Griz with key league match-up at Sac State Saturday
1/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Game Notes
THE GAME: The University of Montana Grizzlies (11-8/7-1 BSC) continue Big Sky Conference play, facing the first-place Sacramento State Hornets (14-6/8-1) on Saturday, Jan. 31, in the Nest at Colberg Court, with tip-off at 8:05 p.m. (Mtn.).
UP NEXT? Montana returns home for a pair of key league games, playing Eastern Washington on Thursday, Feb. 5, and Idaho on Saturday, Feb. 7.
RADIO: Veteran Mick Holien calls the action on UM's flagship stations KGVO 1290 AM/ & 101.5 FM, on the Grizzly Radio Network from Learfield Sports.
STREAMING/TV: The UM-Sac game's audio streaming will be on gogriz.com. It will be video streamed on WatchBigSky.com. There is no television coverage.
GRIZ LAST GAME-Montana 73, at Portland State 54: Guard Jordan Gregory scored 15 points and became the 29th player in school history to score 1,000 career points, while forward Martin Breunig had a game-high 23 points to lead UM. It was the Grizzlies' sixth consecutive league win.
GREGORY HITS 1,000 POINTS: Gregory now has 1,000 career points, becoming the 29th player to score 1,000 or more career points at UM.
GRIZ IN NCAAS (as of 1/29/15): Bruenig is ranked 11th in field goal percentage (59.3%) and 56th in scoring (17.8 ppg). Gregory is 28th in three-pointers made per game (2.95) and 74th in scoring (17.3 ppg). Montana is ranked 30th in treys per game (8.2), 42nd in fewest turnovers (224), and 40th in TO margin (2.4).
MONTANA GRIZZLIES (11-8/7-1)---PPG---RPG---MISC.
F-12-Martin Breunig, 6-8, 217, Jr., TR/RS--17.8--6.9--4th/6th in Sky ppg/rpg
F-20-Fabijan Krslovic, 6-8, 240, Fr., HS--4.5--4.7--27 rebs. last 4 games
G-1-Mario Dunn, 6-0, 171, So, 1V--8.3--3.6--4.2 apg & 1.7 stls. pg
G-10-Jordan Gregory, 6-2, 194, Sr., 3V--17.3--2.9--5th in Sky in ppg
G-34-Brandon Gfeller, 6-4, 190, So., 1V--7.3--2.6--41.2 3PT%
6-33-Mike Weisner, F, 6-7, 193, Sr., 3V--5.9--2.2--12/4 at PSU
6-31-Jack Lopez, F, 6-5, 200, So., 1V--2.2--2.4--Avg. 14.2 mins. pg
6-2-Riley Bradshaw, G, 6-2, 180, So., 1V--2.5--1.1--34 pts. last 6 games
6-24-Chris Kemp, F, 6-7, 236, Sr., 1V--2.9--2.3--Has 4 starts
Head Coach: Travis DeCuire (Montana, 1994): 11-8, 1st year at UM.
SACRAMENTO ST. HORNETS (14-6/8-1)---PPG---RPG---MISC.
G/F-33-Nick Horsby, 6-7, 220, So., 1V--5.9--5.1--12/7 vs. MSU
C-44-Eric Stuteville, 6-11, 250, So., 1V--7.3--3.8--50.8 FG%
G-2-Cody Demps, 6-4, 200, Jr., 2V--9.5--4.8-- 10/4/3 in Cat win
G-5-Dylan Garrity, 6-2, 195, Sr., 3V--13.9--1.8--12th in Sky in ppg
G-10-Mikh McKinney, 6-1, 170, Sr., 2V--19.1--2.8--2nd in Sky in ppg
6-20-Zach Mills, F, 6-5, 215, Sr., 1V--6.8--3.9--20.8 mins. pg
Head Coach: Brian Katz (Sacramento State, 1980)/7th year at Sac: 70-124.
SERIES: The Griz lead 36-5 and have won 15 in a row. The last Hornet win was 80-72 in Sacramento in the 2006-07 season. UM leads the series 16-4 all-time in Sacramento.
LAST SEASON: At Montana 82, Sac State 70 and Montana 70, at Sac State 55.
OF NOTE: The Hornets return five starters from a year ago, and were picked to finish fourth in both of the Big Sky's preseason polls.
QUOTING GRIZ HEAD COACH TRAVIS DECUIRE:
OBVIOUSLY YOU FACE A FORMIDABLE OPPONENT AT SAC STATE SATURDAY: "I think it just continues to get tougher, and we're going to find out a lot about ourselves. We talked about this stretch (six of UM's final 10 league games are on the road). We were looking forward to this stretch. I think that our guys do have a lot of respect to go out and earn, and it's going to be the top half of the conference that we're going to have to beat if we want respect, and we're looking forward to it."
ON WIN AT PSU: "The guys were focused. I thought we played decent defense in the first half. If it weren't for the turnovers (UM had nine TOs in the first half and just three in the second), it might have been a better half for us."
Mario Dunn WAS A KEY FOR YOU AT PSU WITH 6 ASSISTS AND ZERO TURNOVERS: "I know a lot of people have been wondering why we are not scoring as many points as we talked about, and the biggest issue for us has been our turnovers. We've had games where we've had double-figure turnovers and fewer assists than turnovers, and it's just hard to score when you don't get shots.
"Last night (Thursday) was an example of our potential offensively. I still felt like we could have been better if we would have been as focused in the first half as we were in the second. We probably could have two 45 point halves."
ON THE PLAY OF Martin Breunig: "I think his confidence is growing. He's becoming more patient. They (PSU) doubled him early, and they kind of took him out early. He tried to hit the home run with a couple of turnovers, on the skip pass to the open guy, and eventually we started to make the first pass that led to the second pass, and got some better shots; which is why (senior forward ) Mike Weisner (he made 4-of-6 treys and scored 12 points at PSU) got going.
"But, he's (Breunig) definitely playing with a lot of confidence right now, and he's very selective with his shots, and I think that's why his percentage is so high."
ON GREGORY SCORING 1,000 CAREER POINTS: "It's always better (to set a record) during a win. I think it's an example of playing with good players - guys who set good screens and make good passes. Obviously he's got to do the job of putting the ball in the basket. Any time a guy sets a new record or reaches a milestone like that, it's definitely always a team effort."
