The Yellowjackets men's basketball program has been at the forefront of the MSU Billings sports offerings since football was abandoned in the late 1970s.

The program, which rose to prominence during the early 1960s under coach Harry "Mike" Harkins, has lately been competitive within NCAA D–II and while a member of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC).

While Roy McPipe remains the only former player to be drafted by the NBA and play major professional basketball in the United States, many former players including Markus Hallgrimson,[2] Jerett Skrifvars,[3] Titus Warmsley[4] have found pro careers in Europe or in minor leagues in the states.

Head coach Rob Bishop was picked as the GNAC Coach of the Year, as MSUB won 20 of its final 25 conference games and claimed its first-ever conference title with a four-game series sweep of Saint Martin's University on the final weekend of the season.

2015 senior Brody Miller became just the second baseball player in GNAC history to earn GNAC Male Athlete of the Year honors, and he joined MSUB's Bobbi Knudsen (women's basketball) as the only two Yellowjackets to win the conference's top honor for an individual athlete.