Griz return home for Basketball Travelers Mike Montgomery Classic

BASKETBALL TRAVELERS MIKE MONTGOMERY BASKETBALL CLASSIC

Montana vs. UC Davis
Sunday, Nov. 12 / 7:00 p.m. / Tickets / Watch / Live Stats

UC Davis vs. North Dakota State
Tuesday, Nov. 14 / 2:00 p.m.

Montana vs. North Dakota State
Thursday, Nov. 16 / 8:00 p.m. / Tickets / Watch / Live Stats

GAME COVERAGE
Both games will be streamed live on ESPN+ with the "Voice of the Griz" Riley Corcoran calling the action. Thursday's game against North Dakota State will also be broadcast locally on SWX.

MIKE MONTGOMERY RETURNS
The legendary Grizzly coach that went on to become a College Basketball Hall of Famer will return to Missoula for Thursday night's game. The Grizzlies will have a special moment of recognition for the Hall of Fame coach during the game.

PREVIEW

The Montana men's basketball team will have no time to rest on a solid performance at Oregon, as the Grizzlies return home on Sunday for the start of the Basketball Travelers Mike Montgomery Classic Sunday evening.

The Grizzlies will take on UC Davis in the opener of the multi-team event. The Aggies will then play North Dakota State on Tuesday before the Grizzlies and Bison wrap up the event on Thursday night at 8:00 p.m.

Mike Montgomery coached at the University of Montana from 1978-86 and is an integral branch of the legendary Montana coaching tree. In his time at UM Montgomery won 155 games with a .669 winning percentage. He's fourth in all-time wins at Montana and third in winning percentage.

While in Missoula, Montgomery coached several Grizzly legends. He mentored Big Sky MVP Derrick Pope and three-time league MVP and Big Sky Hall of Famer Larry Krystkowiak. In fact, four of Montana's seven all-time league MVP awards came during Montgomery's eight seasons.

"Monty" would go on to have a Hall of Fame career following his time in Montana. He took the head coaching position at Stanford in 1986 and led the Cardinal to a Final Four, Elite Eight, and 11 total tournament appearances. He would serve briefly as head coach of the Golden State Warriors in the NBA before returning to the college ranks for six seasons at Cal.

He once again found success, winning 20 games in five of his six years and taking the Golden Bears to four NCAA Tournaments. While there, he hired current Grizzly head coach Travis DeCuire.

Montgomery will be in attendance on Thursday evening. He called Montana's game Friday night against Oregon for the Pac-12 Network.

The game saw Montana compete very well for 30 minutes but come up short of the upset as the Ducks pulled away late in the contest. Montana were led by 17 points from Aanen Moody and 13 from freshman Money Williams.

The Grizzlies had 37 points at halftime and were outshooting the Ducks, but the size and a hot-shooting streak for the hosts proved too much to overcome. Montana played a clean game, turning the ball over just six times in a rowdy environment inside Matthew Knight Arena. There were 7,141 fans in attendance.

The shots from deep just wouldn't fall for Montana, as they connected on 4-of-15 (.267) threes in the game and just a single one in the second half. Still, the game featured 13 ties and 11 lead changes, including a Montana lead in the second half.

A quick flight home gives Montana just one day to prepare for the 2-0 Aggies of UC Davis. They are coming off an emotional win at home on Nov. 9, beating Pepperdine on a last-second shot 79-78. UC Davis, members of the Big West, went 18-14 last year and return most of their top contributors from that team.

It will be the second home game of the season for Montana. After a neutral site contest on Tuesday night, the Grizzlies will hit the floor against another undefeated team in North Dakota State. The Bison defeated Western Michigan in overtime before a big win over Mount Marty.

They play at No. 8 Creighton on Saturday.

It's an interesting dynamic for Montana to host these two schools this weekend as they will make return trips to both Davis and Fargo later in the year. Montana also plays a home-and-home against San Jose State, marking the first time in program history that they have three different home-and-home opponents outside of conference play. They are also the only team in the NCAA this season with three such series.

SCOUTING UC DAVIS (2-0, 0-0 Big West)

The Aggies enter Sunday's contest undefeated with an emotional win their last time out. UC Davis erased a 17-point halftime deficit against Pepperdine to win 79-78 on a buzzer beater from Ty Johnson.
Johnson scored 28 points in the win. He scored 24 in the second half to lead the comeback.
UC Davis play at a fast pace all game long, often forcing opposing offenses into mistakes and quick judgements. It will be a clash of styles as Montana plays a methodical brand of basketball in search of great shots.
The Aggies won 18 games in 2022-23, its most in a season wince a22-11 record in 2017-18 that ended in an NIT appearance. They last played in the NCAA Tournament in 2017.
As a team, UC Davis averages 82.5 points per game and are shooting 49.1 percent from the floor. They are outrebounding opponents 34.0-31.0 and average over five assists more per game. They also force 24 turnovers per game, which is the 6^th-most in the NCAA.
They get to the line often, attempting 24 free throws per contest. It's the 11^th most in the country through the opening week of games.
Elijah Pepper is averaging 22.5 points per game through the first two contests. It's the 3^rd most in the Big West and 41^st most in the country.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE AGGIES

This is the first-ever meeting between Montana and UC Davis. They will play again on Dec. 19 in California.

SCOUTING NORTH DAKOTA STATE (2-0, 0-0 Summit)

Head coach David Richman has a very similar story to Grizzly head coach Travis DeCuire. Both are in the 10^th year in charge of their alma maters, as Richman graduated from NDSU in 2002. They also have nearly identical records (Richman 177-114, DeCuire 178-113) with five combined NCAA Tournament appearances.
The Bison finished 16-17 overall in 2022-23, but caught fire late similar to Montana. They made a run all the way to the championship game in the Summit League, where they fell to a very talented Oral Roberts team.
NDSU returns four starters and nine letterwinners from last year's team. They did lost First Team All-Summit League player Grant Nelson, who transferred to Alabama where he is averaging 22 points and 7.5 rebounds through two games.
March has been a good month for NDSU under Richman. The championship game appearance was the fifth in a row for NDSU in the Summit League, and they have three NCAA Tournament appearances. They won a First Round tournament game in 2014.
Boden Skunberg leads the Bison with 21.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. He is shooting over 50 percent from three with seven makes through two games.
Andrew Morgan is averaging a near double-double this year with 11.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.
The Bison have been outscored 79-78 in the first half of games, but are ahead 86-58 in the second half.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE BISON

Montana leads the all-time series with North Dakota State 8-3. The Grizzlies are a perfect 6-0 in Missoula and are on a two-game winning streak. The last meeting in Missoula came on Dec. 17, 2018, a 60-53 Grizzly win.
The teams played last December in Fargo. Montana won that contest 82-75, overcoming a four-point halftime deficit with a 49-point second half.
This is the second of three meetings between the schools over the previous two seasons. They will play again on Jan. 3 in Fargo as part of the Big Sky-Summit Challenge.

GRIZ NOTES

The Grizzlies enter Sunday averaging 34.5 rebounds per game, which is the best mark in the Big Sky and 30^th in the NCAA.
Montana has been very good with the ball this year, giving it away just 10.5 times per game. It will be important against a UC Davis team that's game is based upon takeaways.
The Grizzlies are ranked 70^th in the country in both field goal percentage (51.2 percent) and field goal percentage defense (35.7 percent).
Three true freshmen played in Montana's game against Oregon. Money Williams, Chase Henderson, and Connor Dick could all see minutes in the Grizzly rotation in their first year in Missoula.
Aanen Moody leads Montana in scoring with 21.0 points per game. He also led the Grizzlies in 2022-23, averaging 16.1 points.
This is the first time in program history that Montana will play three non-conference opponents in home-and-home series. The last time they did it against a single opponent was Wyoming in 2016-17, and the only other time they've had multiple series in the Big Sky era was in 1970-71 when they played Washington and Puget Sound.

WHITNEY 1K WATCH
Senior guard Brandon Whitney has averaged at least 10.0 points per game in all three seasons at Montana. He's on the verge of becoming the 36th player in program history to reach 1,000 points, entering the season just 57 points away.

He would be the 7th player in Montana's 1,000-point club coached by Travis DeCuire. Aanen Moody has also reached 1,000 points, but scored 682 of those for other schools.

SHOW ME THE MONEY
True freshman Money Williams has made an instant impact for Montana in his first two games at the collegiate level. He is second on Montana with 16.0 points per game and is the third-leading rebounded at 5.0.

Williams kept Montana in the game in the second half against Oregon, scoring eight points and grabbing five rebounds in the final period.

He is the first Grizzly freshman to score in double-figures in his first two career games since Michael Oguine in 2015.

Griz return home for Basketball Travelers Mike Montgomery Classic

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Players Mentioned

Connor Dick

Chase Henderson

Aanen Moody

Brandon Whitney

Money Williams

University of Montana Athletics

Griz return home for Basketball Travelers Mike Montgomery Classic

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Next Event

Players Mentioned

Connor Dick

Chase Henderson

Aanen Moody

Brandon Whitney

Money Williams

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