Northern Colorado at Idaho State pregame

Northern Colorado at Idaho State

Thursday, 7:05 p.m.

Holt Arena

Radio — 930 CBS Sports Radio or Rock 102.5
Web — isubengals.com (live stats)
Free live video stream — watchbigsky.com
Records — Idaho State is 7-12 and 4-6 in the Big Sky. Northern Colorado is 13-6 overall and 7-3 in the conference.
Series — Idaho State leads 33-19
Last outing — Idaho State lost at Northern Arizona 67-65. On the road, Northern Colorado dropped a 94-90 decision in overtime to Eastern Washington.
Up next — Idaho State hosts North Dakota Saturday.

Probable starters
Northern Colorado:
F Derrick Barden, 6-5, Sr., 13.7 ppg
C Connor Osborne, 6-9, Sr., 3.8 ppg
G Jordan Wilson, 5-7, Fr., 6.7 ppg
G Tate Unruh, 6-4, Sr., 11.8 ppg
G Tim Huskisson, 6-5, Jr., 12.2 ppg

Idaho State:
G/F Chris Hansen, 6-4, Jr. 17.1 ppg
F Jeffrey Solarin, 6-4, Jr. 9.2 ppg
C Avibakuro Preh, 6-9, Sr. 2.9 ppg
G Andre Hatchett, 6-4, Sr. 14.8 ppg
G Tomas Sanchez, 6-3, Sr. 14.7 ppg

Game notes: Idaho State, Northern Colorado

Here's the Journal's game preview.

Check out this story on ISU's Ben Wilson, a junior guard ruled ineligible by the NCAA for most of the season. Last week, the decision was reversed. 

Interesting quotes from ISU basketball this week

- Head coach Bill Evans on Ben Wilson and what he will provide to ISU basketball starting next season.

“He brings a high skill level for a big kid. Very, very skilled as a dribbler, passer. I think he brings a toughness. I think he’s a good defender. I think he’s a good teammate.”

“He is a positive guy. He’s vocal."

- Evan addressing the fact that losing is tough, really tough 

"When you put as much effort into doing things as we do, and we’re not successful, it hurts. It doesn’t make you feel good. 

“This is the only profession in the world that a guy feels like this, I would think.”

- Evans answering whether he was more disappointed with the first half last week against Sacramento State (the Hornets blew out the Bengals the first 20 minutes) or the second half against Northern Arizona (the Lumberjacks used a 13-0 run to get back into the game).

“Oh, the first half. … We didn’t play with the focus and maybe the determination that we have played with in almost every game this year. … It did disappoint me.”

- Here's senior point guard Tomas Sanchez addressing the same question.

“They’re both equally frustrating. They’re different. First half against Sac, it felt like we couldn’t get a stop. We couldn’t. They were hitting everything. We gave them too many open looks and then to come back and be right in there at the end, it showed some toughness by us but we should have never been in that position.

“And then against Northern Arizona, same thing. I feel like we played 30, 32, 35 minutes of really good basketball. We had a stretch where we couldn’t score. They went on that run and came back into the game. Then, of course, they ended up making that last bucket. So, I mean, they both hurt just as bad. I can’t say one hurts more than the other.

“The fact is, we lost both games and we can’t have that.”