Griz set to host non-conference home finale, honor Delvon Anderson

MONTANA VS. UC IRVINE
Tuesday, Dec. 19 / 7 p.m. MT / Missoula, Mont.
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Montana won its first conference championship in 1975, and since that point, no Big Sky team has won more conference titles (10) than the Grizzlies. Additionally, Montana has won nine tournament titles and has nine runner-up finishes – including three championships and three runner-up finishes in the past eight seasons.

Griz Hoops has a storied history with plenty of success, and while the first conference title dates back to the 1970s, when you talk with head coach Travis DeCuire, the trajectory of the program changed with one man nearly two decades later.

"As I recruit today, tradition is what we sell," DeCuire said. "That trend, those numbers, that tradition started with Delvon."

Delvon Anderson played two seasons for the Grizzlies, winning a pair of conference championships and playing in back-to-back NCAA tournaments. As a senior in 1991-92, Anderson averaged 14.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game and was named the league's MVP. Anderson was also the recipient of the 1991 John Eaheart Award – given to UM's top defensive player – and was a two-time winner of the Naseby Rhinehart Award – given to the team's most inspirational player.

Following his UM days, he briefly played professionally, both with the Golden State Warriors and overseas, and later went back to school to complete his undergraduate degree and obtain a master's degree.

Anderson passed away in August at the age of 49. His family will be in attendance on Tuesday to receive the Legend of the Game award – an award that honors a former player or coach from each participating team in the 2017 Legends Classic tournament.

"He fought for respect – his own respect, his teammates' respect, the program's respect," DeCuire said. "That's who he was under the day he passed away, and to me, that's what legends do."

Tomorrow night will be special as we celebrate the life and career of Delvon Anderson! pic.twitter.com/iPP9nQqSUT
— Montana Griz BB (@MontanaGrizBB) December 18, 2017

It will be special for DeCuire to celebrate his former teammate, but he'll also have another distinct person beside him. Blaine Taylor – the former Montana head coach who both DeCuire and Anderson played for – is currently an assistant coach at UC Irvine.

Taylor coached the Griz from 1991-92 through 1997-98, and holds the school's best winning percentage (.680). In a storied coaching tree, Taylor was the fastest Grizzly coach to reach 50 wins. Second fastest? That'd be DeCuire.

"It's going to be a family affair," DeCuire said. "It will be the first time coaching against Coach. It will be fun, and we'll enjoy it, and at the end of the day, we want to come out on top."

Prior to his coaching stint, Taylor was a standout for the Griz in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He led Montana for assists three consecutive seasons and still holds the school's fourth-best career free-throw percentage. Eleven years before Anderson won it, Taylor was the Naseby Rhinehart Award winner as the team's most inspirational player.

DeCuire doesn't hold back when talking about his mentor, who gave him his first assistant coaching opportunity while Taylor was the head coach at Old Dominion. They spent five seasons together at ODU, before DeCuire spent the next six under Mike Montgomery at Cal. Montgomery, a College Basketball Hall of Famer and former Grizzly was the head coach at UM when Taylor was suiting up for the Griz. The two later reconvened as coaches at Stanford, along with current UC Irvine head coach Russell Turner.

"We've all got a little bit of the Mike Montgomery coaching tree in us," DeCuire said.

Without a doubt, the pregame ceremony will be emotional, heartfelt and with plenty of pomp and circumstance. After that, though, there's still a game to be played, and it's a big one for Montana. The Grizzlies are coming off a solid victory over UC Riverside on Sunday night. The Griz led from start to finish, using runs of 9-0 and 17-0 to lead by as many as 29 points. On offense, they shot 50 percent from the floor while the defense limited the Highlanders to 38.5-percent shooting, the lowest by a Griz opponent this year.

The win improved Montana's record to 6-4, its highest non-conference win total since 2011-12. A win on Tuesday would guarantee a winning non-conference mark, also for the first time in six seasons.

"We haven't done that in quite some time," DeCuire said. "I think it shows the progress we're making as a program, especially with the level of competition that we've faced so far."

Like Montana, UC Irvine has played a challenging pre-league schedule, including games at Arizona State, Kansas State and UCLA. The Highlanders beat Big Sky foe Northern Arizona, but are 4-9 on the year, losing four in a row.

Still, the Highlanders pose several threats, including five players who average at least 9.2 points, and have a big presence down low.

"They're big," DeCuire said. "Probably bigger than anyone we've played all year, other than maybe Stanford. They'll be aggressive. They expect to win every night because they can score a lot. We're going to have to come out and perform and be on our 'A' game."

UC Irvine's size will be most seen on the boards. Montana has out-rebounded its opponents in seven of the past eight games, but will get a test against a Highlanders team that averages 42.3 rebounds per game – 10th in NCAA and 7.5 more than their opponents. UC Irvine is holding its opponents to just 39.5-percent shooting on the season, the 45th-best field-goal defense in the country.

"We have to scrap a little bit more and be ready to go," DeCuire said. "They're an NCAA tournament team in my mind, and they'll give us a Weber State-type matchup."

UC Irvine went 21-15 in 2016-17, winning the Big West regular-season title and playing in the NIT. The Highlanders were picked as the league favorite to win the Big West again this year.

Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on SWX Montana and tickets can be purchased online or at the door.

SCOUTING UC IRVINE

Is 4-9 on the season against a tough non-conference schedule, currently on a four-game losing streak.
Of its 13 games, 10 have come away from home including eight in true road environments (1-7).
Has a balanced scoring attack, featuring five players who average between 9.2 and 10.5 points per game.
Ranks second nationally with 550 total rebounds. The Anteaters average 42.3 rebounds per game, led by Elston Jones (6.4) and Tommy Rutherford (5.8).
The Anteaters' defense ranks 45th nationally, limiting opponents to 39.5 percent shooting, and 46th nationally, with 4.9 blocked shots per game. Jonathan Galloway has 25 blocks this year, which ranks 32nd.
UC Irvine averages 15.5 turnovers per game and forces just 10.54. Both figures rank among the bottom tier of NCAA Division I.
The Anteaters are coached by Russell Turner, who is in his eighth season. A year ago, he led UC Irvine to a regular-season Big West title and NIT berth.
UC Irvine is the preseason favorite to win the Big West.

SERIES VS. THE ANTEATERS
Montana and UC Irvine met in six consecutive seasons from 1980-86, but haven't played since. Missoula is 2-4 all-time against UC Irvine, with both wins coming at home, in 1984 and 1986. In the most-recent meeting, the Grizzlies scored 101 points.

HOME SWEET HOME
The Grizzlies hold a perfect 4-0 mark at home this season. Over the past 12 years, Montana has begun a season with four or more consecutive home wins three times, including twice in the past three seasons under Travis DeCuire.

Montana has won more than 80 percent of its contests in Dahlberg Arena over the past decade, going 108-25 (.812) since the start of the 2008-09 season. All-time, the Grizzlies boast one of the best home-court advantages, going 682-240 (.740) in their home arena.

RUNNING FROM THE START
Montana led start to finish in its most-recent win over UC Riverside (Dec. 17), using a 9-0 run to begin the game and a 17-0 run early in the second half.

The Grizzlies held the Highlanders without a basket for the first 6 minutes, 20 seconds, jumping out to a comfortable lead. After UC Riverside scored on its first shot attempt of the second half, the Grizzlies held them without a point for 6:23, going on 17-0 run. Montana led by as many as 29 points in the game and never trailed.

50-PLUS
In each of its last three homes games, Montana has made at least 50 percent of its shots, shooting 56 percent vs. Carroll (Nov. 26), 52 percent vs. CSUN (Dec. 3) and 50 percent vs. UC Riverside (Dec. 17). In the game against the Highlanders, Montana limited the visitors to 38.5-percent shooting (a season low for a UM opponent), including just 21 points in the first half (the fewest in a half this season by a UM opponent).

TRENDING

Montana is undefeated at home this season (4-0).
The Grizzlies are a perfect 6-0 when leading at halftime compared to 0-4 when trailing.
Montana is 4-0 when opponents score fewer than 70 points.
Montana is 5-1 when shooting more free throws.

ALL-AROUND RORIE
Ahmaad Rorie played in all 40 minutes vs. UC Santa Barbara and ranks 15th nationally for minutes played per game (37:06). He also ranks highly, however, for points (18.8 per game) and steals (1.9 per game). In fact, Rorie is one of nine NCAA Division I players to rank in the top 100 nationally for both points and steals.

BE LIKE MIKE
Junior guard Michael Oguine, a third-team All-Big Sky selection in 2016-17, has scored in double figures in all 10 games this season, including 29 in a win at Pitt (Nov. 13).

Oguine ranks second on the team for scoring (15.2 points per game). Despite standing at just 6-2, he also ranks second for rebounding, averaging 5.6 boards per game. He also ranks second for assists (24) and steals (14), and is tied for the team lead with 10 blocks.

AKOH TAKING OVER
The Grizzlies had high hopes for Jamar Akoh, a transfer from Cal State Fullerton who redshirted a year ago. In his first two games, however, he combined for just four points and two rebounds, being limited to 28 total minutes due to foul trouble.

Since those first two games, Akoh has begun to take over down low, averaging 11.9 points and 7.6 rebounds, shooting 59.2 percent. He has six double-figure scoring games during that eight-game span, including two double-doubles. Most recently, he had seasons highs of 17 points (9-for-9 from the free-throw line) and 12 rebounds against UC Riverside (Dec. 17).

MORE MOOREHEAD
Bobby Moorehead struggled offensively for much of his sophomore season in 2016-17, averaging 3.9 points per game on .320 shooting. The junior has turned things around in 2017-18, however, ranking third on the team for points (9.3) and minutes (34.5) and shooting at a .400 clip.

In Montana's most-recent win over UC Riverside (Dec. 17), he scored six points in a 10-second span to spark a 17-0 Griz scoring run. In the previous game, at Georgia State (Dec. 9), Moorehead hit back-to-back three-pointers to get the Griz within a single possession. At Stanford (Nov. 29), he scored 11 consecutive UM points in the second half to give the Griz a 40-37 advantage.

He ranks second on the team for three-pointers (18), third for assists (15) and rebounding (5.1 per game) and fourth for steals (11) and blocked shots (seven).

FORCING TURNOVERS
Montana has forced more turnovers than its opponents seven times this season, also tying Penn State with 15 apiece. The Grizzlies' aggressive defense, which focuses on getting deflections, ranks 18th nationally with 17.90 turnovers forced per game and 38th nationally with a +3.7 turnover margin.

On three occasions, Montana has forced 20 or more turnovers in a game, and in a win at Pitt (Nov. 13), the Grizzlies forced the Panthers into 19 turnovers, converting them into 30 points – an average of 1.58 points per turnover.

The Grizzlies have turned the ball over more often than their opponents in each of their two games, however, and will look to reverse that trend against a UC Irvine team that ranks 345th nationally for turnovers forced and 340th for turnover margin.

CRASHING THE GLASS
Montana has out-rebounded its opponents in eight of its last nine games, which is particularly impressive considering three of those contests have come against Power-5 teams. Well over one-third of Montana's rebounds have come from the offensive end (36.3 percent). That number was 28.6 percent a year ago.

Michael Oguine, UM's second-leading rebounder, has more offensive boards (30) than defensive (26), as does freshman Karl Nicholas (18 to 11). Over their last six games, the Grizzlies have out-rebounded their opponents 83-43 on the offensive glass. They are averaging 12.90 offensive rebounds per game this season (43rd in NCAA). Nearly one-fifth of Montana's points have been second-chance opportunities (141 points; 19.4 percent).

CHARITY STRIPE
Montana shot a season-best 80.8 percent from the free-throw line at Georgia State (Dec. 9), making 21 of 26 attempts, and in its next game, vs. UC Riverside (Dec. 17), made a season-most 24 shots. Over the past three games, the Grizzlies are 65-of-82 (79.3 percent); they were shooting 62.5 percent (95-of-152) through the first seven games.

WELL CONDITIONED
Montana has three players who rank among the top 100 for minutes played. Ahmaad Rorie is averaging 37:06 per game, including all 40 vs. UC Santa Barbara (Nov. 21). Fellow juniors Michael Oguine (34:36) and Bobby Moorehead (34:30) are also among the nation's leaders. In fact, Montana is one of 10 Division-I schools nationally to have three players average 34:00 per game or better.

Montana has used a small rotation, with just eight players averaging at least 10 minutes per game and six with more than 13. Twelve different Grizzlies played at Penn State (Nov. 15), but just six played more than 7 minutes. It was the same two nights prior at Pitt (Nov. 13), as Travis DeCuire used the same five players throughout the final 7:34 of the second half and all 5 minutes of overtime.

LOOKING AHEAD
Montana will close the non-conference portion of its season on Friday in a game at Washington. It marks the fourth game against Power-5 competition (not including a canceled game at UCLA).

Additional game notes, including statistics, tables and more...

University of Montana Athletics

Griz set to host non-conference home finale, honor Delvon Anderson

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Jamar Akoh

Bobby Moorehead

Karl Nicholas

Michael Oguine

Ahmaad Rorie

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