Montana faces Frontier opponents at home

RESCHEDULED GAME VS. MONTANA TECH
The FCS Quarterfinal Playoff game on Friday night has caused an adjustment to the schedule. Montana and Montana Tech will now play on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The Lady Griz will play on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. against Colorado State.

Fans with tickets to the men's game can also get into the Lady Griz game for free.

MONTANA VS. MSU-NORTHERN
Tuesday, Dec. 5 / 7:00 p.m. / Tickets / Watch / Live Stats

MONTANA VS. MONTANA TECH
Saturday, Dec. 9 / 1:00 p.m. / Tickets / Watch / Live Stats

PREVIEW
Montana got a momentum changing win on Saturday afternoon against San Jose State and now look to carry that into a pair of matchups with Frontier Conference opponents this week. The Griz will host MSU-Northern and Montana Tech in the final home games of December.

The Griz had lost three straight games entering last Saturday, playing against one of the most difficult schedules in the NCAA up to that point. They needed a big response against the Spartans and got it, leading wire-to-wire for a 75-58 win over the five-win Mountain West team.

It came after a rotation change from head coach Travis DeCuire. They used a new starting five for the first time this season after starting the previous two games slowly. The move worked, as Montana went ahead 15-4 early and never looked back.

The game was played with heavy hearts for Montana. Freshman Money Williams had a performance to remember just three days after his father passed unexpectedly. The Montana team came together for Williams, who scored 21 points and had nine rebounds in the win.

Williams is now Montana's leading scorer this season at 14.4 points per game, and is one of just seven freshmen in the country to average at least 14 points, four rebounds and two assists per game.

He had been producing well off the bench, which left a potential void in that area for the Grizzlies. But it was filled very impressively by Te'Jon Sawyer, who also had a career night in the win. Sawyer score 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting. He also had four rebounds – three on the offensive end – and added a physicality on defense.

The adjustments to the rotation played well the entire game, as Giordan Williams had his best scoring game as a Grizzly off the bench. He played his third-most minutes this year and was plus-20 in those minutes. Brandon Whitney also had an impressive game off the bench, dishing out four assists and playing stellar defense on his way to a plus-22 in the box score in his 25 minutes.

Montana is now through the most difficult portion of the schedule, and from this point forward will play only one more D1 non-conference game against an opponent they haven't faced yet. After this week's games against NAIA foes, the Grizzlies will have rematches with UC Davis, San Jose State, and North Dakota State (all on the road) with a home game against South Dakota capping the non-conference season.

They will also be on the road until that South Dakota game, playing five straight away from Dahlberg Arena. The 28-day gap between home games is the longest since 2006-07.

But before Montana looks ahead to the road trip, they must focus on the task at hand. The two Frontier teams may be in the NAIA, but they come to Missoula with a combined 13-3 record overall. The last time the Orediggers played in Dahlberg Arena, they left with a shocking two-point victory.

Prior to that, Montana had won 39 consecutive games against the six teams from the Frontier Conference dating back to 1976.

The Lights are led by longtime head coach Shawn Huse who always puts a competitive team on the floor. This is the second straight season Montana has hosted Northern. The Griz won 63-51 in late November last year.

The Orediggers haven't been back since the win in 2019. The victory was a program-defining result for Tech, who have improved steadily since then and are coming off a run to the NAIA quarterfinals last year.

GAME PROMOTIONS
Montana will be hosting a Western Night on Tuesday against MSU-Northern. Fans are encouraged to wear flannels, boots, and western attire. Students will receive a free cowboy hat and a Zoo Crew bandana. Saturday will be a Grizmas celebration sponsored by McDonald's. Students will receive a gift bag from McDonald's with a variety of different items inside, including gift cards and merch.

GRIZ NOTES

Aanen Moody attempted 12 threes in Montana's loss at Nevada. It was the third-most attempts from three in his career, and the most by a Grizzly player since Michael Oguine went 7-for-12 in a 23-point performance against Northern Arizona on 1/27/18.
Te'Jon Sawyer had a career high 17 points in the win over San Jose State. The physical forward made 8-of-10 shots, and also had three offensive rebounds. He led Montana's bench to a 33-point performance, the most against a D1 opponent this season.
Once a team takes a lead in a game Montana plays this season, they usually hang onto it. There have been zero lead changes in five of the seven games this year, including three straight wire-to-wire results. The game with the most back-and-forth was at Oregon, where there were 11 lead changes and 13 tied scores. There hasn't been a single halftime lead change this year in a Montana game.
To go one step further, the winning team has held the lead for at least 39 minutes in five of Mon-tana's games this season. The team that scores the first points of the game is 5-2.
In Montana's wins, they are outscoring their opponents 132-78 in the first half. They've had an av-erage halftime lead of 18 points across the three wins. In losses, meanwhile, the Griz have been outscored 157-102 for an average halftime deficit of 15 points.
The above stats have led to zero close games so far this year. The nine-point loss to NDSU is the closest game of the season. The Griz are 1-3 in games decided by 9-14 points, and 2-1 in games decided by 15-or-more points.
The Griz made a non-injury related adjustment to the starting lineup for the first time this season against San Jose State. The move paid off, as Montana got off to a fast start and got great bench production. Montana's starting lineup played just over five minutes together and outscored San Jose State 8-1. The next-best lineup was the previous starting five, which also played over five minutes together and outscored the Spartans 16-6 in their time.
The Grizzlies held San Jose State to 58 points, the fewest by a Grizzly opponent this year. It was also the second-fewest by the Spartans on the season.
The Grizzly bench has been effective this season, ranking 90^th in the NCAA with 26.1 points per game. The Grizzlies have scored at least 16 points off the bench in all seven games and have reached 25 points in five of them. Montana had 25 bench points just twice all of last season.
Ball control has been key for Montana, as they rank inside the top third of all teams in the country in both assist/turnover ratio and turnovers per game. Montana commit just under 11 per contest, the 67^th best mark in the NCAA.
The free throw line has proven crucial to UM's success in the past and this year is no different. Montana rank 47^th in the NCAA by making 75.9 percent from the charity stripe.
No matter how you look at it, the November schedule for Montana was among the hardest in the country. The Grizzlies have played the 13^th most difficult schedule so far according to the NCAA NET Rankings and the 19^th most difficult according to KenPom.
When Montana are making shots from beyond the arc, they are much more successful. They are hitting 37.3 percent from deep in wins this season, and just 20.5 percent from three in losses. Unsurprisingly, Montana are 3-0 when shooting a better percentage from three and 0-4 when the opponent makes a higher percentage.
The Grizzlies are 3-1 at home this season, and 0-3 on the road.
Uni-watch: Montana is now undefeated in their home white uniforms and 0-4 in the away maroon uniforms. They wore maroon in their only home loss of the season against NDSU.

INITIAL NET RANKINGS
The NCAA released the initial NET Rankings for the 2023-24 season on Monday morning. The Grizzlies slotted in at 224 in the first iteration of the rankings, which is fifth among Big Sky schools. Portland State led the conference in the initial batch with a NET ranking of 70.

Montana is favored in other analytical rankings. They are currently 168^th in the Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings.

FACING THE FRONTIER
Montana has a long history playing against the Frontier Conference, which features six NAIA schools from the Treasure State. The Grizzlies are 1122-28 (.813) all-time against the current six members of the league.

They will look for redemption against Montana Tech on Saturday afternoon. The Orediggers came to Missoula and defeated the Grizzlies 74-72 on Nov. 18, 2019. Prior to that loss, Montana had won 39 straight games against teams from the Frontier dating back to 1976.

Montana have winning streaks of at least six games against five teams. Since 1950, only two of the six teams have won against the Griz.

SHOW ME THE MONEY
True freshman Money Williams has made an instant impact for Montana in his first month at the collegiate level. He leads Montana with 14.4 points per game and is the second-leading rebounder at 4.9 per game.

He became the first Grizzly freshman to score in double-figures in his first two career games since Michael Oguine in 2015, and has gone on to double-figure performances in six out of seven games.

Williams had a career night in a win over San Jose State, scoring 21 points and adding nine rebounds in a wire-to-wire 75-58 win for the Grizzlies. It was the first 20-point game by a Griz freshman since Robby Beasley had 23 on March 11, 2021.

He is currently sixth in the Big Sky Conference in scoring and 18^th in rebounding.

OUTSTANDING OKE
Laolu Oke has gone from a bench player receiving limited minutes last season to perhaps the most important forward on Montana's roster in 2023-24. The second-year transfer from MSU-Denver is averaging 8.1 points and 8.0 rebounds per game this season.

He has been terrorizing teams on the offensive glass in particular, averaging 3.3 boards on that end to rank 44^th in the NCAA.

His standout performance came on Nov. 29 against Nevada when he pulled down 19 rebounds. It was the most by a Grizzly since 2015, and the most for a Montana player against a DI opponent since Matt Williams had 21 against Montana State in 2000.

RACE TO 67
Last season, the first team to 67 points typically ended up in the win column in Montana's games. The same has been true so far in 2023-24. The first team to 67 points is now 7-0 on the year. This year, you can even make it a more rounded number.

Montana are 3-0 when scoring at least 70 points and 0-4 when held under that number. Likewise, when holding their opponent under 70 points they are 3-0, but when allowing 70-plus points they are 0-4.

DECEMBER TO REMEMBER
This will be a unique December for Montana with three home games in the first eight days followed by a very long road trip. The Grizzlies won't return home to Missoula until January 6, making it 28 full days without a home game.

It's the first time since 2016-17 that Montana will play five straight regular season games away from home, and the first time since 2012-13 that they will play five straight true road games. They played a BracketBusters game against Davidson on the road that year, which was added in between two conference road trips.

The 28-day gap between home games is the longest since 2006-07, when Montana also played five straight road games over the holiday break. They went from Dec. 13 to Jan. 13 without a home game that year.

SCOUTING MSU-NORTHERN (6-2, 0-0 Frontier)

The Lights are 6-2 on the season and average over 80 points per game. They have won two straight and are coming off a 93-62 victory over Concordia University of Edmonton on Saturday.
Head coach Shawn Huse is the winningest coach in Northern's history, compiling an overall record of 424-241.
The game will officially count as an exhibition for MSU-Northern.
They are shooting 36.8 percent from three as a team with nearly 10 makes per game.
Zackry Martinez leads the Lights with 18.0 points per game. He is one of three players to attempt at least five three pointers per game, and is shooting 51 percent from three-point range. He's also the leading assist man with 32 on the year.
Dae'Kwon Watson is second on the team with 14.3 points per game and also has 30 assists and 20 steals.
Xavier Bailey averages 10.4 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. The 6-4 forward is a North Idaho College transfer.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE LIGHTS
Montana are undefeated in their history against MSU-Northern, winning all seven contests. They have played six of them in Missoula. This is the second straight season the two teams will meet as Montana won 63-51 in November last season.

The first meeting came all the way back in the 1935-36 season with Montana winning 61-28 in the only game played in Havre in the series.

SCOUTING MONTANA TECH (7-1, 0-0 Frontier)

The Orediggers are 7-1 on the season and have won two straight coming into Saturday's contest. They will do so with a full week of rest. Their last game was a 110-65 win over Concordia University of Edmonton last Friday.
The game will be an exhibition for Montana Tech.
Montana Tech is currently No. 8 in the NAIA Coaches' Top 25. They had started the season without All-American forward Caleb Bellach, but he returned to make his season debut on Friday.
Bellach scored 17 points in just 19 minutes in his first action of the season. He averaged 18.1 points per game last year on his way to winning the Frontier Conference MVP.
Head coach Adam Hiatt has led the Orediggers to back-to-back conference championships and has set the program record for wins in consecutive seasons. The Orediggers went 27-7 in 2021-22, and then 29-5 in 2022-23.
Montana Tech averages 87.0 points per game while holding opponents to just over 61 points per contest. They have an average scoring margin of 25.4.
They commit 9.1 turnovers per game while forcing over 10. They average 9.4 steals and 20.1 points off turnovers.
They have averaged 17.0 assists per game this season.
Asa Williams has been the leading scorer in Bellach's absence this year. Williams averages 17.6 points per game and has made 21 three-pointers.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE OREDIGGERS
Montana lead the all-time series with Montana Tech 47-12. They are 30-7 in games played in Missoula, but lost 74-72 in the last meeting in 2019. Prior to that, Montana had won 12 straight in the series dating back to 1944-45.

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Players Mentioned

Aanen Moody

Laolu Oke

Te'Jon Sawyer

Brandon Whitney

Giordan Williams

Money Williams

University of Montana Athletics