Montana loses to Duquesne in season opener

Tuesday, November 8

Pittsburgh, Penn.

5 PM (MT)

Montana

0-1,0-0Big Sky

Duquesne

1-0,0-0Atlantic 10

Montana

Duquesne

Photo by: Duquesne University Athletics

11/8/2022 7:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana men's basketball team opened the 2022-23 season with a 91-63 loss to Duquesne on the road in Pittsburgh. The new-look Dukes used hot shooting and a full-court pressure defense to throw Montana off its game plan and end the half on a 31-7 run.

The Dukes could not be stopped on the offensive end, shooting 64.4 percent from the floor. The Grizzlies were cold offensively, going the final 13 minutes of the opening half without a field goal. Montana improved in the second half to score 44 points, but the damage had already been done.

"You don't know where you're at until you compete and get after it. You don't know how tough you are until you've been in a fight," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "For us, I thought we got off to a decent start offensively. I don't know that we were ever defending very well. Game was close and then the pressure came. Pressure busts pipes. They forced a couple of turnovers for easy baskets, momentum, and we never really snapped out of it."

Josh Bannan led the Grizzlies with 19 points, coming alive in the second half after a slow start to the game. Dischon Thomas had a nice stat line in his first game in a Montana uniform, scoring 16 points and hauling in a team high 7 rebounds.

Dae Dae Grant put together a night to remember, scoring 25 points in 21 minutes thanks to an 8-for-8 performance from the floor that included six threes. The Dukes had three other players in double figures as it was a balanced offensive night for a team that experienced even more turnover than the Grizzlies coming into the season.

The new faces started the game off strong for Montana, as they had an early 5-4 lead after a Thomas three. Aanen Moody knocked down a triple early as well, and the Grizzlies were hanging around at 14-12 with about 13 minutes remaining in the opening half.

The first basket of the year is a triple from @dischonthomas 🔥 pic.twitter.com/sfEGnLySsi
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) November 9, 2022

Then Duquesne engaged a full-court pressure defense, forcing the Grizzlies into several turnovers. They would go on a 14-0 scoring run to take a 28-12 lead. Montana turned the ball over five times leading to 12 points. The Grizzlies would not make a field goal for the rest of the half as Duquesne closed on a 31-7 run for a 45-19 halftime lead.

The lead would grow to as many 42 points before Montana closed strongly with some good play off the bench from Jonathan Brown. He would knock down a couple of triples, include a sequence of back-to-back threes with Bannan, to cut into the lead late. Brown finished with eight points in seven minutes, making all three of his shot attempts.

Montana was able to snag eight offensive rebounds, but were outdone on the boards 36-23. The Dukes also held significant advantages in points in the paint (46-22) and points off turnovers (22-12). The Grizzlies had a negative assist-to-turnover ratio, coughing it up 13 times and dishing out 10 assists.

Josh Bannan cleared for 𝑻𝑨𝑲𝑬𝑶𝑭𝑭!

The junior is up to 19 points with the vicious and-one slam.#GrizHoops #BigSkyMBB #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/8obiqnj5ET
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) November 9, 2022

DeCuire said he talked to the team after the game and thought that he took the foot of the gas pedal during practices this week as far as intensity goes. The Grizzlies will look to get some of that fire back as they now head to take on Xavier on Friday at 6:00 p.m. MT.

"I owned it. You can always go to the stat sheet and there are some things that can be done better. I think the biggest thing for us is whether we're ready to compete mentally and physically," DeCuire said. "I don't feel that we were ready for battle. I think we were ready to play a game, but we've got to find a way to get to that."