1 win from No. 1

Montana at Sacramento State / Saturday / 8 p.m. (MT) / Sacramento Calif.

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IT ALL COMES DOWN TO SATURDAY
After 19 games, the conference title will ultimately be decided on Saturday, the final game of the regular season. The good news for Montana is that the Grizzlies are in complete control. The formula is simple: win on Saturday and Montana will win at least a share of the Big Sky regular-season title for the second year in a row and earn the No. 1 seed for next week's Big Sky Championships in Boise.

BREAKING DOWN THE BIG SKY

Montana and Northern Colorado are guaranteed to finish as the top two seeds, regardless of Saturday's results.
Weber State and Eastern Washington have also clinched a top-five spot and a bye into the quarterfinals.
The winner of Saturday's Eastern Washington/Weber State game will earn the No. 3 seed.
If Montana State beats Portland State on Saturday, the Bobcats will earn the No. 4 seed. If the Vikings win, though, they would earn either the No. 4 or No. 5 seed, depending on the Eastern Washington/Weber State result, and bump the Bobcats down to No. 6.
Should Montana win on Saturday and play as the No. 1 seed, the Grizzlies would face Sacramento State, Northern Arizona or Idaho State in their quarterfinal game.

SCOUTING SACRAMENTO STATE

Sacramento State is 14-14 on the year and 8-11 in Big Sky play, despite beginning the year 0-4.
The Hornets are coming off of a 70-67 win over Montana State. In that game, Chibueze Jacobs scored a career-high 19 points off the bench while Joshua Patton had a double-double, including 16 boards. The Hornets closed the game on a 12-6 run.
Overall, Sac State has won three of its past five games overall, including four of its past five home games.
Sac State is 5-4 at home during Big Sky play, but three of the four losses have been by five points or fewer.
Ten of Sac State's 19 Big Sky games have been decided by six points or fewer.
Marcus Graves leads the Big Sky for assists (5.6 per game) and steals (1.8) and ranks in the top five for scoring (16.9). He has scored in double figures in 14 consecutive games.
Patton is the Hornets' top rebounder (6.8 per game, sixth in Big Sky). He is also among the league leaders for blocked shots (1.5, third) and shooting percentage (.584, fourth), and is averaging 12.5 points per game.
Sac State relies on its defense, leading the Big Sky for steals (7.3) and turnover margin (+2.3).
The Hornets are one of the worst three-point shooting teams, however, ranking 10th for three-point percentage (.334) and ninth for three-point defense (.380).
Sac State is one of the nation's most-improved teams after going 7-25 a year ago.

SERIES VS. THE HORNETS
Montana has had plenty of success against Sacramento State, going 41-9 in 50 meetings. The series includes three separate winning streaks of at least eight games, including 15 Griz wins in a row from 2006-07 through 2013-14. The two teams have met at least once every season since 1992-93. Montana holds a commanding 25-2 advantage in Missoula, but wins have been harder to come by in Sacramento. Overall on the road, the Grizzlies are 15-7, but prior to last year's victory, had lost three in a row.

Five different Grizzlies have a double-figures scoring game in their careers vs. Sacramento State, including six by Michael Oguine and five in five games for Ahmaad Rorie. He had 21 points and four assists in the January meeting. As a freshman in 2016-17, Sayeed Pridgett scored 28 points vs. the Hornets.

In January, Montana out-shot Sac State, 54.4 percent to 38.2, including 65.0 (13-of-20) to 21.4 (3-of-14) from long range. The Grizzlies were also +14 on the glass, despite committing 19 turnovers. Graves was the Hornets' leading scorer (10 points), but was held to 2-of-12 shooting. Last year in Sacramento, Rorie scored 19 of his 23 points in the second half, helping the Grizzlies overcome a halftime deficit. Montana shot 54 percent from deep and were +14 on the boards, including 15 offensive rebounds.

CHAMPIONSHIP SPEAK
Throughout its history, it's hard to find many teams across the region with more success than Montana. The Grizzlies have won 11 regular-season conference titles, 10 tournament championships and have played in the NCAA tournament 11 times. Perhaps Griz fans have never had it better than the last several years, however. A win on Saturday would clinch a regular-season Big Sky title for the fifth time in the past eight seasons (additionally, in two of the other three years, Montana finished runner-up).

Montana's 11 (for now) regular-season titles rank second to Weber State, but more recently, the Griz have asserted their dominance. Montana has the most Big Sky titles in the past decade and would be tied with Weber State since the turn of the century. Eight of the Wildcats' titles came prior to 1973.

BACK-TO-BACK
A win on Saturday would give Montana a Big Sky regular-season title for the second consecutive season. Montana was the most-recent Big Sky team to accomplish the feat, doing so in 2012 and 2013. The Grizzlies also won back-to-back regular-season championships in 1991 and 1992.

105 AND COUNTING
With Monday's win over Northern Arizona, Travis DeCuire earned his 105th win as head coach of the Griz. The number is the highest total ever by a UM coach through his first five seasons. Blaine Taylor, DeCuire's head coach while he was a player, had 104 wins through his first five seasons. Other notable coaches are Stew Morrill (98), Wayne Tinkle (91), Mike Montgomery (89), Jud Heathcote (80) and George Dahlberg (70).

DeCuire is the only coach in UM history to win 20 or more games in both of his first two seasons (he's now done it four times). The 2018 Big Sky and NABC District 6 Coach of the Year also is the fastest coach in Big Sky history to win 50 league games.

ONE... TWO... THREE?
In its history, eight different Griz coaches have won a Big Sky Conference regular-season title. Three coaches – Blaine Taylor, Wayne Tinkle and DeCuire – have won two, but none have earned a third regular-season title. DeCuire could become the first to do so with a win on Thursday.

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

We should be the ones thanking them... but a thank you from the #GrizHoops seniors to #GrizNation! pic.twitter.com/ch2zhUa8eR
— Montana Griz BB (@MontanaGrizBB) March 6, 2019

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Players Mentioned

Michael Oguine

Sayeed Pridgett

Ahmaad Rorie

University of Montana Athletics