Griz return home to face Milwaukee

Saturday, December 3

Missoula, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

Milwaukee

12/2/2016 6:31:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Montana Sports Information

UM NOTES | MKE NOTES | WATCH | LIVE STATS | LIVE TWEETS

After a journey to the edge of the continent and back, the Montana Grizzlies return to Dahlberg Arena for the first time in three weeks to host the Milwaukee Panthers of the Horizon League in nonconference action on Saturday.

The Griz (1-6) and Panthers (3-4) meet in Missoula at 7 p.m. on Dec. 3, to complete the second leg of a home-and-home series that began in 2014 when the Griz traveled to Wisconsin in head coach Travis DeCuire's first season.

WATCH/LISTEN: The Griz/Panthers matchup can be seen worldwide via live web stream at GoGriz.com/watch. Fans can also find an audio-only web stream at the same location. The statewide radio broadcast featuring the "Voice of the Griz" Riley Corcoran can be heard on the Montana Grizzlies Radio Network with the pregame show starting 30 minutes before tipoff.

Live stats are at GrizStats.com, and live tweets of the action are available @UMGRIZZLIES_BB.

SERIES HISTORY: Montana is 1-3 against the Panthers all-time, with the lone win coming in the 1964 season in Missoula by a single point, 65-64. Last time the two met was in 2014 in Milwaukee, and the hosts went on a big 26-4 run in the first half to outmuscle the Griz by a final score of 73-58.

GRIZ TRACKS: The comfort of home couldn't come at a better time for the Griz, returning from a long road stretch where better results were never that far out of reach for a young Montana team still trying to find its best combinations ahead of the Big Sky season starting after Christmas.

"The biggest thing for us is growth," said DeCuire. "We've played at a very high level. We've played some phenomenal halves of basketball. The biggest thing for us though is getting our legs underneath us and assuring ourselves of the confidence we need going down the stretch and into conference."

After battling through spurts of cold shooting, the Griz dropped their last two games on the road by a total of five points each. That growth has been obvious to followers of the team however with the emergence of freshmen Sayeed Pridgett and Jared Samuelson who sparked the Montana bench to 42 points for the second time this season against South Dakota.

Pridgett earned Montana's nomination for Big Sky Player of the Week after leading the Griz twice in scoring against Ole Miss and USD, knocking down 19 against the Rebels and following that up with 14 more against the 'Yotes. His inaugural season at UM off to an impressive start, now averaging just under 12 points-per-game as the Grizzlies' second-leading scorer.

"Everybody's looking at how many points he's scoring and his field goal percentage, but I think the biggest thing for him is the way he's making plays for others," said DeCuire, who knew of Pridgett's potential, but didn't know Montana fans would see it so soon.

"He's finding shooters across the street; he's posting up and passing out of it. He's taken over some ballgames for spurts, and then he's rebounding the ball. He's doing a lot we knew he could do for us, I just wasn't sure how consistent and how soon he would arrive."

Also helping Montana's growth over the long road trip was the return of last season's third-best scorer Michael Oguine. The sophomore star saw his first action in the second half against South Dakota and made a noticeable impact, especially on the glass, pulling down four boards.

Oguine put together one of the best freshman seasons in Griz history in 2015-16, averaging 11 points-per-game. Against South Dakota, he made his first appearance of the year after suffering an injury in the preseason.

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With Montana receiving most of its scoring output from perimeter shooting so far this season, one Grizzly is feeling right at home with the team's need to shoot the deep ball.

They don't call senior guard Brandon Gfeller "three-feller" for no reason. So far in his four years at Montana, Gfeller has drained a whopping 184 three-pointers with the majority of his senior season yet to play.

The Colfax, Wash., native is closing in on Kevin Criswell's 2006 school record of 218 three-pointers, needing just 35 more to set a new Montana record. Gfeller has drained 12 triples so far this season and hit 72 last season. With 24 more games on the regular-season schedule, he'll need to average 1.46 threes-per-game to set the record.

GRIZ BITS

Ahmaad Rorie continues his march to prominence for the Griz as the team's leading scorer. The sophomore transfer from Oregon is averaging 13.7 PPG, and leading the team in minutes played as well at 31.

After setting a career-high of 21 against USC, Rorie, has posted double figures in six of Montana's seven games this season. The only game he didn't shoot 10 points-or-better was against South Dakota.

Junior Fabijan Krslovic is leading the Griz in rebounding with an average of 7.9 RPG. He's pulled down double-figure boards in two games so far this season, setting a new career high of 12 against Wyoming, and pulling down 11 more against Ole Miss.

Montana currently sits just out of the national top-50 in free throw percentage, posting the second-best mark in the Big Sky at .745. That's the 52nd-best percentage from the line in the country.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS: Like Montana, Milwaukee has two players averaging in double scoring figures in the early stages of the season. Brock Stull and Cody Wichmann are averaging 11.9 PPG and 11.4 PPG, respectively.

The Panthers have only averaged 63.9 PPG as a team this season, ranking them at 326 out of 347 D-I teams nationally in scoring.

Milwaukee's stop in Missoula is the first of a two-game road swing through the Treasure State. The Panthers will also face the Bobcats in Bozeman on Monday, Dec. 5.

ON DECK: The Griz will get another home game against a Mountain West Conference opponent on Wed., Dec. 7 when the San Jose State Spartans visit Missoula. That game will be broadcast statewide on Cowles Montana Media stations.