Upset bid falls just short at No. 11 Gonzaga

Tuesday, December 20

Spokane, Wash.

7 PM (MT)

Montana

6-6,0-0Big Sky

#11 Gonzaga

10-3,0-0WCC

Montana

Gonzaga

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke/UM Athletics

12/20/2022 11:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Montana Sports Information

The sold-out crowd inside the McCarthy Athletic Center could sense it. All 10 players on the court, the benches and the coaching staff on the sidelines likely could as well. That the nation's longest home winning streak, which has lasted nearly four full calendar years and was tied for the longest in modern NCAA history, might be in danger. Gonzaga, winners of 71 straight inside the Kennel, were doing everything they could to make it 72.

But in their way? A pesky Montana team, who shot the lights out in the second half, and had the lead down to just five points inside the final four minutes. The Griz gave the Bulldogs all that they could handle for 40 minutes, but the upset bid came up just short as Montana fell 85-75.

The difference maker on the night was the potential NCAA Player of the Year in Drew Timme, who scored 32 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to push his team to the victory. Montana went cold for a stretch to close out the first half, but outside of that hung with one of the very best teams in the country the entire way.

"Disappointed. It was good, in terms of there is a lot of confidence in that locker room right now," Head coach Travis DeCuire said. "But there's a lot of disappointment in the fact that we let one get away. We put the heat on them a little bit and then, some of it was gas, some of it was fatigue, but we'll learn from it."

Montana brought it back to as close as five points late, and were within six in the final minute before Gonzaga free throws extended the final score to 10 points. It's the same deficit that Gonzaga defeated #4 Alabama by on Saturday.

They kept it close thanks to a couple of key figures. The first: Montana outscored Gonzaga in the paint 34-32. The Griz scored nearly half of their total points in the painted area against a Gonzaga team that had a size advantage, playing physical all night long and attacking them. The second: limiting the Bulldogs on the break. A team that likes to play fast, Montana hustled down the court all night to limit them to 14 points in transition.

The Griz had a fantastic start to the game, showing no fear in front of a sold-out crowd that anticipated seeing their team make history. Montana had a 20-10 lead early on, doubling up the Zags after a strong drive to the hoop from Brandon Whitney.

The defense, which held Gonzaga scoreless for a couple of droughts each lasting nearly three minutes, led to good shots on the offensive end. Montana made their first three attempts of the game from the arc, including back-to-back from Josh Bannan. The junior's hot start made him 8-of-9 from deep in his last three games.

The scoreboard showed a Griz advantage, but it also held a worrying number for the Griz as fouls started to add up. First, Dischon Thomas had to leave the game because of foul trouble. Then Mack Anderson started to accumulate fouls. It led to some unpredicted Montana lineups.

"We got stops. We were physical," DeCuire said of the strong start. "But we also racked up fouls during that, which got (Thomas) out of the game and we're just not the same offensively with the spacing."

Gonzaga answered with a 6-0 run to cut the lead to four. Then they went on an 11-0 run, taking the lead for the first time since 4-2 and building it up to nine points. Overall, Gonzaga had a 26-5 run as the Montana offense went cold. After starting the game making six of their first 10 shots, the Griz closed the rest of the half just 4-of-16. They added some free throws down the stretch to enter the break trailing 36-28.

"I wanted to be positive (at halftime) because we're in a decent spot sitting there a couple of stops away from it being closer," DeCuire said. "You had a lead, you know you can play better than them for stretches it's just how long of a stretch can you sustain. But at the same time, come on guys. Let's go in here, play a little harder, be a little more intense and handle adversity a little better. It took us a while to get there, but we did."

In the second half, Thomas returned to action and looked a different player. He came out of the gates with energy, scoring the first six points of the second period for Montana. Even as Gonzaga made 6-of-8 out of the break, Thomas, along with Josh Bannan, tried to keep the Griz in it.

The Zags would go on a 15-4 run that Timme capped off with a coast-to-coast dunk that brought all 6,000 fans to their feet, and it seemed like Montana's upset bid had come to a close. 60-43 Gonzaga, 12:55 to play.

But the Griz showed no quit. Instead of backing down following the highlight, they responded. Thomas hit some free throws. Freshman Jaxon Nap, a Washington native who played an important 15 minutes, the finished through a foul and made the free throw. Thomas hit a three – his 13^th points of the half – and all of sudden Montana was back within 11.

Gonzaga made more free throws, but the Griz defense was not allowing any makes from the floor. Thomas hit a step-back jumper over Timme, Whitney hit a floater through the lane and Moody pulled up from just outside the block and the Griz busted a 6-0 scoring run to get it back within single digits. As Montana's run continued, Gonzaga's normally efficient offense continued to sputter.

"We were better at contesting at the rim. We took away some high percentage shots," DeCuire said. "We made some adjustments on the ball screen so they couldn't get the ball in the paint like they wanted. But the biggest thing was we contested and got all the long rebounds and 50-50 balls. When we did that, we got more offensive possessions than them."

It was over six and a half minutes between makes for Gonzaga, but they finally got a shot to go to take a 72-62 lead. But again, the Griz didn't back down. Moody drilled a three and Whitney pulled up in the paint for a 5-0 run to cut the lead to 72-67, the closest Montana had been since 30-25 in the first half.

The crowd began growing restless at this time, as they all got to their feet for the conclusion of the game. The noise level was intense, but Bannan knocked down a jumper to silence them. Thomas had a block on the other end and the Griz had a pair of free throws to cut the lead to three but missed them both.

Gonzaga took advantage with free throws on the other end. Whitney, who got hot late and had another efficient shooting night, stayed aggressive with a couple of tough buckets to cut it to six points inside of a minute. But the Zags knocked down the shots, and the winning streak survived Montana's valiant upset bid.

It ends a three-game winning streak for a Montana team that has really started to gel in December. The Grizzlies were previously unbeaten this month, and will now enter conference play securing a .500 non-conference record for the fifth time in six seasons.
"We kept saying if we we could everybody together, get everybody healthy and get reps we'd have a chance to be a really good team," DeCuire said. "Now we've got to figure out how to compete consistently. I thought we had a couple of lulls where we got out of wack a little bit offensively. I thought our offense effected our defense, and we just had a few stretches where we weren't executing."

The Griz had all five starters score at least eight points, led by Josh Bannan with 19. He put on a show for the Kennel crowd, shooting 75 percent and grabbing four rebounds. Thomas was huge in the second half, scoring all of his 15 points in the final 20 minutes before fouling out.

Whitney contributed 15 on 70 percent shooting, making 11 of his points in the second half as well as he pushed the Griz closer down the stretch. Moody had 13 points and three makes from the arc, while Lonnell Martin Jr. sparked the Griz early with a couple of threes on his way to 8 points on the night.

As a team, Montana scored 47 points in the second half, their third most in a half this season. They also shot 50 percent or better for the fourth consecutive game.

There were a couple of key performances off the bench. Laolu Oke had three points, three rebounds and a pair of steals in 11 minutes relieving the Griz bigs in foul trouble, and Jaxon Nap gave Montana a different angle offensively thanks to his size and ball handling ability.

"We got a spark off the bench from Nap. He was the one guy that could pass the ball in situations where, our bigs were open a lot but we just couldn't get it there," DeCuire said. "He's big enough to throw it over the top and not afraid to squeeze it in. He made some big plays for us.

Montana held their own on the boards with the bigger Zags being outrebounded just 33-27, but the free throw line provided an insurmountable advantage for the home team. Gonzaga had 18 more attempts from the line, scoring 15 more points than Montana on foul shots. A lot of it came from Timme, who challenged the Griz defense with his footwork all night on his way to 8-of-13 from the line. The two-time defending WCC Player of the Week had a game high 32 points and 11 rebounds.

"Timme is a good player. I felt like our team was trading baskets with him," DeCuire said. "There were just too many stretches where he kept answering. He was just too good tonight."

Despite the result, Montana can take something from this road trip over Lookout Pass. The players will now head home to their families for the holiday before returning to begin the real season. Big Sky play, starting on December 29^th at home against Eastern Washington.

"There's gas in the tank," DeCuire said of his team. "We are capable of playing at a very high level. We have good players. I think we do have good enough depth off the bench whether it's defensive presence, offensive presence, hustle, things like that. I think we have a good enough team to compete for a championship. We just have to find ways to be more consistent and believe in and trust one another."