Griz stay on the road to face former Big Sky foe North Dakota

Montana at North Dakota
Monday, Nov. 15 at 6 p.m. (MT)

Watch: Midco Sports (regional TV) / UND Insider
Listen: KGVO (1290 AM/98.3 FM) / The Varsity Network
Live Stats: SIDEARM

Following a Saturday-night game in Starkville, Mississippi and a Sunday morning practice in Hoover, Alabama, Montana's trek across the country continues as it travels to Grand Forks, North Dakota, to take on former Big Sky foe North Dakota (Monday, 6 p.m. MT).

While Montana will be playing its third game in the first week of the basketball season, the Fighting Hawks have been off since they opened the season with a 75-60 home loss to Milwaukee on Tuesday. The Grizzlies have had strong success over the Fighting Hawks, winning nine consecutive matchups in the series since Travis DeCuire took over the program in 2014-15.

Monday's game will be broadcast regionally on Midco Sports and can be streamed through a UND Insider subscription. Fans can also hear Riley Corcoran's call on KGVO radio and The Varsity Network app.

Back to work this morning. Thanks to the @hoovermetplex of Alabama for hosting us!#GrizHoops #BigSkyMBB #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/lqVrzOuz6C
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) November 14, 2021

SCOUTING NORTH DAKOTA

North Dakota lost its season opener on Tuesday, falling at home to Milwaukee, 75-60. It was the program's first home-opening loss since 2009, snapping an 11-game winning streak.
UND shot just .290 from the field, with 42 percent of its shot attempts coming from 3-point range (.276).
Making his collegiate debut, freshman Paul Bruns led the Fighting Hawks with 13 points, to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Senior guard Ethan Igbanugo was also in double figures, scoring 11 points and making three 3-pointers.
UND out-rebounded Milwaukee in the defeat, 46 to 38, led by freshman forward Brian Mathews' seven boards.
UND's only lead in the game came at 3-2 and lasted for 32 seconds.
UND brought in nine newcomers during the offseason, while also bringing back five letterwinners and three starters (Igbanugo, Bentiu Panoan and Mitchell Sueker).
Sueker is the Fighting Hawks' top-returning rebounder (4.0 per game), also chipping in with 7.7 points per game during his junior season. Igbanugo averaged 8.3 points per contest in 2020-21 and led the Fighting Hawks with 40 3-pointers, making at least one in all but one game.
UND went 9-17 a season ago, including 8-8 in the Summit League. Despite a handful of sub-.500 seasons recently, the Fighting Hawks are just four years removed from a 22-10 campaign in 2016-17 – including an 11-2 record at home – that saw them win the Big Sky tournament title and advance to the NCAA tournament.
The Fighting Hawks were picked to finish seventh in the Summit League preseason poll.
Paul Sather is in his third season in Grand Forks, previously serving as Northern State's head coach and advancing to the NCAA Division II championship game in 2018. He has more than 300 career victories as a head coach and is 24-36 at the Division-I level.

SERIES VS. THE FIGHTING HAWKS
Once members of the Big Sky Conference together, Montana and North Dakota have met on the hardwood 23 times. The Grizzlies have had plenty of success against the Fighting Hawks, going 19-6 all-time. Montana has won nine consecutive games in the series since Travis DeCuire took over as head coach.

DeCuire is a perfect 3-0 against North Dakota in Grand Forks, with the most-recent meeting, in February 2018, setting a school record with the program's seventh consecutive true road victory.

The two teams first met in 1929-30, and then twice in the 1940s and in four consecutive seasons in the 1960s. They wouldn't play again until 2008-09, where they will now have met in 10 of the past 13 seasons. The most-recent meeting came in December 2019 in Missoula, a non-conference matchup the Grizzlies won 77-70.

Four current Grizzlies played in that contest, with the group totaling 13 rebounds (five from Mack Anderson) and 12 points (six from Derrick Carter-Hollinger).

Gallery: (11-13-2021) MBB: at Mississippi State (11.13.21)

NOTES FROM MISSISSIPPI STATE

Montana's 37-point defeat at Mississippi State was the Grizzlies' largest margin of loss since November 2015, when Montana lost by 42 points at Kansas. The Grizzlies are now 0-11 all-time against current members of the SEC.
For the second consecutive game, Montana used a starting lineup featuring sophomores Josh Bannan, Robby Beasley III and Brandon Whitney, junior transfer Lonnell Martin Jr. and senior Mack Anderson. Whitney led the Griz with 28 minutes, followed by Bannan (27) and Martin (26).
Montana was led offensively by junior forward Derrick Carter-Hollinger, who scored 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting (2-of-2 from 3-point range). He has now been in double figures in both games this season, after doing so just once during an injury-plagued sophomore season.
Senior forward Mack Anderson hauled in a team-most eight rebounds, in addition to two assists, two points and one blocked shot. Even bigger, going up against a physical team with plenty of size, Anderson was whistled for just three fouls in 19 minutes (in 2020-21, Anderson was called for a foul every 4 minutes on the court, fouling out nine times).
Montana made nine 3-pointers on the night, which would have tied for a season high a season ago. The Grizzlies attempted 31 3-pointers, eight more than they took at any point last season (23 vs. Eastern Washington).
Overall, more than 56 percent of Montana's makes and shot attempts came from distance, as the Grizzlies recorded just 12 points in the paint.
Montana shot just .291 as a team, its lowest percentage since December 2018 at Arizona (.269, 14-of-52).
Montana finished 8-of-11 from the charity stripe, but didn't take its first free-throw attempt until the 11:49 mark of the second half.
Following the first 3 minutes of the second half, Montana settled in and out-scored the Bulldogs over the final 17 minutes (33 to 31). Montana also scored 33 points over the final 17 minutes (1.94 points per minute) after scoring 16 points through the first 23 minutes (0.70).
Despite averaging just 5.4 made 3-pointers per game a season ago (318^th nationally), Mississippi State was hot from distance against the Griz, making 13-of-23 3-point attempts (.565). It was the most 3-pointers Montana has allowed since Creighton connected on 13 in November 2018.
Making the stat even more surprising, Montana ranked 52^nd nationally at defending the long ball last year, with opponents making just 31.2 percent of their 3-point attempts.
Montana forced Mississippi State into turnovers on three of the Bulldogs' first four offensive possessions – Mississippi State didn't score its first point until its sixth possession, 3:43 into the contest – but the Bulldogs finished the game with just nine giveaways (six over the game's final 37:33).
After Montana took a 2-0 lead, Mississippi State scored the game's next 13 points – needing just 2:32 to do so, making five consecutive shots including three in transition off of Griz turnovers.
During an 8-minute stretch coupled between both halves, Mississippi State used a 26-2 run to fully put the game out of reach. The run included a 13-0 start to the second half as the Bulldogs went on top 55-16 just 2:43 into the period.
During the 8-minute stretch, Montana shot 1-of-10 with two turnovers compared to 9-of-11 for Mississippi State (5-for-5 to open the second half).
Mississippi State used two 13-0 runs during the game, in addition to another 9-0 spurt.
Montana was out-rebounded 47 to 28, including 10 to five on the offensive glass, which led to 16 second-chance points for Mississippi State.
Freshman guard Jack Wetzel made his collegiate debut, playing the final 2 minutes and taking one shot attempt.

LOOKING AHEAD
After a road trip that saw Montana travel more than 2,000 miles away from home and sleep in four cities in five days (Starkville, Mississippi; Birmingham, Alabama; Grand Forks, North Dakota; Fargo, North Dakota), Montana will return home to play Omaha in its only game of the week (Saturday, 7 p.m.). The two teams last met in December 2019, with the Grizzlies falling on the road in overtime.

Bannan finds Carter-Hollinger in the corner for 3!

💻: https://t.co/pmLdUVuGnO #GrizHoops #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/X6jpBIhhya
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) November 14, 2021

Griz stay on the road to face former Big Sky foe North Dakota

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Mack Anderson

Josh Bannan

Robby Beasley III

Derrick Carter-Hollinger

Lonnell Martin Jr.

Jack Wetzel

Brandon Whitney

University of Montana Athletics

Griz stay on the road to face former Big Sky foe North Dakota

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Mack Anderson

Josh Bannan

Robby Beasley III

Derrick Carter-Hollinger

Lonnell Martin Jr.

Jack Wetzel

Brandon Whitney

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