The UNC Bears men’s basketball team has work to do.
Heading into the second weekend of Big Sky Conference play, UNC finds itself in an 0-2 hole. It’s a start Bears head coach Steve Smiley didn’t see happening.
“I’m a little bit surprised,” Smiley said. “But at the same time watching the games, we did not play well enough to deserve to win, and we’ve got to play better.”
UNC, 10-5 overall, lost its first two conference games last weekend in Montana against Montana State and the University of Montana — after a mostly promising nonconference season. The highlight of the nonconference schedule was a win over the University of Colorado for the first time since 1935.
This weekend, the Bears start the home portion of their Big Sky schedule. UNC hosts Idaho State on Thursday and Weber State on Saturday. Both games begin at 6 p.m. at Bank of Colorado Arena.
UNC started the season with its eyes on Big Sky titles. Picked to finish third in two preseason polls, the Bears still see themselves as contenders for a regular-season title and the ultimate prize: the conference tournament title that comes with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Through Jan. 4, the Bears are averaging 85.5 points per game which is first in the Big Sky and 55th nationally.
Smiley, in his sixth season as head coach, needs one win for 100 at UNC.
“We’ve been able to handle some success pretty well,” he said this week. “Now can we handle some failure as well?”
There’s been a pattern in UNC’s losses. The Bears have been giving up a lot of points lately to opposing guards. Montana’s Money Williams — the conference preseason MVP — scored all 31 of his points in the second half last Saturday. Montana State’s backcourt of Jed Miller and Davian Brown combined for 42 points in the Bobcats’ win on New Year’s night. Miller’s 24 were a career high.
In the second to last nonconference game in early December, University of Denver guard Zane Nelson went for a season-high 32 points in win over the Bears in Greeley.
“It’s on my mind as well,” Smiley said. “That is a concerning thing.”
Northern Colorado Bears guard Vincent Delano (1) loses control of the ball during a college basketball game at Bank of Colorado Arena on the campus of the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (Brice Tucker/Staff Photographer)
Smiley said the problems with the defense in those situations came not from one-on-one guarding of those scorers, but from scout mistakes — errors in a phase of the game that the Bears worked on to prepare for an opponent. At times, teams have a couple of days to prepare before a game.
Smiley said UNC had more scout mistakes against Montana State and Montana than the team likely had all year. There were 11 or 12 scout mistakes against Montana State, leading to about 22 points for the Bobcats, Smiley said.
“When you make a scout mistake, it’s a disaster because it’s only a scout mistake with something we’ve worked on,” Smily said. “We’re only working on the stuff that’s going to beat us, right? So when you make those mistakes, it usually turns out all bad.”