Montana's offense struggles in loss to Portland State

Thursday, January 25

Portland, Ore.

8 PM (MT)

Montana

13-7,4-3Big Sky

Portland State

12-8,3-4Big Sky

Montana

Portland St.

Photo by: Jackson Wagner

Montana's offense struggles in loss to Portland State

1/25/2024 11:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana Grizzlies have had one of the league's top offenses in 2024 and entered Thursday night top five in the country since the new year in nearly every shooting category. They ran into a red-hot Portland State team that had its best shooting game, and Montana's offense went cold in a 72-46 loss.

It's the lowest field goal percentage on the year for Montana (13-7, 4-3 Big Sky) and the second-fewest points. Portland State, meanwhile, couldn't miss from deep and had a season high in both threes and three-point percentage. The Vikings had shot better than 35 percent from deep in just six games total coming in but connected on 50 percent of their 24 attempts on Thursday.

The Vikings threw off Montana's rhythm offensively with a full-court pressure defense that they maintained for all 40 minutes. It led to just the sixth game all season that Montana was held under 70 points scoring, and the lowest scoring total in a Big Sky game for a DeCuire-coached team.

"Not enough juice. You often say in basketball pressure busts pipes," DeCuire said. "Teams that press and get into you a bit back you off. They were the aggressor, and we never really bounced back."

The Grizzlies had scored at least 30 points in all but four halves this year, but were limited to just 15 in the second half.

Montana led 20-16 after a Josh Vazquez three-pointer that was part of a hot start for Montana. They made five of their first eight three pointers in the game, and had scored 20 points in the opening 10 minutes. They would cool off, and Portland State would take the lead for good as Montana managed just 26 points over the final 30 minutes.

"Early, they gave us shots. They were doubling the post and we passed it out and Vazquez and (Thomas) hit some shots early. Then they came out of that and forced us to play one-on-one and our posts just really struggled to score on the block tonight. They took us out of our offense a little bit."

Josh Vazquez and Brandon Whitney were the only Grizzlies in double figures, each scoring 11 points. Aanen Moody, Dischon Thomas, and Laolu Oke each finished with six rebounds to share the team lead. Whitney had four of Montana's 11 assists.

The Vikings were back home in a gym that they've been very good in this year. They improved to 6-1 inside Viking Pavilion this year, and they played like a team that was desperate for a victory.

"One of the things that we discussed is that this team always gets up for us, regardless of their record. It doesn't matter to them, when we come in they are going to show up," DeCuire said. "The challenge is for all of us, coaches, players, all the way down, to bring the same level of intensity that we've brought for rivalry games. I just didn't think we had the juice today."

Montana will look to regroup on Saturday when they take on Sacramento State at 7:00 PM (MT). The Grizzlies are still in sole possession of fourth place in the league and will hope to bounce back into the win column against the 2-5 Hornets.

"We will have a conversation. Really it's try to be fresh over the next 24 hours. We've got some guys banged up, two or three guys hit the floor loud enough for everyone in the gym to go silent," DeCuire said. "We've got to make sure everybody is good to go, try to be fresh, reset everything mentally, and then focus on Sacramento State and try to be the best team we can be."