Unbeaten Griz return home to host defending champs

MONTANA VS. NORTH DAKOTA
Thursday, Jan. 4 / 7 p.m. MT / Missoula, Mont.
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Coming off of two of their best performances of the season, the Montana Grizzlies return home to host North Dakota and Northern Colorado in Big Sky Conference action. North Dakota won the 2016-17 Big Sky title while Northern Colorado is currently tied with Montana atop the league standings.

Both Montana and North Dakota rank among the nation's leaders for turnovers forced, with the Grizzlies averaging 17.6 turnovers per game (15th in NCAA) and the Fighting Hawks averaging 8.6 steals (25th).

North Dakota is led by one of the league's top players, Geno Crandall. Crandall, a 2016-17 All-Big Sky second-team selection and preseason all-conference pick, averages 16.6 points on .476 shooting, in addition to 2.1 steals per game. He is one of six players in the Big Sky to rank in the top 15 for scoring and steals; Montana's Ahmaad Rorie and Michael Oguine are two of the others.

The Fighting Hawks have five players averaging double figures for scoring, including Dale Jones, who has posted 10.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.

While North Dakota excels in forcing turnovers, the rest of the Fighting Hawks' defense has struggled. They rank 334th nationally for both opponent scoring (82.2 points per game) and rebounding (31.6 per game) and 344th for opponent field-goal percentage (.500).

Montana has won four of its past five games, allowing just 62.6 points per game during that span. The Grizzlies opened Big Sky Conference action with back-to-back road wins over Northern Arizona and Southern Utah, holding both opponents to season lows for field-goal percentage. Additionally, the Grizzlies are a perfect 5-0 at home this season.

SERIES VS. THE FIGHTING HAWKS
Montana and North Dakota have played 20 times, with the Grizzlies holding a dominant 15-5 record, including a 9-1 mark in Missoula.

Like Northern Arizona and Southern Utah – Montana's first two opponents to begin conference play – Travis DeCuire has never lost to North Dakota. He enters Thursday with a 5-0 mark against the Fighting Hawks, winning all three meetings in Missoula. In fact, Montana has won eight of the last nine contests overall, and 15 of 18 since beginning the series with back-to-back losses.

The two teams first met in 1929-30, and then again twice in the 1940s and in four consecutive seasons in the 1960s. They wouldn't play again until 2008-09 and 2009-10 – both Griz wins in Missoula – and have played at least once each of the past seven seasons since North Dakota joined the Big Sky Conference.

Fabijan Krslovic has played in all five games of Montana's win streak over North Dakota, averaging 7.6 points and 5.0 boards per contest. Most recently, in a win last season in Grand Forks, Krslovic had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

SCOUTING NORTH DAKOTA

North Dakota is 4-9 on the season, including 0-2 in Big Sky action. The Fighting Hawks have lost seven consecutive games overall and are 0-5 in true road contests.
Four of UND's losses have been by single digits, including an overtime loss at Gonzaga.
UND ranks 25th nationally, averaging 8.6 steals per game.
On the flip side, the Fighting Hawks rank last in the conference for field-goal defense, three-point field-goal percentage, rebounding and blocked shots, and 11th out of 12 teams for scoring defense and three-point field-goal defense.
Junior Geno Crandall ranks 11th in the Big Sky for points (16.6 per game) and third for steals (2.1).
Dale Jones is averaging 7.2 rebounds per game (third in BSC), in addition to 10.8 points.
Conner Avants is shooting .555 (seventh in BSC). He also ranks 12th for rebounding (5.6 per game).
UND went 22-10 (14-4 BSC) in 2016-17, winning the regular-season and tournament tiles. The Fighting Hawks returned two starters and six letterwinners from that squad.
Brian Jones is in his 12th season in Grand Forks.

STARTING STRONG
Montana opened Big Sky Conference action with back-to-back victories, defeating Northern Arizona and Southern Utah on the road. The Grizzlies have begun conference play at least 2-0 three times during Travis DeCuire's four seasons, including a 6-0 start during the Grizzlies' 2015-16 championship season.

SEASON LOWS
Montana's defense held Northern Arizona to season lows for field goals (16) and field-goal percentage (.327). Both figures were season lows for UM opponents this season. Those marks lasted just two days, however, as the Griz defense was again dominant two days later. Southern Utah was held to 49 points, 15 field goals and .263 shooting.

The 49 points and 15 field goals were the fewest by an opponent since North Dakota scored 46 on 15-of-56 shooting on March 3, 2016. The field-goal percentage was the lowest by an opponent since Montana State shot .259 on Jan. 17, 2015.

BACK-TO-BACK
After winning back-to-back games to open the season (Nov. 10 and 13), Montana alternated wins and losses over its next nine games before winning back-to-back contests vs. UC Riverside and UC Irvine (Dec. 17 and 19). The Grizzlies have once again picked up consecutive wins at Northern Arizona and Southern Utah.

ROAD STREAK
After losing four consecutive road games, Montana has strung together back-to-back wins on the road, defeating Northern Arizona (Dec. 28) and Southern Utah (Dec. 30). It marks the team's first road winning streak since closing the 2016-17 regular season with victories at Weber State and Idaho State.

HOME SWEET HOME
The Grizzlies hold a perfect 5-0 mark at home this season. Over the past two decades, Montana has begun a season with five 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 109-25 (.812) since the start of the 2008-09 season. All-time, the Grizzlies boast one of the best home-court advantages, going 683-240 (.740) in their home arena.

50-PLUS
In each of its last four 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), 50 percent vs. UC Riverside (Dec. 17) and 53 percent vs. UC Irvine (Dec. 19). During those four games, the Griz are averaging 83.75 points per game and a 15.75 margin of victory.

FORCING TURNOVERS
Montana has forced more turnovers than its opponents nine times this season, also tying Penn State with 15 apiece. The Grizzlies' aggressive defense, which focuses on getting deflections, ranks 15th nationally with 17.6 turnovers forced per game and 28th nationally with a +4.0 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.

CRASHING THE GLASS
Montana has out-rebounded its opponents in 11 of its last 13 games, which is particularly impressive considering four of those contests have come against Power-5 teams and another came against a UC Irvine team that ranked No. 2 nationally for total rebounds.

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 has more offensive boards (32) than defensive (31), as does freshman Karl Nicholas (24 to 16). Prior to their game at Southern Utah (Dec. 30), the Grizzlies out-rebounded their opponents 134-69 on the offensive glass over a nine-game span. They are averaging 13.29 offensive rebounds per game this season (28th in NCAA). Nearly one-fifth of Montana's points have been second-chance opportunities (189 points; 18.2 percent).

STOUT DEFENSE
Montana ranks in the top-100 nationally for the majority of defensive statistical categories:

17.6 turnovers forced per game: 15th in NCAA (2nd in BSC)
+4.0 turnover margin: 28th (2rd)
7.9 steals per game: 51st (3rd)
67.8 points allowed per game: 89th (3rd)
4.3 blocked shots per game: 90th (1st)
+4.1 rebounding margin: 91st (2nd)

BE LIKE MIKE
Junior guard Michael Oguine, a third-team All-Big Sky selection in 2016-17, scored in double figures in the first 11 games of the season, including 29 in a win at Pitt (Nov. 13).

Oguine ranks second on the team for scoring (14.1 points per game). He ranks second on the team for assists (29), steals (20) and blocked shots (11), and despite standing at just 6-2, ranks third for rebounding, averaging 4.7 boards per game.

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 14.2 points and 7.4 rebounds, shooting 60.6 percent. He has 10 double-figure scoring games during that 12-game span, including three double-doubles. Over the past five games, he's averaged 18.4 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, including a career-high 23 points on two occasions.

ALL-AROUND RORIE
Ahmaad Rorie played in all 40 minutes vs. UC Santa Barbara and ranks 36th nationally for minutes played per game (36:08). He also ranks highly, however, for points (18.4 per game) and steals (21 per game). In fact, Rorie is one of 18 NCAA Division I players to average at least 18.0 points and 1.5 steals per game.

LOOKING AHEAD
Montana hosts Northern Colorado on Saturday, one of three unbeaten teams after the first week of Big Sky action. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.

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

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Players Mentioned

Jamar Akoh

Fabijan Krslovic

Karl Nicholas

Michael Oguine

Ahmaad Rorie

University of Montana Athletics