Montana looks to redeem road loss to Weber State

Montana vs. Weber State
Monday, Jan. 22 / 7:00 p.m.
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WHITEOUT
Monday night's game will be a whiteout, and fans in attendance are asked to wear their best white Grizzly apparel to match the team on the floor!

PREVIEW

Montana men's basketball follows up one of its biggest games of the season on the road with one of the marquee home dates on the calendar. The Grizzlies will host Weber State on Monday night at 7:00 p.m. in a rematch between two of the league's elite teams.

The Grizzlies are rolling offensively, scoring at least 80 points in five straight games. They have held double-digit leads in 11 of the last 12 games and six straight contests and improved to 12-6 on the year with a big road win over Montana State.

The 87-77 rivalry win showcased Montana's depth and balance as five different players scored at least 14 points. The bench provided the difference in the contest as Jaxon Nap (17) and Te'Jon Sawyer (16) outscored the Montana State bench 33-2.

One of the better shooting teams in the country already, Montana had its best night shooting in nearly three year by making 61.5 percent of their field goal attempts. The last time they shot better was in a Big Sky Tournament win over Weber State in 2021.

The Grizzlies overcame an eight-point deficit early in the first half and held the lead for the final half-hour of the game to improve to 3-2 in league play and jump the Bobcats for third place in the Big Sky standings.

They will look to hold onto that placement on Monday against a Weber State team that has been going the opposite direction as Montana. The Wildcats were the unanimous preseason favorite in the league and in the conference opener for both teams put on an impressive display with a 30-point home win.

Weber State followed that up with another dominant victory over Montana State to move to 2-0 and assert themselves as the frontrunners for the conference crown. But since then, the Wildcats have been swept on the West Coast road trip to Sacramento and Portland and dropped a home contest against Eastern Washington.

Montana head coach Travis DeCuire said that the word "desperation" has been on his team's whiteboard for over a month now. He wants his team to compete that way every single game. It's likely that Weber State will be feeling some desperation as well as a team that seemed poised for a conference championship now sit in the middle of the pack with three losses.

Two great teams with something to prove will take to Robin Selvig Court on Monday night. Montana would love to get redemption from what was the largest Big Sky loss in the DeCuire era. Weber State would love to prove that game wasn't a fluke and that they are still in the title hunt. It will all be settled on Monday.

THOMAS CLOSES IN ON 1,000
Dischon Thomas should reach the 1,000-point mark for his career in Monday night's game against Weber State. The senior from Durham, N.C. scored 446 points in three seasons with Colorado State, and currently has 552 in his Grizzly career. He needs just two more points to reach the historic milestone.

It's also a milestone game for Thomas on Monday. He will start his 50^th game at Montana, appearing in the opening lineup in every single game over the previous two seasons.

SHOOTING STARS
This game puts two of the best shooting teams in the country on the floor at the same time. The Griz and Wildcats both rank inside the top 15 in the country in free throw percentage. Montana holds a 77.5 percent to 77.4 percent advantage in the category.

Both teams are also deadly from the floor. The Grizzlies are 27^th in the NCAA in field goal percentage at 48.5 and just shot over 60 percent in a rivalry win on Saturday night. The Wildcats rank 78^th in the NCAA by shooting 46.8 percent from the field this year, but are even better from deep at 36.2 (74^th).

NAP'S BREAKOUT GAME
Sophomore Jaxon Nap had a massive game off the bench in Montana's win over Montana State on Saturday. The Renton, Washington product set or matched career highs in minutes (22), points (17), assists (3), rebounds (4), threes (2), free throws (7), and made field goals (4).

Nap entered the game with Montana trailing 16-10 and made an instant impact, scoring seven of Montana's points during a 14-0 run that gave the Grizzlies the lead for good. He received the marker after the game in a locker room tradition that recognizes a player that made a big impact on the game.

SAWYER'S HOT STREAK
Te'Jon Sawyer has impressed in Big Sky Conference play this season and continued his good run of play on Saturday night in Bozeman. Sawyer scored 16 points off the bench on 7-of-8 shooting, establishing a post presence down low for Montana that opened up the Grizzlies' shooters in the second half.

In Big Sky play, Sawyer has been in double figures in all five games and is third on Montana with 14.2 points per game. He's 16^th in the Big Sky in scoring during conference play and is shooting the fifth-best percentage at 63.6 percent.

SUCCESS BEYOND THE ARC
Montana made 14 three pointers in the 90-47 win over Northern Arizona (1/13). It's the most makes in a single game for Montana since also making 14 last February in a road win over Weber State. It's the eighth-most makes from deep in 10 years under DeCuire.

The Grizzlies have caught fire from deep in recent weeks after a slow start to the season. They have made at least nine threes in four consecutive games, and have shot over 40 percent in all three. They join Nebraska as the only other D1 team with three games of 12-or-more made three pointers in 2024.

Since Jan. 1, 2024, Montana have made 54 total threes on 47.0 percent shooting. The Grizzlies are the best three-point shooting team in the entire country in 2024.

RED-HOT OFFENSE
The Griz averaged 90.0 points per game over a four-game stretch from Jan.3-13. It's the best four-game stretch against D1 opposition since averaging 92 points over a four-game stretch from Jan. 4-13, 2018. The Grizzlies averaged 91 points over a four-game stretch in 2021, but two of those games were against Yellowstone Christian (104) and SAGU AIC (118).

Montana are currently 71st in the NCAA in scoring offense at 79.1 points per game. It's the second-best scoring offense in program history, trailing only the 1965-66 Grizzlies who averaged 83.6 points under head coach Ron Nord.

They've done it by taking care of the ball and getting high quality shots. Montana are 34th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (1.48) and 27th in field goal percentage (48.5).

SCOUTING WEBER STATE (12-7, 3-3 Big Sky)

The Wildcats will come to Missoula to play in their third game in the last five days. They were at home for the first two, losing 80-78 to Eastern Washington before rebounding with an 88-65 win over last-place Idaho.
Weber State is 3-4 in road games this year and have lost two straight. They are 0-2 against Big Sky opposition on the road, losing 71-69 to Sacramento State in the Nest and 69-66 to Portland State in Viking Pavilion.
Head coach Eric Duft is in his second season at Weber State after taking over for the Big Sky's all-time wins leader Randy Rahe. Duft is 30-22 in his two years in charge of the Wildcats, and has a 2-1 record against Montana.
The marquee win for any Big Sky team was recorded by the Wildcats on opening weekend. They won a ranked game on the road over #23 Saint Mary's 61-57.
They are one of the top defensive teams in the country, ranking 17^th in the NCAA by allowing just 63.8 points per game. In their win over Montana in the first meeting, they held the Grizzlies to just 63 points, which is 16 fewer than their season average.
The strong defense, combined with the methodical offense, leads to low-scoring games. They are 333^rd in the country in adjusted tempo, according to KenPom.com, and they force opponents into the fifth-longest possessions in the NCAA.
Weber State take care of the ball and like to control the pace of the game. They are 20^th in the NCAA in turnovers, averaging just 9.6 per game. They have a 1.40 assist/turnover ratio which is 61^st best in the NCAA.
Dillon Jones is the preseason MVP of the Big Sky Conference and has put up numbers to make a strong case to win the award at the end of the year. The All-America candidate averages 18.7 points, 10.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. He leads the league in rebounding and is second in the other two categories.
Steven Verplancken is 13^th in the league in scoring with 12.4 points per game. He leads the league with 46 made three-pointers, averaging 2.4 per game.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE WILDCATS

Weber State leads the all-time series against Montana 76-65. The home team has been dominant in the history of the game. The Grizzlies are 41-25 against the Wildcats in Missoula.
The Wildcats have taken four of the last five off Montana after winning the first matchup this year. They defeated Montana in Missoula last season on a miracle shot at the buzzer. Montana led by a point and had the ball with four seconds to play. The inbounder tripped on the baseline and an underthrown pass fell into the hands of the Wildcats, who hit a three with one second to play to win 59-57.
Weber State won the first meeting this year 93-63. The loss was the largest ever by a DeCuire-coached team in Big Sky play. It came in the first game following Money Williams' injury.

GRIZ NOTES

This is the second game for Montana in a four-game, eight-day stretch. They will hit the road on Wednesday for the West Coast road trip to Portland State and Sacramento State on Thursday and Saturday.
Montana has used six different starting lineups this year. The current rotation is the third-most used lineup and has a 2-2 record in four games.
The top eight players in Montana's rotation have all had at least one game with 17 points this season after Nap's big game in the rivalry.
Montana started the game down 16-8 at Montana State. It was the biggest deficit the Grizzlies had faced in six games. It's also the largest deficit that Montana has overcome for a victory so far this season.
In games when Montana shoots the same or better than their opponent from the field, they are a perfect 12-0. They are 0-6 when allowing the opponent to shoot a better field goal percentage.
If Montana shoots over 50 percent, they are undefeated. They have done so in nine games.
It extends beyond the arc as well, where Montana is 10-1 when finishing with a higher three-point field goal percentage.
The Grizzlies are 12-1 when scoring at least 70 points in a game this year.
Montana is 7-0 when shooting more free throws than their opponent this year and 6-0 when making more free throws.
After Nap's 17-point performance, seven different Grizzlies have now led Montana in scoring in at least one game.

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Players Mentioned

Jaxon Nap

Te'Jon Sawyer

Dischon Thomas

Money Williams

University of Montana Athletics