Griz take on Lumberjacks in semifinals

(4) MONTANA VS. (9) NORTHERN ARIZONA
6:30 PM / BOISE, IDAHO / IDAHO CENTRAL ARENA
WATCH / LIVE STATS

The Montana Grizzlies will continue their postseason run on Tuesday in Boise, facing off against No. 9 Northern Arizona in the Big Sky Conference semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Aanen Moody's career night led the Grizzlies past Idaho State in the quarterfinals.

This is the sixth time in Travis DeCuire's nine year as Montana head coach that the team has advanced to at least the semifinals. It is the most semifinal appearances in the league since DeCuire joined the Big Sky. Montana have won two tournament titles under DeCuire.

Montana and Northern Arizona split the season series with the home team winning both games. The first matchup in Flagstaff went to overtime where the Lumberjacks won 75-74. Jalen Cone hit a game-winning three with 26 seconds left in the extra period.

The Grizzlies evened the season series in another close game in Missoula. This time, it was Brandon Whitney hitting a game-winning layup with just 11 seconds left to give Montana a 67-66 win. The Lumberjacks led for much of the second half before a Josh Vazquez steal-and-score gave the Griz the lead in the final minute.

It was also part of a weekend in which Aanen Moody declared himself as one of the best in the Big Sky. He scored 26 points in the win, matching his career high that he set two nights prior in a win against Northern Colorado. He broke that career high total in the quarterfinal win over Idaho State with 28 points.

The Lumberjacks enter with two wins in Boise already, including the upset of the tourney. They knocked off top-seeded Eastern Washington on Sunday in buzzer-beating fashion. Oakland Fort hit a deep three as time expired for an 81-80 win.

COVERAGE
The game will be aired on ESPNU and ESPN+. Tony Parks will be on the call with legendary Big Sky coach Joe Cravens as the color-commentary. You can also listen to the local broadcast from the "Voice of the Griz" Riley Corcoran on The Varsity Network.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE LUMBERJACKS
Montana lead the all-time series against Northern Arizona 77-35. They also lead on neutral courts 4-2. The two sides last met in the Big Sky Tournament in 2015, Travis DeCuire's first year at Montana. The Grizzlies won that semifinal matchup 61-59 in Missoula.

The Grizzlies are 6-1 at the tournament against the Lumberjacks with the last loss coming in a 2007 semifinal.

HISTORY AS THE NO. 4 SEED
The Grizzlies have some history at the No. 4 seed in the Big Sky tournament. In fact, the last two times Montana entered the tournament in this position they went on to win the whole thing.

They did it in 2010 under similar circumstances to this year's team. That year, the Griz won six of the final eight games in the regular season after a slow start to begin league play. This time around, Montana are entering on an even better run of play with wins in seven of the previous eight games.

Montana also won from the fourth seed in 2002. They upset top-ranked Montana State in the semifinals and No. 2 Eastern Washington in the championship game that year.

The Grizzlies improved to 7-2 overall as the No. 4 seed with Monday night's win against Idaho State.

SEMIFINAL SUCCESS
The Grizzlies have been very good in semifinal games at the Big Sky Conference Tournament. Montana has a 20-8 record all-time in the semifinal round, including a 4-1 record under DeCuire. Montana did lose its last semifinal appearance to Eastern Washington in 2021.

MOODY MAGIC
Aanen Moody has been the catalyst to Montana's resurgence in the second half of the season, and his magical run continued on Monday. He scored a career-high 28 points and also dished out a career-high seven assists in the win against Idaho State in the quarterfinals.

He has scored 20-plus points in seven of the last 10 games for Montana, and has been in double figures in all of them.

Moody's 28 points were the most by a Grizzly in a tournament game since Ahmaad Rorie scored 28 in a semifinal win against Weber State in 2019.

DECUIRE'S DOMINANCE
Head coach Travis DeCuire has been very successful at the Big Sky Tournament. This is the sixth semifinal appearance for DeCuire in nine years at Montana, with one tournament ending in the quarterfinals due to COVID-19. He is looking to make his fifth Big Sky Championship game with a win on Tuesday.

He improved to 13-5 all-time at the conference tournament with Monday night's win.

OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION
The Grizzlies had one of their best offensive games of the season in Monday's win over Idaho State. Montana shot 57.4 percent from the field in the game. It was the highest field goal percentage since they shot 61.5 percent against Weber State in another Big Sky Tournament game on March 11, 2021.

The 83 points were the second-most this year for Montana and the sixth game in which they scored at least 80 points. The Grizzlies scored nearly half of their points in the paint, reaching 40 points in that area for just the fourth time this season.

SECOND HALF RESURGENCE
Montana's Big Sky season can be split into both halves to tell drastically different stories. At the midway point of the conference slate, the Grizzlies were 3-6 and sat in seventh place. They had lost three consecutive games.

Then, they started Big Sky play off with a win at Portland State. It jumpstarted the season for Montana. They would finish out the second-half of the schedule at 7-1 (the game against Portland State was canceled). It was enough to vault them into fourth-place in the league standings.

There were a couple of major keys for the success, but the most important factor was the ability to win close games. In the first half of the season, Montana were 0-3 in games decided by three points of fewer. In the second half of the season, they are 3-0 in the same type of game.

Aanen Moody has also taken his game to another level in the second half, improving his scoring average from 13.4 points to 20.7 points per game. He is shooting 50 percent from three-point range over the previous eight games.

The three-point shooting has also been a key to Montana's success. The Grizzlies are shooting 70-163 (42.9 percent) from deep in the back half of the schedule. They've held opponents to just 42 makes on 31.6 percent shooting, a drastic 84-point advantage in favor of Montana.

MONTANA'S RECENT FORM
The Griz swept the final weekend of league play, winning at home against Sacramento State and on the road against Idaho. Montana was supposed to play a third game in the five-day stretch, but Portland State could not travel to Missoula due to a severe snow storm. The game was tentatively rescheduled, but since its outcome would not have affected matchups at the Big Sky it was canceled.

The Grizzlies averaged 71 points across the two wins, making eight three-pointers in both games and shooting better than 46 percent. They rallied late to close out Sacramento State in a two-point win, then used a big second half to blow out Idaho. It was the first game in the last eight for Montana that was decided by 10-plus points.

They made it three straight victories in the first round of the Big Sky Tournament, completing the season sweep of Idaho State with an 83-74 victory.

67 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
The 67-point mark has been a significant number for Montana men's basketball this year. The Grizzlies allow just under 67 points per game this year to rank as the second-best defense in the Big Sky, and holding teams under that number has been crucial to winning.

The race to 67 is typically a telling factor in the outcome of Montana's Big Sky games. The first team to 67 has won 15 of 16 league games this year. Montana is 11-1 when beating their opponent to the number after Monday's win against Idaho State. They are 0-4 when the opponent reaches 67 first. There have been two games where neither side has reached 67 points, both Griz losses.

THE .500 STREAK
The Grizzlies entered the season as one of just 18 schools in the country to finish at or above .500 in 14 straight seasons. The streak appeared to be in jeopardy at the midway point of league play when Montana dropped to 9-12 overall, but the Griz have bounced back well. The win against Idaho on Monday, combined with the cancelation of the Portland State game, has guaranteed that Montana's streak will continue.

Florida State, Louisville and Ohio State are all guaranteed losing seasons this year, which will make Montana one of 15 teams in the country with a streak of at least 15 seasons.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Aanen Moody

Josh Vazquez

Brandon Whitney

University of Montana Athletics