Game times local to site/subject to change

THIS WEEK’S SKY HIGHLIGHTS

Northern Colorado will try to extend its winning streak to eight games when it travels to Weber State on Saturday, a game that highlight’s this week’s seven-game schedule. The game will air live on Altitude Sports & Entertainment. The squads will be meeting for the second time in a week. Northern Colorado topped Weber State 65-46 in Greeley last Saturday…Montana and Montana State will also square off for the second time in a week. The Grizzlies (7-1) topped Montana State 75-61 in Missoula last Saturday…Montana State plays at Idaho State on Monday…On Thursday, Idaho State is at Sacramento State, and Portland State is at Eastern Washington…On Saturday, Sacramento State travels to Portland State, while Idaho State is at Eastern Washington…All seven games can be seen for free on Big Sky TV.

AROUND THE BIG SKY

STILL PERFECT: Northern Colorado moved to 7-0 in conference with victories over Sacramento State and Weber State last week. The Bears are 7-0 in conference for the first time since 1960. The Bears are just the third Big Sky team to start conference play with seven straight victories since the 2001-02 season. Weber State went 14-0 in 2002-03. Northern Arizona started 8-0 in 2005-06 and finished 12-2. Montana State started 6-0 in 2001-02, while Eastern Washington started 6-0 in 2002-03. Eastern Washington is the only team in that span to start conference play with at least six wins and not win the regular-season title. Northern Colorado’s current seven-game winning streak is tied for the 10th longest active streak in the nation. The Bears have won seven in a row two consecutive years. UNC started the 2009-10 season with seven straight wins. Last week, Northern Colorado beat Sacramento State on the road 77-72, and topped Weber State at home 55-46. B.J. Hill’s Bears are 7-0 at Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion this season 19-2 over the past two seasons at home. A major reason for the Bears’ conference success has been defense. The Bears are allowing a league-low 56.7 points per game in conference play. The Bears are allowing league opponents to shoot just 37.2 percent from the floor and 29.9 percent from 3-point range, both tops in the league. NC also leads the league in conference play in rebounding margin (+4.9) and steals (6.7 per game).

QVALE SETS BLOCK RECORD: Montana senior Brian Qvale became the Big Sky’s all-time leader in career blocks, when he swatted a shot with 15:59 remaining the in first half of the Grizzlies’ 75-65 win at Idaho State. It was the 213th block of his career, surpassing former Griz Daren Engellant as the Big Sky’s all-time leader. Qvale picked up four blocks over the weekend, giving him 216 for his career. Engellant held the record for nearly 20 years. He finished his career in 1992. Qvale ranks ninth in the nation in blocks per game with an average of 3.2. Through 20 games, he has 64 blocks, which already ranks 13th in Big Sky single-season history. Qvale is on pace to break the single-season record of 93 blocks set by Idaho State’s Slim Millien in 2005-06.

BIG SKY IN THE RPI: The Big Sky moved up one spot to 26th among the Division I conference in this week’s RPI Report. The Big Sky is now just behind the Patriot League and just ahead of the Sun Belt. Montana, which has won five straight games, moved up 22 spots to 98th. Northern Colorado moved up five spots to 133. Montana State jumped 15 spots to 180. Weber State is at 192, while Northern Arizona is at 199. The Big East is the top conference, followed by the Big Ten, Big 12 and Mountain West. BYU has moved to the No. 1 spot in RPI. Kansas is second, followed by UConn, San Diego State and Pittsburgh.

IN THE NCAA RANKINGS: For the second straight week, Northern Arizona leads the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage. The Lumberjacks are converting 44.7 percent of their 3-pointers. NAU sophomore Gabe Rogers is second in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage at 49.5 percent. NAU also ranks sixth in the field-goal percentage (49.4 percent).Northern Colorado is seventh in 3-point field-goal percentage (41.5 percent). Northern Colorado’s Devon Beitzel is eighth in free-throw shooting (92.2 percent). Montana’s Will Cherry is sixth in steals (3.1 per game). UM’s Brian Qvale is ninth in blocks (3.2 per game). NAU’s Stallon Saldivar is fourth in assist/turnover ratio (3.48). Northern Arizona’s Cameron Jones has moved into the top 20 in scoring with an average of 20.2 per game.

BEARS, WILDCATS ON ALTITUDE: Northern Colorado puts its 7-0 conference mark on the line Saturday when it travels to face Weber State in the Altitude Big Sky Game of the Week. Rich Winter and Jay McMillian will provide the call. Northern Colorado beat Weber State 65-46 last Saturday in Greeley. Northern Colorado has never won in the Dee Events Center. This is the first time a regular-season game has been televised by Altitude out of the Dee Events Center. The game will also air live on Comcast Sports Net Northwest.

Tip ins: Portland State’s Chris Harriel had his string of 16 straight double-figure scoring games halted on Saturday when he scored eight in a loss to NAU…Northern Colorado’s Devon Beitzel had his string of double-figure scoring games stopped at 14 when he scored five in a win over Weber State. Montana’s Will Cherry now has the longest active streak of double-figure scoring games with 12…Home teams won five of eight conference games last week. Home teams have won 23 of the 32 conference games…EWU snapped a five-game losing streak with a 72-59 win over Northern Arizona…Sacramento State halted a nine-game losing streak with a 57-55 over Eastern Washington…Montana’s Brian Qvale has four straight double-doubles...The pairings for this year’s ESPN BracketBusters will be announced next week. All nine Big Sky teams are in the BracketBusters pool...PSU’s Chehales Tapscott is expected to miss at least three weeks with a knee injury. Tapscott sustained the injury Thursday against Weber State...Montana State’s Erik Rush needs 20 points to reach 1,000 for this career...Weber State’s Scott Bamforth hit 11-of-15 3-point shots last week, including 6-of-7 vs. Portland State...