BOISE, Idaho — Only two seniors in the Big Sky Conference have never lost a league tournament game. And both Sam Lecholat and Tyler Patterson play for Montana State.
Only a handful of players in the league have experienced Big Sky Tournament rigors at all. That’s the reality in today’s world of transfer portaling and roster turnover. Take Montana State’s opponent Monday evening in Boise, the Idaho State Bengals. They had 13 new players on their roster entering the season and all but one of their players made its Big Sky Tournament debut in Monday’s 80-60 loss the Bobcats.
Or take Montana, the co-champions of the regular season and the No. 2 seed in the tournament. The Grizzlies have nine new faces on their roster compared to last year’s squad that rode six seniors to the conference championship game before losing to MSU.
The Bobcats have plenty of new faces as well. Even a player like Patrick McMahon, who’s been one of MSU’s most consistent and solid performers the last two months, is new to the Big Sky Tournament after missing the last two with injuries.
You can point to example after example of roster overturn throughout the Big Sky, which makes players like Lecholat and Patterson the rarest of rare among their contemporaries. Then you through in that Monday’s win was the 10th straight Big Sky Tournament for the Montana State program and literally no duo has a conference tournament resume like the MSU seniors.
“I think it’s 10 straight games they have won in the conference tournament and experience goes a long way,” Idaho State head coach Ryan Looney said. “To have guys like Patterson and Lecholat, those guys have not lost a conference tournament game. It feels like they have been on that team ever since I’ve been coaching at Montana State. Those experiences are more valuable than anything that you could have at this stage in the season.
“Experience and confidence are two huge things and they definitely had more than we did tonight.”
Patterson, a 6-foot-8 swingman from Mount Si, Washington, was a part-time starter on Danny Sprinkle’s first great team in the 2020-2021 season. That Bobcat team went to the Big Sky championship game before losing to Eastern Washington. That loss in March of 2021 is the only Big Sky Tournament loss of Patterson’s career and the last time the Bobcats fell at this tournament in Boise.
The following two seasons, Patterson was a starter and a sharpshooter for one of the most talented Big Sky teams of the modern era. He proved to be a perfect wing man for stars like Raequan Battle, Jubrile Belo, Great Osobor and Darius Brown II.
That core helped Montana State run through the league and the tournament two years in a row, advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1996 and the third time in school history in 2022, then returning to the Big Dance in 2023.
Following Montana State’s close call against Kansas State in the 2023 NCAA Tourney, Sprinkle parlayed his meteoric rise to land the head coaching job at Utah State. That caused an exodus of Bobcat players. Osobor and Brown went with Sprinkle to Logan. Battle transferred to West Virginia.
Matt Logie was the last Division I men’s basketball coach hired when he took over in May of 2023. He inherited a roster that included just four players, including Patterson and Lecholat.
“What’s kept me is the love for Bozeman and the two coaches I’ve played for have been extremely good,” said Patterson, who surpassed 1,000 career points earlier this season and is the Big Sky’s all-time leader in games played at 158 and counting. “Sprinkle was amazing and when Logie came in, their vision for the program was excellent and made me want to stay.
“But it is crazy and it’s only going to get more extreme with all the turnover on every roster every year. It’s been crazy to see the levels that people come into the Big Sky from and it’s also crazy to see the places they transfer too and succeed and play at such a high level. It gives the Big Sky representation.”
Last year was an up-and-down rebuild as the returners adjusted to Logie’s staff and the collection of newcomers tried to mesh. The Bobcats found their stride down the stretch, winning four of six before the tournament, then catching fire like few teams ever have during last year’s Big Sky Tournament.
The Bobcats made 11 straight shots against Weber State in the quarterfinals to send future NBA first-round draft pick Dillon Jones packing. After outlasting Sac State in the semis, the Bobcats avalanched the rival Montana Griz, using an unbelievable second half run to bury UM and give Logie his first win over the rival.
It also put the Bobcats into the Big Dance for the third year in a row, marking the first time in league history a team has won three straight Big Sky Tournaments.
“The one thing that is unique about our program is there is only one team that has a player on it that has ever won the championship, and we have a number of them, including these two guys who have won all three,” Logie said when asked about Patterson and Lecholat.” That experience factor is very valuable. But you don’t get points for that when the ball tips off.
“As the stakes rise, the pressure becomes palpable. We have a lot of guys who understand what pressure means and they understand that’s opportunity.”
Lecholat came to Montana State as a two-time Wyoming Gatorade Player of the Year from Sheridan. The 6-foot-7 hustle machine has filled all sorts of different roles for Montana State over the years, serving sometimes as the rim protector, others as the spark off the bench and others as the team’s glue guy.
Like he has the last two years, Lecholat is coming on strong down the stretch. In MSU’s beat down of Idaho State, Lecholat scored a season-high 13 points and grabbed six rebounds.
“In this world, we always have so many new guys, and it’s difficult at first because you don’t know anybody and throughout a season, you can learn a lot about your new teammates,” Lecholat said. “Throughout this season, we have been slowly progressing with how we have come together.
“Last year, we were at this exact same point. There was this moment when it just flashed and we all got on that same page. You can never be worried about it. Hopefully, we can find that flash this week.”
It’s safe to say Montana State found its flash. The Bobcats shot 65 percent against Idaho State. At one point, MSU hit 29 of its first 40 shots.
“You have to credit the culture of our program,” Logie said after his fourth conference tournament win in four games as the MSU head coach. “These guys have been a part of lot of success. And they have trusted our coaching staff from the time we got there and they have continued to build our foundation and our identity. This year had its ups and downs. We grew from all those experiences. It make us come together. It challenged us to get better.
“Ultimately, this is the week that matters the most and we have a really hungry group on our hands because we all came into this with high expectations for the entire season. the lack of some of that consistent earlier success has driven us to finish well and take advantage of all these opportunities.”
That culture has been not only solidified but upheld by a pair of no-nonsense, steady seniors who continue to be the two toughest men to beat in Boise.
Logie’s slick motion offense is a thing of beauty when it’s humming along. The Bobcats will be tough to beat any night they shoot 65 percent. But it’s the intangible element that has many around Idaho Central Arena this week wondering if the fifth-seeded Bobcats are once again the team to beat here in Boise.
“This is a program that has proven it belongs as a championship contender and obviously coming off three straight championships, this group has a ton of experience,” Logie said. “I think experience leads to confidence and this is where we expect to be at the end of the year. This is a program that has championship aspirations and more. This is something all these guys have signed up for.
“And the thing I think has gone under discussed is the challenge it is and the responsibility it is to jump into a situation that is really performing at a high level for a long time. The pressure and expectations that these guys have taken on, especially the guys who decided to join us this last year or two, that takes a lot of courage and I have a lot of pride with the way they have stepped up to the traditions of our alumni and previous coaching staff and players that have created this opportunity for us.”
