Montana looking to finish 2018 the way it started

Montana at Southern Utah / Monday / 6:30 p.m. / Cedar City, Utah

Pluto TV (ch. 236) / WatchBigSky.com
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Montana opened the 2018 calendar year with five consecutive road wins – part of a school-record stretch of seven true road wins in a row – and will look to close the year on another road streak, this time at three games.

The Grizzlies have won back-to-back road contests, ending the nation's longest home winning streak on Dec. 22 at South Dakota State before opening Big Sky play on Saturday with an 86-73 victory at Northern Arizona. Now the attention turns to a Southern Utah squad that has been a bit perplexing through the first seven weeks of the season.

On one hand, the Thunderbirds posted a winning non-conference record, including wins over Pepperdine (Big West) and San Jose State (Mountain West). On the other hand, they opened league play on Saturday with a dud, a 30-point home loss to Montana State – a team the Thunderbirds tied for sixth with in the preseason coaches' poll.

"I wish it'd be that easy for us, but something tells me it won't be," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "They're as athletic and big as anyone in our league, and probably as talented as anyone in our conference. Defense is going to win games, and we're going to have to come in and slow them down. We have to take care of the ball, defend the post and defend the ball screens."

Montana, on the other hand, overcame a slow start at Northern Arizona to cruise to victory. The Grizzlies trailed by nine, 41-32, with under 2 minutes to play in the opening half before scoring the game's next eight points. Coming out of the locker room, it was all Montana, as the Griz led for the final 16:30 of the game.

In the first half, Montana relied on its three-point shooting, connecting on seven triples from four different players. In the second half, the Griz dominated down low, with Jamar Akoh scoring 16 of his 22 points and Montana out-scoring the Lumberjacks 30-14 in the paint. Akoh also added nine rebounds on the day, while Ahmaad Rorie scored a season-high 24 points, including four three-pointers.

Tipoff on Monday is slated for 6:30 p.m. from Cedar City, Utah. Fans can catch the action on Pluto TV (channel 236) or the Grizzly Radio Network.

🎥 1 down, on to the next. We opened #BigSkyMBB play with a road win at Northern Arizona! #GrizHoops #GoGriz 🎥 pic.twitter.com/vK2DJthVzH
— Montana Griz BB (@MontanaGrizBB) December 30, 2018

SCOUTING SOUTHERN UTAH

Enters Monday with a 5-5 record, including a 3-1 mark at home. SUU's 92-62 loss to Montana State on Saturday was its first home loss of the season.
SUU's defense leads the Big Sky, limiting opponents to a .417 field-goal percentage. SUU also ranks second for blocked shots (3.9) and third for steals (8.3, 41st in NCAA) and turnover margin (+2.0).
SUU ranks second in the Big Sky with 39.2 rebounds per game (60th in NCAA), but the Thunderbirds are allowing a league-worst 42.0 rebounds per contest (-2.8 margin, 287th).
Has four players averaging double figures for scoring, and six with at least 8.4 points per game.
Boise State transfer Cameron Oluyitan has started all 10 games and leads the team for scoring (13.0 per game, 16th in Big Sky), minutes (28.6 per game), assists (26, 14th) and steals (16, sixth).
Andre Adams (6.0) and Harrison Butler (5.5) both rank in the top 20 in the Big Sky for rebounding while shooting a combined .570 from the field (both rank in the top 10).
Jacob Calloway has made half of his three-point attempts (19-of-38, fourth in Big Sky). He's averaging 10.0 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.
Dwayne Morgan, a UNLV transfer who averaged 12.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per game a year ago, has been limited to just four contests in 2018-19 and has not played since Nov. 23.
The Thunderbirds returned their top scorer (Brandon Better), top rebounder (Morgan), leading blocker (Ivan Madunic) and steals leader (Dre Marin) from last year's squad that went 5-13 in Big Sky play but upset both Idaho State and Idaho in the Big Sky tournament, advancing to the semifinals.
Todd Simon is in his third season leading the Thunderbirds. He is 29-55 overall.

Several former #GrizHoops stars are doing big things across the globe. Here's a look at what a few of our #NextLevelGriz have been up to! https://t.co/JsOSBwqLK8
— Montana Griz BB (@MontanaGrizBB) December 28, 2018

SERIES VS. THETHUNDERBIRDS
Montana owns plenty of success against Southern Utah, including a current 12-game winning streak in the series. Montana is 15-5 all-time against the Thunderbirds, going 3-5 from 1982-83 through 2000-01 before rattling off 12 consecutive wins, beginning in 2002-03. The two teams have played at least one time each season since 2012-13, when the Thunderbirds joined the Big Sky Conference.

Travis DeCuire is 6-0 against Southern Utah, including a 30-point road win last December. In that game, Montana used a 33-6 first-half run and at one point held the Thunderbirds without a field goal for nearly 13 minutes. Six Grizzlies scored at least eight points, led by 20 from Ahmaad Rorie. On defense, Montana limited Southern Utah to 26.3-percent shooting. Last January in Missoula, Montana held Southern Utah to just 47 points on 30.6-percent shooting. Most impressive, the Thunderbirds average nearly 24 three-point attempts and nine makes per game, but were limited to 1-of-11 shooting from long range on that night. Both Michael Oguine and Ahmaad Rorie reached 20 points, while Bobby Moorehead nearly recorded a double-double with eight points and nine boards.

Complete Match Notes in PDF format, including more notes, charts and player pages

No matter his role, @mack_anderson11 is willing to do whatever it takes to help #GrizHoops succeed.

📰 https://t.co/cq1PAPGKOP pic.twitter.com/WGFzo4XYkq
— Montana Griz BB (@MontanaGrizBB) December 29, 2018

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Players Mentioned

Jamar Akoh

Bobby Moorehead

Michael Oguine

Ahmaad Rorie

University of Montana Athletics