Backcourt duo building chemistry, ready to lead Montana

By Glenn Junkert
For GoGriz.com

Entering into the fourth season of Travis DeCuire's already highly successful tenure as head coach of the Montana Grizzlies basketball team, his first two backcourt recruits appear ready to step onto the college basketball stage in grand fashion.

Each demonstrated ample skills as sophomore starters a year ago – Ahmaad Rorie in 31 games and Michael Oguine in 25 (missing the first five games with a broken hand). In return, Rorie was named to the All-Big Sky Conference second team, while Oguine was tabbed all-conference third team. As the new season approaches, college basketball sports writers have taken notice. Last week Rorie was one of six players named to the Big Sky preseason team. Beyond that, he also has received All-Big Sky recognition from at least five nationally respected basketball publications. Oguine has received preseason nods from two of those publications as well.

The accolades are nice, but it's all preseason bluster to Rorie.

"Talk is one thing," the junior said. "It's cool for trash talk and chatter and conversation. But once the season gets going, it's the games that we play – individually and as a team – that will speak for who we are."

Rorie (17.6 per game) and Oguine (11.9) combined to score well over one-third of the team's points a year ago, also ranking No. 1 and 2 for minutes played. They were good, but the coaching staff thinks they can be better – in all facets of their game. They'll need to be, too, as much of the team's success will be directly linked to how well the dynamic guard duo plays.

"We need Ahmaad to be one of the top-five players in this conference," DeCuire said. "I think he and Mike together have the potential of being a very explosive backcourt that not only produces a lot of points but also defends at a high level. They'll set the tone."

Rorie is set for the challenge, DeCuire says.

"When you have a guy that can handle the ball, pass the ball, shoot the ball... and has athletic ability like Ahmaad, there's a lot out there for him."

He's also a more mature player than just one year ago, according to the head coach.

"What happens between the ears is always what determines your success, and his head's in the right place. He understands what we need and he's trying his hardest to give it to us."

Oguine's success, associate head coach Chris Cobb said, will depend on him honing his natural energy.

"The main thing we expect this year is for Mike to be Mike," Cobb said. "He has tremendous heart and tremendous competitive spirit and so – in that vein – he has to play as he has, but just try to make more plays happen.

"When you're a freshman or sophomore, you make six plays out of 10. But now we're asking him to take his game and push it into the eight-or-nine range of success."

Both are explosive offensive players. Oguine motors up a full-tilt, slashing dribble-drive that highlights his body-contorting, above-rim leaping ability. Rorie controls his drives with varying speeds, athletic body control and quick pull-up jumpers. Oguine moves well to open gaps without the ball and is a game-altering offensive rebounder. Rorie has a lightning quick pull-up jump shot and is accurate from virtually anywhere on the court.

For Oguine, season-long success will emerge from on-court chemistry with Rorie. "The entire offseason, we and our coaches have put in a lot of work to build our chemistry," he said.

The coaching staff is also asking more of the duo, including expanded and different roles.

"This year we want Ahmaad to work on tempo, to be more aggressive from point A to point B," DeCuire said. "He's grown in those areas and is ready to make an impact for us."

"With Mike, we're asking him to take command of the ball a bit more," Cobb said. "He's also maturing in being able to know what a good shot is for him versus what a good shot is for his teammates, which is tougher to learn, but he's done that."

The chemistry between the two is so important, that during practice, the pair has often been competing on the same team, instead of against each other."

"In the past, we spent a lot of time competing against each other, but this year it's real, real important that we build that chemistry," Oguine said.

Those chemistry experiments will soon be put to the acid test. The Grizzlies face a second straight brutal preseason schedule, featuring games against major college schools Penn State, Pitt, Stanford, UCLA and Washington. Results may well set the tone for how they fare in the Big Sky.

Both were on roster in 2014-15 – Oguine as a freshman and Rorie as a redshirt – when the Grizzlies advanced to the Big Sky Conference tournament title game for the second year in a row. They've tasted success, but now want to take that next step.

"Talk is one thing. But you've got to go out on the floor and show it," said Rorie. "When the ball goes up for the tipoff, I just want our team to be prepared to battle."

"I've worked hard to get prepared on and off the floor," said Oguine. "I'm ready to get going."

A conversation with GoGriz.com:
GoGriz.com spent a few minutes in conversation with Montana junior backcourt leaders Ahmaad Rorie and Michael Oguine. They discussed last season, their summer of work, and how they've prepared for the upcoming season.

GOGRIZ.COM: Last season Montana finished with a 16-16 record and fifth place in the Big Sky Conference. What lessons can you take from last season to prepare for this season?
RORIE: When we started last season off at zero and four, I think that a lot of the guys were looking at me to get this thing turned around and, honestly, I think I kind of lacked that ability. It took me awhile to realize that. I think that our season could have switched earlier, so I'll take the blame for that. I wasn't doing enough as a leader. Also, last year we didn't handle adversity very well in a lot of games. This year we realize we need to do a better job of being that tougher team, that grittier team down the stretch where we're the players that make the big-time plays.
OGUINE: This year I'm really ready to capitalize on making all the plays and not letting any plays slip past me. Nothing's ever perfect in the game of basketball. You can't always have complete control, and shots aren't always going to go in... but one thing you can always control is how hard you play. Also, we'd prefer that we don't let games get down to the final free throw or last-second shot. I think this year we just have to keep playing hard to the last second, especially on defense. We've got to stick with it, not get our heads down when we're in those last-second situations. If our team can have the same philosophy, I think it can help us when we go through some stretches when things aren't going our way.

GOGRIZ.COM: What skills and mental challenges did you work on over the summer to improve your game?
RORIE: Really, everywhere I was playing or practicing, I was focused on making a lot more plays for other players. This summer I worked on driving hard to the rim and finishing my shots around the rim. But another thing is pick and rolls. I've been working a lot with coach (Chris) Cobb on pick and rolls. I had a guy tell me over the summer that I'm actually a lot more athletic than I realize. What he told me is to be aware to use my athleticism on more skills than just trying to score... that I need to get more steals, chase down loose balls, help my teammates out with more than assists. I really considered that, so over the summer I worked hard on doing more with my game.
OGUINE: Over the summer I worked every day on ball handling and shooting off the dribble. I felt like that was something I really needed to work on. Ahmaad (Rorie) is a player who can play well with the ball or off the ball as well, so I want to be able to help him play to all his strengths. He's a great ball handler, but at the same time – when he's off the ball – he's really creative and can make a lot of things happen. If I can occasionally take pressure off of him with the ball in my hands, I'm fine doing that.

GOGRIZ.COM: Name three skill sets (physical and mental) you need to take on the floor for every game.
RORIE: Leadership. Play-making. Working to get guys in the right spots. I want to be a leader off the court and on the court. Everything I do, I know I need to be the guy that the rest of the guys look to and that the coaches can trust. It's a big deal to coach Trav (DeCuire) and the rest of the coaches for me to be coachable and to be trusted for the game on the court. It's been a big thing for me to keep my game sharp and always be a trusted leader, which includes talking to coach Trav and the others on and off the court. I'm looking forward to it a lot and am excited for what it holds for the team. I know the work that I've put into this. Lastly, at the end of every game you've got to know the score, you've got to know the time, you've got to know the situation. The challenge of a point guard is to know the right play, and to be trusted by the players and the coaches.
OGUINE: One, being locked in with a killer focus is most important. I need to be in attack mode all the time. Secondly, being physically prepared. The instant the ball is tipped, I want to make sure it doesn't take any time to get me going; it's something I didn't do so well at last year. I want to make sure that, once that ball is tipped, I'm ready to go. Defense is the third thing... being in the right spot. I figure my teammates know that I'll play hard for them and that my coaches know they can trust me to be out there to play all-out hard, but to also be in the right defensive spots at all times.

GOGRIZ.COM: The Grizzlies will have up to five new players on the floor at times this year. Describe the character of the Montana team this year.
RORIE: I think we're going to be more versatile than last year. I see a lot of toughness and grit. We've had some challenges, but we've been handling it well as a team. The freshmen coming in have been competing hard right away. Nobody's spot is safe. Nobody's. We've got good shooters. Bobby Moorehead is a really good shooter. Niko Bevens was one of the top shooters in the country in junior college. We've got Mike, who's really sharpened his shooting. Sayeed (Pridgett) can shoot. And Fab (Fabijan Krslovic) and Jamar (Akoh) can step out and shoot threes. So I think we'll be better this year.
OGUINE: This year we have a lot of new guys. It's refreshing to see how eager they are to learn. It's cool to see how the young guys are accepting the philosophy that coach Trav has. It's cool for us, too, because we can share what we learned in our first years here. It's really great for the returners, and I can't say enough about how the new guys are willing to accept the stuff in our system.

GOGRIZ.COM: Any goals for this year?
RORIE: Get better, honestly. All the individual stuff just takes care of itself. I just really want our team to get better, for all the guys to acclimate with each other and to just play well with each other as we get to know each other better as teammates. I definitely want to win; we don't ever want to lose, but it all starts with playing hard as a team starting from the beginning.
OGUINE: We know that, in the preseason, we're going to play teams that have more depth, length and athleticism than the teams in our own conference. If we can learn to execute against those teams, that's going to carry over into conference play. The reason we have that tough schedule is to get practice sharpening our skills, sharpen our offense and our defense, working on communication. If we don't do those things, we might get blown out. It's kind of on us. Coach Trav put the challenge to us. This is what we asked for, so we don't want to go out there and embarrass ourselves. If we can do well against these tough teams in preseason, then our stuff will be pretty tight by conference.

University of Montana Athletics

Backcourt duo building chemistry, ready to lead Montana

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