Montana looks to turn strong November into even better December

MONTANA VS. CSUN
Sunday, Dec. 3 / 7 p.m. MT / Missoula, Mont.
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The Montana Grizzlies return home on Sunday evening to take on former conference foe CSUN. The Grizzlies are unbeaten on their home court this season, and look to keep that streak going vs. the Matadors.

The first month of the season has – all in all – been successful. At 4-3, it marks the team's best seven-game start since 2012-13. The team has a winning record through the month of November for the first time since 2011-12 (for comparison, Montana was a combined 6-16 in the previous four Novembers). Even more impressive, the Grizzlies are doing this against much strong competition, already playing five games away from Missoula and three against Power-5 competition.

"We're sitting in a good spot going into December," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "I am happy with where we're at, but we have to be a better basketball team. There's more potential for us; we just have to take advantage of these situations."

#GrizHoops is back on Sunday. Grab a friend and let's pack Dahlberg! pic.twitter.com/NbyLiTMV2J
— Montana Griz BB (@MontanaGrizBB) December 1, 2017

The Grizzlies have a winning record, but with a couple areas cleaned up, they've had the opportunity to pull off victories in all three of their defeats.

At Penn State (Big Ten), Montana held early leads and was within a single possession, 58-55, with under 4 minutes to play.
In the championship game of the Legends Classic Malibu Region, Montana overcame a slow start to take second-half leads, including 48-46 with 12:51 remaining.
On Wednesday at Stanford (Pac-12), Montana held multiple second-half leads, including by as many as six points, 50-44, with under 10 minutes left on the clock.

The Nittany Lions closed the game on a 12-2 run, the Gauchos erased Montana's lead with a 13-0 run and the Cardinal closed the game out-scoring the Grizzlies 26-4.

"In all three of those games, we had a point where we could have made a move," DeCuire said. "We didn't, and we hurt ourselves. Two of those three games we walked away feeling like we should have won and one of them we felt like we could have won. If we execute better and make fewer mistakes offensively, we have the chance to be a pretty good team."

Montana has shown potential but now is looking to take the next step.

Its pressure and scrappy defense has been a strength. The Grizzlies are forcing 19.00 turnovers per game – a figure which ranks 15th nationally – and rank highly for steals and blocked shots. The offense has struggled to make shots, but DeCuire believes a lot of it is not necessarily the shooters, but instead the selection – an easier fix.

"Some of our low field-goal percentage is us taking contested shots late when we're playing from behind, some of it is us either taking the wrong shots or passing up the right ones," DeCuire said. "We have to be better, but it's still early in the season, and I think we will be."

Michael Oguine has been reliable – leading the Griz for rebounding and scoring in double figures every game – and Bobby Moorehead is the team's toughest player, according to DeCuire. The junior is averaging 10.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game and has nine steals, five blocked shots and creates opportunities that don't show up in the box score.

Cal State Fullerton transfer Jamar Akoh has started to show promise, as well, which could be a key factor with Montana wanting to get its post presence more opportunities down low. Akoh had a double-double vs. Carroll but was limited offensively for most of the game at Stanford. He does, however, have experience vs. the Matadors, facing them multiple times during his two-year career at Cal State Fullerton. In 2016, as a sophomore, Akoh had a double-double with 12 points and 11 boards.

CSUN is off to a 1-5 start to begin the year, losing five in a row after opening the season with a win over Life Pacific. The Matadors have four players averaging double figures for scoring, led by Tavrion Dawson (15.7 points per game).

"They're athletic and they're very good at creating shots for themselves and others," DeCuire said. "It will probably be our most athletic matchup we've had up to this point," noting that CSUN doesn't post up much, but instead likes to play with tempo and drive to the rim using ball screens.

Sunday's contest is being marketed as an ugly-sweater party. The first 250 students will receive a custom ugly-sweater T-shirt, with others available for purchase. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. MT.

SCOUTING CSUN

CSUN enters Sunday with a 1-5 mark. The Matadors defeated Life Pacific in the season opener but has since lost five in a row, including last Saturday at California.
CSUN has four players scoring in double figures, led by senior Tavrion Dawson's 15.7 points. He is also the team leader for blocks (5) and steals (7).
Dawson was named to the Preseason All-Big West Conference Team in October after earning all-conference honorable mention honors last spring.
Freshman Terrell Gomez is averaging 12.3 points per game on .537 shooting, including a team-best .600 from three-point range (12-of-20). He also has a team-most 20 assists.
Senior Michael Warren is scoring 11.8 points per game in addition to a team-best 6.8 rebounds. Nearly half of his rebounds are offensive boards.
The Matadors have one of the better three-point field-goal percentages in the country (.388; 61st) but rank 320th with just 103 attempts.
While Montana forces the 15th-most turnovers, CSUN turns the ball over just 10.2 times per game (11th).
The Matadors went 11-19 in 2016-17 and returned just five of those 16 players. They were picked to finish seventh in 2017-18.
Former NBA player and coach Reggie Theus is in his fifth season at CSUN, compiling a 39-86 all-time record.

SERIES VS. THE MATADORS
Montana and CSUN are meeting on the hardwood for the first time in more than a decade, but the two teams do have history, with both playing in the Big Sky Conference from 1996-97 through 2000-01. The two teams faced 10 times during that span, including twice in the conference tournament.

Montana won the first six meetings in the series and is 10-7 overall. The Grizzlies are 7-2 in Missoula, last playing in 2004-05.

Complete game notes, including stats, rankings, tables and more.

Who wants an Ugly Monte holiday shirt? Good news! First 250 @umontana students to the @MontanaGrizBB game on 12/3 get one FREE! Everyone else can buy one here: https://t.co/1JcawEtVDX. Best part is - proceeds benefit your favorite bear...Monte! #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/XzSblu4mzo
— Montana Grizzlies (@UMGRIZZLIES) November 30, 2017

Montana looks to turn strong November into even better December

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Players Mentioned

Jamar Akoh

Bobby Moorehead

Michael Oguine

University of Montana Athletics

Montana looks to turn strong November into even better December

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jamar Akoh

Bobby Moorehead

Michael Oguine

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