Griz offense explodes in dominant season-opening win

Tuesday, November 7

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

1-0,0-0Big Sky

107

Northwest Indian College

0-2

Northwest Indian

Montana

107

Photo by: Tanner Ecker/University of Montana

Griz offense explodes in dominant season-opening win

11/7/2023 10:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana Grizzlies rolled to a dominant 107-59 win over Northwest Indian College in the season opener on Tuesday night inside Dahlberg Arena. The Griz had 11 different scorers in the game as they hit triple digits for the first time since 2021.

There was never a doubt as Montana jumped ahead 22-2 in the opening six minutes, had a 32-point advantage at the half, and kept up the pressure 12 players deep in the second half.

Travis DeCuire improves to 9-1 in home openers with the win, and was impressed by the intent that his team showed for the full 40 minutes.

"I was a little concerned once we got up that we would play the score. We're trying to build habits," DeCuire said. "Any time you get an opportunity to play against someone other than yourself so early in the season you want to be as close to perfect as you can."

Montana came pretty close to perfect on Tuesday. The Grizzlies shot 63 percent from the floor, their best percentage since making 68 percent in a win over Yellowstone Christian in 2020. Montana also made 37 percent from three and 75 percent from the free throw line.

They had 21 assists on 41 made field goals while leading for all but 29 seconds of game time.

The Grizzlies were led by Aanen Moody who picked up right where he left off back in March. The guard scored a game-high 25 points on an absurd 10-of-13 shooting night. He made 3-of-5 from deep, and also looked to get his teammates involved with four assists.

"He's been on fire. The ball has been going in the basket," DeCuire said. "I think his biggest growth though has been his distribution. His ability to read the help defenders and get the ball to big guys. We didn't run a lot of offense tonight, we just played a lot of motion but I thought he did a good job sharing."

We missed this 🥲@AJMoody9 #BANDTOGETHER x #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/xLSvuWDQni
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) November 8, 2023

He got things started for Montana right away with a three on an early possession, followed by a pull-up triple in transition that capped off an 11-0 run out of the gates for Montana.

Money Williams, who became the first true freshman to start a game for Montana since the 2020-21 season, scored his first points of the season on three-point jumper later that started another 11-0 run. The Grizzlies already had a 20-point advantage just six minutes into the game, and were pushing the ball up and down the floor.

It wouldn't last for the full 40 minutes, but DeCuire still liked the speed and rhythm at which his team played.

"We were trying to get the pace up a little better than we did. Some of that's conditioning, some of that is not having everyone available to us today and leaving some guys on the floor a little longer than I probably would have liked, but I thought we did a good job of moving the ball and getting it in the right places," DeCuire said. "Finding open guys and sharing. 21 assists, that's a good night."

The Grizzlies scored well all night, but they also limited the Eagles to just 30 percent from the floor on 66 field goal attempts. Montana also turned them over 15 times, which led to 23 Grizzly points.

The most notable discrepancy came on the glass, where Montana held a massive 51-23 advantage. Impressively, Montana did it as a team with nine different players pulling down at least three boards. Dischon Thomas led the way with eight rebounds.

"There's always going to be some areas for us to grow but I think this was a better performance offensively and defensively than the exhibition game," DeCuire said. "We're heading in the right direction."

Montana kept up the pace all night with 54 first-half points and 53 second-half points. They played 12 players, which was the full amount that dressed for the game. Every player got at least five minutes of action, and four players scored their first career points as Grizzlies.

Williams is one of the four. The freshman from Oakland scored 19 points on 4-of-9 shooting, and went a perfect 10-for-10 at the free throw line. He also grabbed four boards and dished out three assists in his impressive 26-minute debut.

"A lot of confidence as you can see," DeCuire said of Williams. "He kind of slows the game down to his pace, he knows what he's looking for and I thought he did a good job distributing the ball and getting it to people and then attacking when the opportunity presented itself. For his first night out, I thought he did a good job executing and being in the right places, especially defensively."

There were some exciting moments for the fans in the second half as three local products all got their first field goals in Grizzly uniforms. Connor Dick from Hellgate HS played 13 minutes and scored six points, including a ferocious left-handed slam in transition for his first made field goal. He also added five rebounds.

Not a bad way to score your first basket as a Grizzly, @ConnorDick9 🐻🏀#BANDTOGETHER x #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/7AQR2AuI0P
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) November 8, 2023

Caden Bateman, a Big Sky product, played 10 minutes and scored five points with four rebounds. Rhett Reynolds, a Shelby Coyote in his high school days, also began his Grizzly scoring tally with a transition slam. They became the first trio of Montanans to score in the same game since Kendal Manuel, Jared Samuelson, and Mack Anderson did so in March of 2020.

"Our fans always love it when the Montana kids come in and contribute," DeCuire said. "There were some opportunities for some guys and I thought they did a good job taking advantage of those opportunities. We all are doing a pretty good job right now of understanding what our role is and I thought guys went out and executed well."

Extra effort on the rebound leads to the first career bucket for Shelby native Rhett Reynolds!#BANDTOGETHER x #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/x705LvvGBo
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) November 8, 2023

Brandon Whitney scored 15 points and added four rebounds and four assists for a loaded stat line. He was a team-high plus-48 in his 27 minutes. Jaxon Nap also reached double-figures with a career-high 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including some highlight reel jams.

Laolu Oke had eight points, six rebounds and three of Montana's nine steals. Te'Jon Sawyer came out hot and ended the night with nine points and just a single missed shot. He added five rebounds and three assists. Blake Jones had two points and three rebounds in his Grizzly debut.

Starting the second half with a @LaoluOke slam 😤#BANDTOGETHER x #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/dzs1ldyDtQ
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) November 8, 2023

Montana now has a quick turnaround to face off against a much different opponent. The Grizzlies head to Eugene to face the Oregon Ducks on Friday. The Ducks are 1-0 on the young season with an 82-71 neutral site win over Georgia on Monday.

"We've got two days of prep and it's completely different type of preparation," DeCuire said. "Completely different type of defensive scheme going into that game so we've got to figure it out. We will put some work together, we will be watching them on film tomorrow more so than ourselves, and we got two good practices to get after it and we'll see what happens."