Montana announces home-heavy basketball schedule

Montana men's basketball will make its return on Tuesday, Nov. 9, and a season after playing without fans inside Dahlberg Arena, Griz Nation will be rewarded with an exciting home slate.

In fact, Montana will play 17 home games, its largest number since 2014-15, and a figure that has been reached just twice in the past three decades.

"As we all know, getting teams to come to Missoula has been a challenge, so this schedule has really been in the works for a couple of years now," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "I'm really excited with how it came together, and that after a year apart, we get so many games in front of our home fans."

The season will kick off Nov. 9 vs. Dickinson State, coached by former Griz great Derek Selvig. Other highlights of Montana's home non-conference slate include a date with Omaha, after the annual Griz-Cat football game (Nov. 20); a home tournament featuring three exciting mid-major teams (Nov. 24-26); and a contest against Air Force of the Mountain West (Dec. 8).

The Zootown Classic will be a round-robin-style tournament over the Thanksgiving holiday and will feature two games each of the three days. The Grizzlies will open the week against UC San Diego, a team that just two years ago was a Division-II power, going 30-1 and opening the national tournament as a No. 1 seed before COVID-19 put a halt to the season. On Thanksgiving Day, the Grizzlies will host a UNC Wilmington team that made back-to-back NCAA tournaments in 2016 and 2017 after winning three consecutive Colonial Athletic Association titles. The tournament will conclude with a game against Southern Mississippi of Conference USA. The Golden Eagles made the NCAA tournament in 2012 and back-to-back NIT quarterfinals appearances in 2013 and 2014. They had a 20-win season as recently as 2019.

"We're hopeful we'll be able to do this every year, or at least regularly," DeCuire said regarding the home tournament. "No. 1, it gives us more home games, and gives our fans more basketball to enjoy, and No. 2, it's done in a format where we're playing on back-to-back days and preparing us for the conference tournament."

Montana was originally scheduled to host Air Force in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the game back a year. It will mark the fourth time under DeCuire that a Mountain West school has visited Dahlberg Arena. The Grizzlies are 2-1 in those contests, with a pair of instant classics.

In Montana's 2015-16 season opener, the Grizzlies played a Boise State team that advanced to the NCAA tournament later that year. With 21 points from Martin Breunig and 17 more from Michael Oguine – in his collegiate debut – The Griz upset the Broncos, 74-72, with Breunig corralling a rebound with 5 seconds remaining to seal the win.

A year later, in a game that alternated leads throughout, Montana missed a layup as the game expired, narrowly falling to Wyoming, 73-72. Later that year, the Grizzlies left no doubt in an 81-62 victory over San Jose State.

"Any time we can get a regional opponent to come to us, especially someone from 'larger conferences', is huge," DeCuire said. "These are the games that our fans ask for, so to have the Mountain West and Conference USA in our facility, we need to pack the place and take advantage of it."

The Griz and Falcons have faced 11 times previously (6-5), but December will mark the first time the Academy will visit Missoula since 1984-85.

Two days after the Griz host Air Force, they will host Yellowstone Christian College (Dec. 10).

Montana's home tilt vs. Omaha is part of the Big Sky-Summit League Challenge, which is now in Year 3 of four. In addition to Omaha visiting Missoula, the Grizzlies will travel to former Big Sky foe North Dakota on Nov. 15.

Prior to making the trip to Grand Forks, Montana will once again dip into SEC Country, facing Mississippi State (Nov. 13) for the first time since 1994-95. The Bulldogs are averaging 21.5 wins per season over the past four years – despite two shortened seasons – and reached the NCAA tournament in 2019 and the NIT finals in 2021.

Meetings with SEC schools had been few and far between prior to DeCuire's arrival, but this will mark the third year in a row that Montana has played a school from the SEC. Montana played at Georgia in 2020 and Arkansas in 2019, in addition to trips to Ole Miss in 2016 and Texas A&M in 2015 (NIT).

The Grizzlies' other Power-5 game will be a more familiar foe in Oregon of the Pac-12 (Nov. 29). The Griz and Ducks will battle for the third time in the past six seasons.

Oregon has been one of the nation's top programs in recent memory, playing in seven of the past eight NCAA tournaments and reaching the Sweet 16 in four in a row, including the Elite Eight in 2016 and Final Four in 2017.

Montana will conclude non-conference play Dec. 19 at Santa Clara, a team that has posted three consecutive winning seasons, including 20 victories in 2019-20.

"I'm really excited with how everything came together," DeCuire said of his team's non-conference slate. "I think it gives us a good opportunity to have some success, especially with so many games at home, but also to challenge ourselves. We always want to compete at the highest level, and some of these games, like Mississippi State and Oregon, allow us to do so, and have really prepared us those years we've been fortunate enough to play in the postseason."

As previously announced, the Big Sky Conference will transition back to its traditional 20-game, home-and-home format for the 2020-21 season.

After one week of league play in December – the Grizzlies travel to Sacramento State (Dec. 2) and Northern Colorado (Dec. 4) – conference season will return in full around the New Year, with Montana hosting Idaho State (Dec. 30) and Weber State (Jan. 1).

Other home games include: Southern Utah (Jan. 13), Idaho (Jan. 27), Eastern Washington (Jan. 29), Northern Arizona (Feb. 10), Portland State (Feb. 12), Montana State (Feb. 26), Northern Colorado (March 3) and Sacramento State (March 5).

The Big Sky tournament will once again be held in Boise, Idaho, March 9-12.

"The format worked last year, with everything that we all were going through just to have a season, but this is how it should be," DeCuire said of the Big Sky schedule. "The 10 home games are huge, and it's way more balanced, which is good for the league."

The Grizzlies are coming off a season in which they hit their stride late, taking a four-game winning streak into the Big Sky tournament where they then beat Idaho in the first round and upset No. 3 seed Weber State in the quarterfinals. Montana had no seniors and returned nearly every contributor from its 2020-21 squad, including: 86.5 percent of the team's minutes, 85.8 percent of its scoring, 82.7 percent of its rebounding, 94.1 percent of its assists, 89.8 percent of its steals, 77.8 percent of its blocked shots and 84.3 percent of its starts. Additionally, Montana brought in three freshmen and a pair of transfers – all who will have immediate eligibility.

2021-22 Montana Basketball Schedule
Tuesday, Nov. 9 vs. Dickinson State
Saturday, Nov. 13 at Mississippi State
Monday, Nov. 15 at North Dakota
Saturday, Nov. 20 vs. Omaha
Wednesday, Nov. 24 vs. UC San Diego
Thursday, Nov. 25 vs. UNC Wilmington
Friday, Nov. 26 vs. Southern Mississippi
Monday, Nov. 29 at Oregon
Thursday, Dec. 2 at Sacramento State
Saturday, Dec. 4 at Northern Colorado
Wednesday, Dec. 8 vs. Air Force
Friday, Dec. 10 vs. Yellowstone Christian College
Sunday, Dec. 19 at Santa Clara
Thursday, Dec. 30 vs. Idaho State
Saturday, Jan. 1 vs. Weber State
Thursday, Jan. 6 at Eastern Washington
Saturday, Jan. 8 at Montana State
Thursday, Jan. 13 vs. Southern Utah
Thursday, Jan. 20 at Portland State
Saturday, Jan. 22 at Northern Arizona
Thursday, Jan. 27 vs. Idaho
Saturday, Jan. 29 vs. Eastern Washington
Thursday, Feb. 3 at Weber State
Saturday, Feb. 5 at Idaho State
Thursday, Feb. 10 vs. Northern Arizona
Saturday, Feb. 12 vs. Portland State
Thursday, Feb. 17 at Idaho
Thursday, Feb. 24 at Southern Utah
Saturday, Feb. 26 vs. Montana State
Thursday, March 3 vs. Northern Colorado
Saturday, March 5 vs. Sacramento State
March 9-12 at Big Sky Conference tournament (Boise, Idaho)
Tip times and TV designations will be announced at a later date

University of Montana Athletics

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