Griz set for first Big Sky home stand of season

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The Montana Grizzlies men's basketball team (7-6, 2-0 BSC) returns home for its first Big Sky Conference home stand of the season, as the Portland State Vikings (5-7, 1-0 BSC) and Sacramento State Hornets (7-5, 0-1 BSC) pay a visit to Dahlberg Arena.

Montana takes the court with an unblemished home record this season, a two-game road sweep under its belt and a three-game win streak in tact.

The Griz and the Vikings will tussle first on Thursday, Jan. 7, followed by a Saturday night showdown with the Hornets on Jan. 9. Both games tip off at 7 p.m.

WATCH: Both Big Sky Conference matchups can be seen worldwide for free via web stream at watchbigsky.com. You can also tune in to the statewide radio broadcast on the Montana Grizzlies Radio Network, or listen to the game live on the web at gogriz.com.

Fans can also follow the action via Griz basketball's official twitter feed @UMGRIZZLIES_BB.

SERIES HISTORIES: Montana leads the all-time series with Portland State 33-20, and leads the all-time series against Sacramento State 36-6.

LAST MEETINGS: Due to Big Sky Conference alignment, the Griz only played both the Vikings and Hornets once last season on a two-game road trip during the first half of Montana's league schedule. The Griz split the road trip, defeating Portland State 73-54 in Portland, and then falling to the Hornets 70-69 in California.

Against Portland State, Jordan Gregory became the 29^thplayer in Grizzly history to surpass the 1,000 career points mark, Martin Breunig led all scorers in the game with 23 points and the Griz went on a second half tear outscoring the Vikings 11-2 after the break en route to the 73-54 Montana win.

Two days later, the, then No. 2 Griz took on the, then, No. 1 ranked Hornets and it was Sac. State who came away with the 70-69 victory thanks to a three-pointer from Dylan Garrity with six seconds to play.

GRIZ TRACKS: Montana broke the school record for three-pointers in a single game in last week's win over Northern Arizona, draining 18 treys, eight of which came from the hot hand of Brandon Gfeller. The previous record of 16 was set in 2002 against Portland state.

Gfeller's hot hand continued on Saturday against Southern Utah, where the junior form Colfax, Wash. drained 21 points paired with Martin Breunig's 24 points, leading to a 83-66 win for the Griz.

It was Montana's first road sweep since the 2014-15 season when the Griz defeated North Dakota and Northern Colorado on the road, the only Montana road sweep of the season.

After one week of action, the Griz sit in second place on the Big Sky table behind Idaho, who picked up the other road sweep in conference play last week over UND and UNC. The only other road win in the league last week came from Montana State who defeated NAU in Flagstaff.

Montana is 5-0 at home this season, a record highlighted by wins over Boise State and San Francisco. During that 5-0 stretch, the Griz averaged 76 points per contest, well above their season average of 68.9 points.

Grizzly head coach Travis DeCuire's 27-18 overall record, and 16-4 Big Sky record in his second season at UM is the second best coaching record in the conference, with a .800 Big Sky winning percentage and .600 overall winning percentage.

The Griz continue to play some of the best defense in the Big Sky, with the league's third-best scoring defense. UM has held its opponents to an average of 67.8 points per contest over 13 games. Montana has guarded especially well against the deep ball, with the second best three-point defense in the league, holding opponents to .312 shooting from behind the arc.

Senior forward Martin Breunig continues to be one of the most dominant players in the Big Sky, averaging 17.8 points per game and 8.5 rebounds, all while routinely facing a double and even triple team from his opponents.

Last week's Big Sky Player of the Week Brandon Gfeller is now third on the Big Sky's top three-point shooters list, averaging 3.2 treys per game. He's one of only four players in the league to shoot eight treys in one outing.

Thursday's game against Portland State will feature a familiar face for the Vikings. Montana associate head coach Ken Bone was head coach at Portland State from 2005-2009. Coach Bone is 1-0 against his former team after last year's Griz win in Oregon.

SCOUTING THE VIKINGS: PSU has lost its last six trips to Dahlberg Arena, but are coming off a big 76-68 win at home against Sacramento State last week to move to 1-0 in Big Sky play.

Senior forward Cameron Forte leads the Vikings in scoring and rebounding, averaging 16.4 points per game and just over eight rebounds. PSU has four players averaging in double figures, with junior guard Bryce White putting in just over 12 points per game, sophomore forward Isaiah Pineiro carrying a .570 field goal percentage and 11.7 PPG, and junior guard Calaen Robinson averaging just under 11 PPG.

The Vikings lead the Big Sky in assists per game at 17.5, as well as steals per game at 8.2, and as a team are averaging 77.8 points per outing, while holding opponents to 75.8 per game.

SCOUTING THE HORNETS: The Hornets come to the Garden City as one of the hottest teams in the conference during the non-league schedule, tallying a 7-4 record building up to last week's 76-68 loss at Portland State. Big wins for the Hornets include a 66-63 win at Arizona State, and a 79-71 win over Pacific.

SSU started the season at 4-0, but have since dropped five of their last eight games.

Sophomore guard Marcus Graves and sophomore forward Justin Strings lead Sac. State in scoring with just under 14 points per outing each. Graves is tied for 20^th in the nation in steals, averaging 2.3 per game.

Senior guard and co-captain Cody Demps is averaging 12.8 points for the Hornets, but is listed as questionable for SSU's Thursday game at Montana State due to injury. The Hornets could also be without co-captain Nick Hornsby, who missed the PSU game due to injury.

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Players Mentioned

Martin Breunig

Brandon Gfeller

Jordan Gregory

University of Montana Athletics