Griz hit the road to face familiar foes

MONTANA at AIR FORCE
Sunday, Nov. 27 / 1 p.m. / USAFA, Colo.
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MONTANA at SOUTHERN MISS
Tuesday, Nov. 29 / 6 p.m. / Hattiesburg, Miss.
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Montana basketball returns to the road after a successful home stand to take on a couple of repeat foes from the 2021-22 schedule. The Grizzlies will face Air Force on Sunday before heading east to challenge Southern Mississippi.

Both games are the second in home-and-home series for the schools, and it makes for a unique road trip that sees Montana first travel south to Colorado Springs, Colo. before making a longer second leg of the journey to Hattiesburg, Miss.

They do so after improving to .500 thanks to a 3-1 record at home during a stretch of four games in six days. The Grizzlies are in search of their first road win of the season, but will have to do it against a couple of teams that are looking for revenge.

The Griz beat Southern Miss in the championship game of the Zootown Classic 74-62 last season. A few weeks later, they welcomed a 7-1 Air Force team to Missoula and knocked them off 66-48 by holding the Falcons to just 34.8 percent shooting.

It starts a stretch of the season for Montana that sees them play five of the six games in the next month on the road. It will be an excellent test for Montana leading them into the Christmas break before Big Sky play begins.

SCOUTING AIR FORCE (3-3, 0-0 MWC)

The Falcons enter Sunday's meeting with the Griz winners of two straight games. They have been at home for five of the first six games to start this season. They will play 10 home non-conference games this season and just three on the road. They are 3-2 at home entering the Montana game.
The last two wins have come by a combined 40 points for the Falcons. They defeated USC-Upstate 83-56 and Mississippi Valley State 64-51.
Air Force finished 11-18 overall and 4-13 in the Mountain West in 20221-22. They were 7-1 last season when the played against Montana on Dec. 8. The Griz would win the matchup 66-48, and the Falcons would close the season 4-17.
This is the first of three games against Big Sky opposition for Air Force. They play Portland State (Dec. 3) and Northern Colorado (Dec. 20), both on the road.
The Falcons are out-shooting opponents .451-.388 this season. They have been excellent defensively, allowing just 62.8 points per game.
The offense shares the ball well for the Falcons. They average 14.3 assists per game.
They have struggled rebounding the ball this season, ranking 10^th in the MWC at 33.8 total rebounds per game.
Corbin Green missed the first four games of the season but has made a massive impact in his two starts this season. He leads the Falcons with 15 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. He also averages 3.5 assists and has grabbed four steals and three blocks in 37 minutes per game.
Jake Heidbreder has started every game this season for Air Force. He averages 14 points per game, hitting 15 threes on 37.5 percent shooting.
Camden Vander Zwaag also averages double-figures at 12.5 points per game. He's dished out 14 assists and been impressive from the arc, making 18 triples on 47 percent shooting.

SERIES HISTORY VS. AIR FORCE
Montana is 7-5 all-time vs. Air Force. The two teams met last season with the Grizzlies winning 66-48. The Falcons entered the game 7-1 overall, but would finish just 11-18 after the loss. Josh Bannan had his fourth of 11 double-doubles last season in the win, scoring 17 points and adding 11 rebounds.

This will be Montana's first road game against Air Force since 1983 when they defeated the Falcons 70-55 under head coach Mike Montgomery.

SCOUTING SOUTHERN MISS

The Golden Eagles are undefeated on the season, starting a perfect 6-0 and winning the Cancun Challenge.
They have already nearly matched their 2021-22 win total. They went 7-26 last year, including a 1-17 mark in Conference-USA games.
This season, they are competing in the Sun Belt. This will be the second game for Montana against a Sun Belt opponent this year. Troy, who defeated Montana in the Zootown Classic, is also a member.
The Golden Eagles are scoring 74 points per game while allowing just 55.7, the 15^th best scoring defense in the country. They do so by limiting attempts. The Golden Eagles have allowed just 48 shots per game to opponents, the fourth fewest in the nation, while also ranking in the top 10 in steals at 11.7 per game.
They won their two games in Cancun, Mexico by a combined 37 points. They knocked off Winthrop 77-52 an then defeated Purdue Fort Wayne 70-58 in the final game to win the Mayan Division.
This is the best start for the Golden Eagles since the 2006-07 season. The tournament win was their first since 2010-11.
Felipe Haase was named the tournament MVP at the Cancun Challenge. He scored 21 points in the final game of the tournament, hitting four threes while playing 39 minutes in the win.
Austin Crowley earned a spot on the Cancun Challenge All-Tournament team. The Ole Miss transfer scored 22 points in the win against Winthrop, making 4-of-7 three point attempts. He is averaging 16.5 points per game this season, scoring in double-figures in all but one game.

SERIES HISTORY VS. SOUTHERN MISS

This will be just the second meeting between the two schools and Montana's first trip to Hattiesburg. Montana won the first meeting last year on their way to a tournament championship at the Zootown Classic. The Grizzlies defeated the Golden Eagles 74-62. Josh Bannan (15 points, 10 rebounds) had his third double-double of the season and Lonnell Martin Jr. torched the Southern Miss defense for 20 points in the win.

ALL-BIG SKY BANNAN

Preseason All-Big Sky selection Josh Bannan has been off to a tremendous start this season, averaging a double-double for the year. He currently averages 14.8 points and 10.7 rebounds per game, one of just 22 players in the country to be in double-figures for both categories. Bannan is the only Big Sky player averaging a double-double.
Bannan also leads Montana this season with 30 assists (5.0 per game). The Griz have operated through him often, and his playmaking ability has been on full display. He is now over 100 assists in his career.
While just shy of the 15/10/5 line, Bannan is still the only player in the country to be averaging at least 14 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
Bannan ranks in the top 10 of the Big Sky in all the major categories. He leads the league in rebounding (10.7), is eighth in scoring (14.8),) and third in assists (5.0).
The best rebounder in the Big Sky, Bannan also holds his own in the national standings. Bannan's 10.7 rebounds per game is the 13^th best mark in the entire country.
In Montana's win against St. Thomas at the Zootown Classic, Bannan had a career day with 23 points, 17 rebounds and six assists. He is one of just eight players to reach those numbers in the same game, according to the website sports-reference.com.
Bannan earned the Zootown Classic MVP award for the second consecutive season. He averaged 14.3 points and 13.3 rebounds per game as Montana went 2-1 to share the tournament title.
The workhorse for Montana, Bannan currently leads the Big Sky in minutes and is 35^th in the nation at over 35 minutes per contest.
With three double-doubles in the first six games, Bannan is tied for seventh in the category.

GRIZ NOTES

Josh Vazquez, making his first start of the season, made the 100^th three pointer of his career vs. MSU-Northern (11/22). The start was the first for Vazquez since Feb. 18, 2021 against Eastern Washington in the COVID shortened season.
Dischon Thomas has been in double-figures scoring for Montana in five of the six games to start the season and ranks 13^th in the Big Sky with 12.2 points per game. The Colorado State transfer is also second on the team and 9^th in the Big Sky with 6.2 rebounds per game.
Lonnell Martin Jr. went 3-for-4 from the arc in the loss against Troy (11/19), his best shooting performance of the season. He was also one off his career high with seven rebounds in the loss.
Laolu Oke brings size and athleticism to the Montana team, and Griz fans got their first taste of that during the Zootown Classic. He made four baskets during the tournament, three of which were dunks and the other an and-one finish at the rim. You don't want to leave your seats when Oke is on the floor.
Defense has been the key point to Montana's wins this season. They are 3-0 when holding opponents under 60 points, and they also outshot opponents in all three of those games. In all three of Montana's losses, they have allowed over 70 points. While Montana's shooting percentage doesn't change much based on result (41% in wins, 39% in losses), there is a significant difference in field goal percentage allowed. Montana's opponents are shooting 56 percent in Griz losses and only 34 percent in Griz wins.
The Griz have been very good in limiting second-chance points for opponents this season. They allow just seven offensive rebounds per game to opponents, the 23^rd best mark in the country.
Moody was a spark in two of Montana's wins so far this season. He is averaging 18.5 points per game in the two wins, and being held under 10 points in Montana's three losses.
Montana went 3-1 during a six day stretch that included a share of the Zootown Classic title. It was the busiest stretch of the season for the Grizzlies.
The Griz are 0-2 on the road this year. The road woes are nothing new, as Montana went 4-10 when playing on the road last season. Despite all the success of the Grizzly program, they have not had a winning record on the road since the 2018-19 season.

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Players Mentioned

Josh Bannan

Lonnell Martin Jr.

Laolu Oke

Dischon Thomas

Josh Vazquez

University of Montana Athletics