Saturday night as part of the Big Sky's attempt to play more back-to-back games.
Regardless, that the back-to-back idea has not been well-received by the coaches since it's not equal -- Montana plays no back-to-back games on the road and has all three of its league two-game homestands on consecutive nights -- there's nothing the Wildcats can do but play the league schedule that they were given.
"Playing back-to-back just increases the difficulty of the trip, but we're excited about it," Rahe said. "One thing we always talk about is how we embrace the challenge, and we know it is a great challenge. We're going to go up there and play hard and play tough and play together and see what happens."
WSU won in both Missoula and Bozeman the last two seasons. Bullinger remembers making the trip here as a redshirt to watch the team win, and then contributing last season as the Wildcats. Having seen those victories, Bullinger said it's no secret what it will take to get a win tonight.
"It's going to take a lot of team unity and an overall team effort especially on defense," Bullinger said. "On the road sometimes you can't control how your shots fall, but you can control how hard you play defense and that's what we've got to focus on."
Montana guard Anthony Johnson is averaging 17.3 points per game and freshman guard Will Cherry set a career-high in points with 17 against the Wildcats earlier in the season.
Stopping those two will be important for the Wildcats tonight.
"Our toughness has to be at an all-time high, and maybe have our best weekend of defending and rebounding," Rahe said. "You can't go up to somebody else's home court and let them shoot 50 percent and think you'll win. You've got to out rebound them and defend the heck out of them, and if you do those two things you might be in a position to win."
The first-place Wildcats (14-7, 8-1 Big Sky) take on one of the hottest teams in the league as they visit the Montana Grizzlies. Since losing to WSU in Ogden last month, the Grizzlies (15-7, 6-4 Big Sky) have won five of their last six games, including an eye-raising victory at Northern Colorado.
No other team, including WSU, has beaten the Bears in Greeley, Colo., this season.
"To go down to Greeley and get a win, obviously we weren't able to do it or even close, was an impressive victory on their part," said WSU forward Kyle Bullinger. "We have our hands full, it's always tough to play there, but we're excited."
Two days following its win over the Bears, Montana picked up another huge road win by beating Northern Arizona. The Lumberjacks had won four in a row, another streak started following a loss to WSU.
"It was one of the more impressive wins of the year," WSU coach Randy Rahe about Montana's win over Northern Colorado. "Then they just carried it over and just flat out beat the heck out of (NAU) in the second half."
Tonight's game presents a huge challenge in itself, but the difficult weekend continues as the Wildcats will take a three-hour bus ride to Bozeman immediately after the game. WSU plays at Montana State (11-10, 6-4) on Saturday night as part of the Big Sky's attempt to play more back-to-back games.
Regardless, that the back-to-back idea has not been well-received by the coaches since it's not equal -- Montana plays no back-to-back games on the road and has all three of its league two-game homestands on consecutive nights -- there's nothing the Wildcats can do but play the league schedule that they were given.
"Playing back-to-back just increases the difficulty of the trip, but we're excited about it," Rahe said. "One thing we always talk about is how we embrace the challenge, and we know it is a great challenge. We're going to go up there and play hard and play tough and play together and see what happens."
WSU won in both Missoula and Bozeman the last two seasons. Bullinger remembers making the trip here as a redshirt to watch the team win, and then contributing last season as the Wildcats. Having seen those victories, Bullinger said it's no secret what it will take to get a win tonight.
"It's going to take a lot of team unity and an overall team effort especially on defense," Bullinger said. "On the road sometimes you can't control how your shots fall, but you can control how hard you play defense and that's what we've got to focus on."
Montana guard Anthony Johnson is averaging 17.3 points per game and freshman guard Will Cherry set a career-high in points with 17 against the Wildcats earlier in the season.
Stopping those two will be important for the Wildcats tonight.
"Our toughness has to be at an all-time high, and maybe have our best weekend of defending and rebounding," Rahe said. "You can't go up to somebody else's home court and let them shoot 50 percent and think you'll win. You've got to out rebound them and defend the heck out of them, and if you do those two things you might be in a position to win."
