Griz look to break Eagle win streak in Cheney

UM NOTES | EWU NOTES | WATCH | LISTEN | LIVE STATS

The first Big Sky road trip of Montana's basketball season continues on Saturday as the Griz (7-9, 2-1 BSC) travel north from Moscow, Idaho to Cheney, Wash., with an important conference victory over the Vandals in their back pocket.

Montana's attention now falls squarely on the Eastern Washington Eagles, who at 10-5 (2-0 BSC), sit atop the Big Sky standings with the league's best overall record.

THE GAME: The Grizzlies are looking to hand EWU its first loss at Reese Court of the season, with the Eagles perched on a perfect 8-0 home record after defeating Montana State on Thursday, 82-64 to go to 2-0 in league play.

Montana heads to Cheney at 2-1 in league play, just a Jeremy Senglin three-pointer away from potentially being 3-0 after suffering an overtime loss to Weber State last week, but rebounding with a whistle-to-whistle victory over Idaho.

The Eagles and Grizzlies are scheduled for an afternoon tipoff on Reese Court, getting underway at 2:05 p.m. MT on Jan. 7, 2017.

WATCH/LISTEN: Fans around Montana and around the world can watch the UM/EWU game live and free of charge on the league's digital video streaming platform, WatchBigSky.com, and the Big Sky Conference App, available to download free from the App Store and on Google Play.

The game will be televised in the Spokane/Eastern Washington region only by SWX with Sam Adams on play-by-play and Bill Ames as the analyst.

The "Voice of the Griz" Riley Corcoran will bring you the statewide radio call on the Montana Grizzlies Radio Network. An audio-only stream of the radio call is also available at GoGriz.com. Fans can also follow live twitter updates @UMGRIZZLIES_BB, live stats are available at EWUStats.com.

IMPLICATIONS: Any Big Sky Conference road win is a big one. With the Griz picking up a win on the first leg of arguably the league's toughest road swing, a 2-0 result out of the trip would give UM a leg up when the Vandals and Eagles visit Missoula in three weeks, and will undoubtedly pay dividends come tournament time.

SERIES HISTORY: Montana is 65-41 all-time against the Eagles. The Griz haven't played in Cheney since the 2014-15 season when both teams claimed a share of the Big Sky regular season championship.

Montana won that game 77-76 in dramatic fashion where the Eagles missed four field goal attempts in the last 1:56 of the game, any of which would have won the contest for the home team.

LAST MATCHUP: In a rematch of the 2015 Big Sky Conference tournament championship game, Montana shot a season-high 58 percent from the field, and Walter Wright and Martin Breunig combined for 51 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists to give the Griz a 74-69 win over the Eagles in Missoula. Wright netted 25 that night.

GRIZ TRACKS: With major statistical categories between the Griz and the Eagles shaking out similarly, Saturday's game could come down to free throws, and there aren't two better teams in the league, and not many in the country, that are shooting better from the charity stripe.

Eastern Washington leads the Big Sky, making nearly 77 percent of their shots from the line, while Montana sits close behind in second, making just under 76 percent. The Eagle's free throw percentage is the 16th-best in the nation, while the Griz come in ranked No. 23 in the same category.

Walter Wright is the Big Sky's best shooter from the line, making 41 of his 46 attempts for an 89.1 percentage. The Eagle's Bogdan Bliznyuk is shooting the same percentage from the line, but has two more misses, making 57 of his 64 shots.

Once again this season, Wright is also one of the Big Sky's leaders in assists, handing out 51 so far this season to rank him at No. 13 in the league. Just ahead of him at No. 12 is Ahmaad Rorie with 53 assists.

The Rorie/Wright guard combo has also been on a tear scoring the ball, despite Wright suffering an off night against the Vandals. One of the two has led the Griz in scoring in each of the last nine games, and 11 of UM's 16 games so far this season.

GRIZ BITS: Seventy seems to be the magic number for the Griz this season. Montana is 7-0 when holding its opponents to 70 or fewer points while going a 0-9 when giving up 71 or more points.

Senior sharpshooter Brandon Gfeller made his first start of the season in Moscow with DeCuire looking to add another long-range weapon to the lineup to break Idaho's zone defense. The guard from Colfax, Wash., made a big impact in his first start as well, hitting four shots from behind the arc for a total of 14 points.

Sophomore wing Bobby Moorehead netted a season-high 10 points against the Vandals, thanks in part to a pair of three-pointers. It was the first time he's shot more than one triple in a game since Ole Miss on Thanksgiving Day.

Montana forced the Vandals into 20 turnovers on Thursday, the second-highest number of turnovers given up by a Montana opponent this season. Conversely, Montana only gave up six turnovers in Moscow, and have only given up 15 turnovers in the last three games, including a season-low one against Weber State.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Martin Breunig

Brandon Gfeller

Bobby Moorehead

Ahmaad Rorie

Walter Wright

University of Montana Athletics