Griz look to rebound against Portland State on Senior Night

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The Montana men's basketball team wraps up its final homestand of the season on Saturday with another chance to redeem itself from an earlier loss to Portland State, and a chance to bounce back from Thursday's tough loss to Sacramento State.

Saturday night is also senior night at UM, when head coach Travis DeCuire and his staff will send UM's class of four seniors out in style for what will be the last game of their careers at Dahlberg Arena.

THE GAME: Montana (13-14, 8-6 BSC) plays host to Portland State (12-12, 5-8) in a rematch of January's contest in Oregon where the Vikings came out 88-79 winners over the Griz.

Since then, the Griz have gone 3-4 while the Viks have gone 1-6, with four of those six losses decided in overtime, including their 92-90 loss on Thursday at Montana State.

Tipoff from Dahlberg Arena is set for 7:05 Saturday, but fans will want to be in their seats early to take in the senior day ceremonies.

SENIOR NIGHT: Montana will honor the services of four seniors, three of whom have been with the program since 2013, recruited to Missoula by former head coach Wayne Tinkle and his staff.

The transition between coaching staffs is difficult for any student-athlete, and those seniors who went through the change: Mario Dunn, Brandon Gfeller, and Jack Lopez, have each emerged as leaders on and off the court for the Griz.

"These players are important to the program overall, both short term and long term. Look on the court first. When I walked into this gym, these seniors were brought in by Coach Tinkle, and they could have very easily not bought in to my approach, which is very different. But they jumped in with both feet, they responded very positively, and we win a championship because of it," said DeCuire.

"Off the court, those guys are phenomenal in the classroom and the community. I think they are what Montana student-athletes should stand for in terms of their individual brand. So, they're very important to everything we've accomplished with them here, and I'm going to hate to see them walk away."

Also being honored on senior night is Walter Wright, who transferred to Montana ahead of the 2015-16 season and proceeded to make an immediate impact for the Griz, eventually earning an All-Big Sky Honorable Mention following his junior year.

IMPLICATIONS: Thursday's loss to Sacramento State drops the Griz into a tie for fifth place on the Big Sky table with Montana State, both carrying 8-6 league records.

Portland State enters the game at No. 8 in the league standings, looking to make a run and gain momentum before the league tourney starts.

If the tournament in Reno were to start today, Montana would take the No. 5 seed, the last slot to earn a first-round bye. Portland State would take the No. 8 seed and face No. 9 seeded Northern Arizona in the first round, with the winner advancing to face the No. 1 seed Weber State Wildcats.

Montana's position at No. 5 would square them off against No. 4 Idaho in the second round of the tourney, the winner of which would advance to play the winner of Weber State's second round game. Meaning: Montana could wind up on the same side of the bracket as Weber State, creating some potential early round fireworks in Reno.

FUN STUFF: In addition to senior night festivities, kids 12-and-under get in for free to Saturday's Griz game, and all fans will be treated to a performance by the Little Grizzly Dancers at halftime.

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

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, and a link to live stats is available at GoGriz.com.

SERIES HISTORY: The Griz lead the all-time series with the Vikings 35-23, and hold a 24-13 advantage in Missoula.

LAST MATCHUP: Montana couldn't bounce back from a 22-point second-half shortfall despite a late comeback attempt, as the Vikings snapped a four-game Grizzly win streak with an 88-79 win in Portland on Jan. 20.

In a game with 16 lead changes, PSU went on an 18-3 run to open the second half that UM was unable to recover from.

Ahmaad Rorie scored a career-high 29 points in the loss for Montana, and Fabijan Krslovic also had a career-high night with 24 points. The Vikings had five players score in double figures, including 15 each from Calaen Robinson and Zach Gengler and a double-double from De'Sean Parsons with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

GRIZ BITS: Thursday's loss to Sac. State marked the first time under head coach Travis DeCuire Montana has shut an opponent out from behind the three-point line, with the Hornets going 0-7 in the UM loss… Montana is currently 7-5 at home this season, the first time UM has posted five home losses since the 2007-08 season… Montana did not take a single trip to the free-throw line in the first half against Sac. State, going 0-0 from the charity stripe. That's the only time this season Montana hasn't shot a single free throw in a half… Thursday's loss to Sac. State was also the first time all season Montana lost when holding its opponent to 70-or-less points. The final score was 67-65… Despite giving up 13 turnovers against Sac. State, Montana remains the No. 1 team in the Big Sky in fewest turnovers per game and is ranked No. 22 in the nation.

Griz look to rebound against Portland State on Senior Night

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Players Mentioned

Mario Dunn

Brandon Gfeller

Fabijan Krslovic

Jack Lopez

Ahmaad Rorie

Walter Wright

University of Montana Athletics