No. 6 Houston stifles Montana

Friday, November 24

Houston, Texas

2 PM (MT)

Montana

2-3,0-0Big Sky

Houston

7-0,0-0Big 12

Montana

Houston

Photo by: Joe Buvid

11/24/2023 4:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The No. 6 Houston Cougars and their elite defense stifled Montana on Friday afternoon. The Grizzlies improved in the second half against one of the best teams in the country, but the second-best scoring defense in the NCAA held them in check. Houston won 79-44 to improve to 7-0 and drop Montana to 2-3 on the year.

Montana scored 30 in the second half and were outscoring Houston through the first 11 minutes of the second half, but Houston put together a run down the stretch for the big win. It's Montana's 16^th straight loss to a ranked opponent. Head Coach Travis DeCuire is now 0-9 against ranked opponents.

"I think one of the things that Travis always talks about is that these games are games we can use later in March," associate head coach Chris Cobb said following the game. "We are a team that eventually, hopefully at some point you may run into a two-seed or a three-seed. You need to see what some of this looks like. Obviously, they are very good and present some challenges. We weren't completely ready and weren't totally ourselves or the team we wanted to be."

The Griz shot just 33 percent from the floor and percent from three-point range against the active and agile defense of the Cougars. Montana held Houston to just 29 percent from three and under 50 percent from the floor, but the turnovers created by the hosts changed the game.

Montana committed 16 turnovers and forced just four. The Cougars outscored Montana 21-1 off turnovers. They also had a significant advantage on the glass, outrebounding Montana 42-30.

The bench for Montana had a good day, outscoring Houston 27-19 thanks in large part to a big day from freshman Money Williams. Williams led Montana with 15 points, making four field goals and six free throws in the effort. He scored all 15 points in the second half.

He played 15 minutes in the second half, battling up until the very end.

"I think this encapsulates who he is because he's guarding the last 10 seconds and I have to yell at him to get off the guy," Cobb said. "He was playing it like it was 0-0 and I respect that. It's who he is. We're glad he's on our team and are looking forward to the player that he can be and what he can give us."

Giordan Williams had six points and nine rebounds, which set a new career high for the transfer from Santa Clara. It was arguably the best game for Giordan Williams in a Grizzly uniform.

"Giordan Williams gave us what we asked," Cobb said. "We said you need to be this guy that rebounds, defends, and makes open shots. You see it in game five against maybe the best rebounding team in the country to go get eight defensive rebounds."

The Cougars set an aggressive tone early, jumping out to an 11-0 lead in the game. They started a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor while forcing Montana into misses on their first six shot attempts. Dischon Thomas put Montana on the board with a three and scored five of Montana's first seven points, but the Cougars had a 25-7 lead.

They extended it through the rest of the half, causing problems for Montana with their size and athleticism. Montana shot just 21.7 percent from the floor in the first half and committed seven turnovers. They entered the game averaging just over nine to rank in the top 40 in the country.

The early run rattled Montana a bit and really allowed the hosts to get downhill with momentum.

"I think we haven't had one of these moments where we got punched really quick. At Oregon we kind of threw the first punch," Cobb said. "We didn't do a good job responding to it. I thought our guys settled in a little bit and we did some of the things that we talked about in scout. You saw some success with that. We made a few slight adjustments that helped us, but I overall this was a test we didn't pass and we'll have to learn from it."

Houston dominated the rebounding margin with 26 boards compared to 12 for Montana. It led them to a 41-14 halftime lead. It was the fewest points in a half for Montana under DeCuire.

The Grizzlies switched to a zone defense early in the second half and had a run of success with it. They had a 13-12 advantage in the second period after a Laolu Oke tip-in layup.

Giordan Williams also had a good run, outscoring Houston 6-2 on his own during a run over a few minutes that made it 50-22. Money Williams then hit a three to make it 50-25 and cap a 9-2 overall run.

Money Williams had a good second half, scoring 15 in the period. But Montana didn't have a lot of offense outside of Money, as they would go over six minutes without a field goal and allow a 16-0 Houston run down the stretch.

The Grizzlies responded with the final seven points over a 90-second stretch to end the game.

It's the first 30-point loss for the Grizzlies since falling 87-47 to Oregon on Nov. 29, 2021.

Montana will remain on the road for its next game, taking on an undefeated Nevada team in Reno on Nov. 29. The Wolf Pack are 4-0 with a win over Washington on their resume. The Grizzlies then return home for a solid stretch at the start of December. It begins with a game against 4-2 San Jose State on Dec. 2.

"With the way we set up this non-conference there aren't any easy games," Cobb said. "At the end of the day when you walk in, every game is a great test and a great opportunity to see where we are at in our journey of getting better. We have two Mountain West opponents coming up this week."