Griz return home to host Montana Tech on Monday

Monday, November 18

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

Montana Tech

Tickets

Photo by: David Staggs

11/17/2019 9:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana vs. Montana Tech / Monday / 7 p.m. / Missoula, Mont.

TV: SWX Montana
Watch: Pluto TV (ch. 237) / Watch worldwide
Listen: KGVO (1290 AM, 98.3 FM) / Listen worldwide on TuneIn
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Tickets

CAN THE CATS
It's Griz-Cat week for football, which means both universities are again collecting non-perishable canned-food items to see which school can donate more for their respective cities. Fans can bring five canned-food items to Dahlberg Arena on Monday for free admission.

FANS UNABLE TO MAKE IT CAN WATCH ON SWX
SWX Montana has picked up the broadcast rights for Montana's non-conference home games against Montana Tech on Monday and Texas Southern on Nov. 25. That means that seven of Montana's non-conference games will be broadcast on national or regional television. The Grizzlies have three games on the Pac-12 Networks, two on SWX Montana and one on AT&T Sports Rocky Mountain. Last Saturday's game was on SEC Network+.

More broadcast announcements are expected for the conference season. Additionally, all other contests can be streamed worldwide for free.

COLLEGIATE HOOPS ROADSHOW
Monday's game is part of the Collegiate Hoops Roadshow, presented by AtmosAir. The Roadshow includes 11 schools from coast to coast. Montana's other games in the Roadshow are against Texas Southern and Coppin State, in addition to last week's contest at Arkansas.

SCOUTING MONTANA TECH

Montana Tech is 3-3 on the young season, scoring 151 points in a 99-point victory over Salish Kootenai College. Montana Tech also played Idaho State in an exhibition, losing by 10 points, 62-52.
Aided by its big win over Salish Kootenai College, Montana Tech is averaging 94.8 points per game and is shooting .494 from the floor. The Orediggers are also connecting on 43.2 percent of their three-point attempts and are forcing 20.3 turnovers per game.
Junior guard Sindou Diallo was named the Frontier Conference Player of the Week last Monday after averaging 29.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals across a pair of games.
Diallo (19.8 per game) is one of five Orediggers who are averaging double figures for scoring. Senior guard Troy Owens Jr. ranks second with 14.5 points per contest, while junior forward Taylor England is averaging 13.8, in addition to a team-best 8.0 rebounds per game and a .583 shooting percentage.
England and Mesa Williams, a junior guard/forward, were selected to the preseason All-Frontier Conference team last month. Both players were second-team honoree as a season ago, in addition to honorable mention All-Americans.
Montana Tech has 12 Montana natives on its roster, including junior Derrius Collins (Hellgate) and freshman Bridger Deden (Hellgate) of Missoula.
Montana Tech was picked to finish fifth in the Frontier Conference preseason coaches' poll.
Adam Hiatt is in his fourth season at Montana Tech, leading the Orediggers to their most wins (17) and first postseason victory in 20 seasons. Montana Tech is assisted by Derek Selvig, a Griz standout from 2007-08 through 2011-12, who accumulated more than 800 career points and 500 rebounds.
With Montana Tech playing at the NAIA level, Monday's contest will count as an exhibition for the Orediggers, but will count as a regular-season contest for the Griz.

SERIES VS. THE OREDIGGERS
Montana is 47-11 all-time against Montana Tech, in a series that dates back to the 1907-08 season when the school was then known as Montana School of Mines. Seven of Montana's losses came in a two-year span in 1943-44 and 1944-45, when the Grizzlies were playing with an all-freshman team due to WWII.

Montana has won 12 in a row in the series dating back to 1947-48, including 10 meetings in the past 20 years. Travis DeCuire is 2-0 against the Orediggers, beating them 86-44 in 2014-15, during his first season in Missoula, and 79-55 a season ago. In the 2014-15 game, the Grizzlies out-shot the Orediggers, 53.3 to 29.4 percent, while forcing Montana Tech into 17 turnovers. Last season, Kendal Manuel scored 17 points, while Timmy Falls and Sayeed Pridgett were also in double figures. The Grizzlies shot 52.7 percent and forced 20 turnovers.

DECUIRE AGAINST NON-DI TEAMS
In six seasons under Travis DeCuire, Montana is 10-0 against non-Division-I teams. The Grizzlies are averaging 76.6 points per game in those contests, but more impressive, the defense is limiting the opponents to 55.1 points per game, including just 50 points last week in a win over MSU Northern. The Grizzlies have won every game by at least nine points, and by an average margin of 21.5.

A LOOK BACK: ARKANSAS
Montana made a rare trip to SEC Country on Saturday afternoon, falling to an Arkansas team that is 3-0 on the young season and is receiving top-25 votes. Going up against one of the nation's top defenses, Montana fell 64-46.

Despite the low scoring numbers, Montana played better against Arkansas' stout defense than previous opponents have. The 46 points scored were the most given up by the Razorbacks this season, while the Grizzlies' shooting percentage (32.1), three-point percentage (12.5) and turnovers (23) were all better than Arkansas' season averages, which rank among the nation's best.
Montana 46 points scored were its fewest scored in a game since also scoring 46 on Dec. 19, 2015 at Kansas.
Montana held Arkansas nearly 15 points below its season scoring average and limited the Razorbacks to .370 shooting after they entered the contest ranked 32^nd nationally with a .509 shooting percentage.
After shooting 25.8 percent from the floor in the first half, Montana improved to 40.0 in the second half. Montana actually out-shot Arkansas in the second half, 40.0 to 38.5.
The Grizzlies made two of their final six three-point attempts – both from Kendal Manuel – after missing their first 10 attempts.
Despite so many missed shots, Montana out-rebounded Arkansas, 39-37. The Grizzlies also out-blocked the Razorbacks, 5-2.
Senior Sayeed Pridgett led Montana for scoring (13) and rebounding (7) for the third game in a row.
After starting the game 1-for-9 shooting, senior Kendal Manuel finished with 12 points, including a pair of triples.
Sophomore Mack Anderson had one of the better games of his young career, scoring nine points on 4-of-7 shooting and recording a career-high seven rebounds (tied for the team lead). He played 25 minutes and blocked two shots.
Junior Timmy Falls saw the most action of his junior season, playing 30 minutes after logging just 31 through the first two games combined. He had a team-high three assists.
Freshman Derrick Carter-Hollinger had eight points on 3-of-5 shooting, including five points in the first half, which led the Grizzlies. He also had five rebounds.
Montana once again used a rotation of just eight players, starting the same five for the third consecutive game.

THE SEASON SO FAR

Montana enters Monday's contest with a 1-2 record. Both of the Grizzlies' losses have come on the road to Power-5 opponents.
Montana won its home opener for the fifth time in six tries under head coach Travis DeCuire, defeating MSU Northern, 64-50, last Sunday. Since the turn of the century, the Grizzlies are 17-3 in home openers.
Montana has used the same starting lineup in all three contests, starting a pair of freshmen. The Grizzlies have only used eight players.
Montana has committed 14.3 personal fouls per game, which ranks in the top 50 nationally. The Grizzlies also rank in the top 100 nationally for three-point defense (.274, 71^st), blocked shots (4.7, 75^th) and scoring defense (62.3, 95^th).
Montana already has three scoring runs of more than 10 points (14-0 vs. Stanford, 13-0 vs. MSU Northern and 11-0 vs. MSU Northern).
Montana turned the ball over just nine times vs. MSU Northern, while forcing the Lights into 18 mistakes. In the Grizzlies' two losses, however, Montana has turned the ball over an average of 20.5 times per game.
Over the final nearly 16 minutes last Sunday, MSU Northern shot just 14.3 percent from the floor (3-of-21) with five turnovers. Montana also held Arkansas 14 percent below its season average for shooting.
Senior Sayeed Pridgett ranks 57th nationally with 20.0 points per game. He has led the Grizzlies for scoring in all three contests, including a career-high 30 vs. MSU Northern, a game in which he scored 14 consecutive Griz points in the second half.
In addition to his scoring, Pridgett has also led Montana for minutes played in all three contests and ranks 16^th nationally, averaging 38 minutes played per game. Pridgett has led the Grizzlies for assists, rebounding and steals twice, and blocking once.
Freshman Derrick Carter-Hollinger had a memorable debut, scoring 15 points and pulling down six boards off the bench at Stanford. Through three games, he has made 11 of his 15 shot attempts.
Just a true freshman, Josh Vazquez ranks second on the team with 31.3 minutes played per game while running the point. He had 11 points in his collegiate debut at Stanford.
Freshman Kyle Owens has started all three games this season, scoring 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting vs. MSU Northern last week.
Sophomore Mack Anderson has earned the first three starts of his career. At Arkansas, he had one of his stronger games, scoring nine points (4-of-7 shooting) while blocking two shots and leading the team with a career-high seven rebounds.
After leading the Griz for three-point shooting a season ago, Kendal Manuel had a rough start to his senior season, connecting on just 10-of-42 shot attempts through the first 2.5 games, including 5-for-20 from deep. He was 0-for-8 from the floor in the first half at Arkansas before righting the ship and making five of his final eight shot attempts, including 2-for-5 shooting from three-point range.

FRESH FACES
Due to a variety of factors, including injury and transfer rules, just eight of Montana's 15 players have suited up for the Grizzlies' this season. Montana has played a tight rotation, with eight players seeing time in both games so far this season.

Four of the players – Derrick Carter-Hollinger, Eddy Egun, Kyle Owens and Josh Vazquez – made their collegiate debuts last week at Stanford. Vazquez's 30.3 minutes-per-game average ranks second on the team, while Carter-Hollinger is fourth (23.3) and Owens is fifth (20.7).

Overall, 46.0 percent of the team's minutes played have been recorded by players who were in high school or redshirting last season. The four freshmen also account for 39.0 percent of the team's scoring and 37.6 percent of its rebounding.

STARTING THEM YOUNG
Kyle Owens and Josh Vazquez have drawn starts for all three games in 2019-20, marking the first time since 2014 that a pair of Montana true freshmen have started in the same game (Mario Dunn and Brandon Gfeller vs. Sacramento State on March 6, 2014).

Dunn and Gfeller started the same game just once that season, and one would have to go back to 2004-05 (Andrew Strait and Matt Martin) to find the last time it has happened multiple times. Still, Strait and Martin started together as true freshmen just four times, and neither started to begin the season.

Owens and Vazquez have the chance to become the first set of true freshmen to start more than four games together since Montana began tracking starters in 1979-80.

LOOKING AHEAD
Montana's non-conference schedule will remain a challenge later this week as the Grizzlies travel to Washington. The Huskies are currently ranked No. 20 nationally and are 2-1 on the young season.