Sunday, November 24
Missoula, Mont.
5:00 PM
Montana
3-3,0-0Big Sky
83
vs
73
Denver
3-3,0-0Summit League
1
2
F
Denver
24
49
73
Montana
38
45
83
Photo by: Ryan Brennecke/ University of Montana
Pridgen soars to lead Montana to 83-73 win
11/24/2024 9:05:00 PM | Men's Basketball
If you like dunks, then Sunday night inside Dahlberg Arena was the place for you. Joe Pridgen made it look like All-Star Saturday night in Missoula, throwing down six dunks as part of a season-high 23 point outing as the Grizzlies defeated Denver 83-73.
Montana (3-3) picked up their first D-1 win of the season in the process, leading the Pioneers for all but 30 seconds of Sunday night's contest. Pridgen put together a highlight reel for the ages, putting a couple of Denver players on posters and also throwing down an alley-oop from Money Williams in the games closing moments to seal the win.
Pridgen spent a day this week at local elementary schools having lunch with students, and signed a large number of autographs following the game. The senior transfer moved to Missoula with his wife and newborn daughter in the summer, and Sunday night was a confirmation that they made the right choice.
"It felt awesome. I moved here with my family, we're trying to settle in as a family, and to have the community behind me as an individual and us as a team like that just gives me so much confidence going forward, it's a really good feeling," Pridgen said.
And when asked if he's ever had six dunks in a game before?
"Never," Pridgen said with a laugh. "I kind of was just finding open pockets and my teammates were making the right plays. Give all the credit to them."
Montana outscored Denver 46-36 in the paint, shot 10 percent better than the Pioneers from the field, and had 19 assists compared to just 12 turnovers. Pridgen led the way, but several other Grizzlies shined as they are finally approaching full strength.
Austin Patterson had 16 points, shooting 60 percent from three and 75 percent from the floor. He added four rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block to be named Montana's defensive player of the game.
Money Williams had a relatively quiet 17 point night, and five other Grizzlies found the scoring column.
"I like the depth and versatility," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "We can play small, which we had to do for some stretches because they went small. We can go big when we need to and play a little more power ball and be better on the glass. What helped us pull away down the stretch was our defensive lineup, which had the ability to keep their two guards out of the paint. I thought our defensive lineup won the game for us."
Montana limited Denver to just 39.1 percent shooting and 2-of-19 from the three-point line. They forced difficult shots all night long, and it helped them take the lead early. The Pioneers started the game just 2-for-10 from the field. Montana had them doubled up early in the scoring as a result.
Not only did Montana force them into tough shots, but the Grizzlies also forced nine turnovers in the first half alone. It allowed the Grizzlies to take a 14-point lead into the break at 38-24.
"I thought we did a better job keeping them out of the paint in the first half. We forced some turnovers," DeCuire said. "The guards weren't willing passers so we squeezed and kept them out. I thought in the second half, the defense is in front of our opponent's bench instead of ours, and I thought our communication failed a little bit in the second half and we didn't do a good enough job keeping the ball out of the paint and that's why they scored at a high rate."
Montana ended the half on a 7-0 run, which was started by a Pridgen poster and ended with another dunk from No. 11.
Denver came out firing in the second half, staring the period on a 13-5 run to get Montana's lead down to just six. Patterson answered the run with a triple to give the Griz some breathing room.
It went that way for much of the second half. Denver would climb within five or six points, and then Montana would answer. The biggest difference-maker came over a three minute stretch ending at 5:52 in which Jensen Bradtke scored five points during a 7-0 Griz run.
It put Montana in front 65-54, and Denver would never get within nine the rest of the way.
"Shot selection," DeCuire said was the biggest difference in the second half. "I thought that we had wide open shots that just weren't going down and we never really made an adjustment to attack the rim. We put some guys in that would do that, and then we just had a conversation about being more selective, let's get to the free throw line, let's get high percentage shots. Once we started touching the paint, we got way better shots and went on a run."
Down the stretch, it turned into the Joe Pridgen show. He had four dunks in the final five minutes of the game, and that didn't even count one that came after a foul was whistled on the ground where he rose over Denver's 7-foot center and threw it down.
Pridgen's 23 points were a season high, and he also added seven rebounds and three assists in his 31 minutes of action. He's now averaging 13.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game this year.
It's the first game for Montana against like competition as their first three D-1 opponents are a combined 16-0 this year and all ranked in the top 50 in the country. It's also the first game that Montana has been at full strength, even if they still aren't all at 100 percent.
Jensen Bradtke made his first career start, Te'Jon Sawyer returned from injury to play 13 minutes, and Malik Moore made his season debut. Moore played 22 minutes scoring four points and dishing out three assists.
"You go into the year thinking you have a chance to be a good team. Then you play the schedule we've played and you start to wonder what you're capable of, and if expectations are too high and there's work for us to do," DeCuire said. "And there is always work to do, but what is it. Then when you get home and you've got a more like-opponent, you've got a chance to take a deep breath and say if we do the things we did in our previous game defensively, if we do the things we did at Tennessee offensively and put it together on the same night we will be fine. I thought we showed stretches of that."
It will be a quick turnaround for the Grizzlies as they are starting a stretch of three games in four days. They will return to Robin Selvig Court at 5:45 p.m. on Monday night, giving them less than 24 hours to get ready to go again.
The rest and preparation mimics the Big Sky Tournament format, and DeCuire is using that as a teaching opportunity for a team that hopes to be playing deep into March.
"We always reiterate treatment and taking care of your body. There will be some mandatory ice baths for a few guys for recovery and things like that, but the time you spend in the recovery room is important and then how you get up in the morning and prepare," DeCuire said. "When we get to shootaround in the morning, we can tell who just woke up and who's been here for a while. The ones that have been there for a while will probably help us win tomorrow."
The Grizzlies will play against Utah Tech in the round robin format of the Stew Morrill Classic. The Trailblazers opened the event at 2:00 on Sunday against CSUN, leading for much of the game before falling behind late in an 89-79 loss.
"I think they are a tough team. They are physical. There are some similarities to tonight, there's going to be a lot of penetration, a lot of ball movement, a lot of screens to run through," DeCuire said. "They will challenge our defensive principles, and then offensively, they've forced 14 turnovers a game so it's going to be hard to play one-on-one and get into the paint, so we're going to need to move that ball around and play together."
Montana (3-3) picked up their first D-1 win of the season in the process, leading the Pioneers for all but 30 seconds of Sunday night's contest. Pridgen put together a highlight reel for the ages, putting a couple of Denver players on posters and also throwing down an alley-oop from Money Williams in the games closing moments to seal the win.
Pridgen spent a day this week at local elementary schools having lunch with students, and signed a large number of autographs following the game. The senior transfer moved to Missoula with his wife and newborn daughter in the summer, and Sunday night was a confirmation that they made the right choice.
"It felt awesome. I moved here with my family, we're trying to settle in as a family, and to have the community behind me as an individual and us as a team like that just gives me so much confidence going forward, it's a really good feeling," Pridgen said.
And when asked if he's ever had six dunks in a game before?
"Never," Pridgen said with a laugh. "I kind of was just finding open pockets and my teammates were making the right plays. Give all the credit to them."
Better than All-Star Saturday Night 🌟
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) November 25, 2024
Joe Pridgen with his 5th dunk of the night, this time courtesy of @mxney___ on the lob!#SCTop10 | @ESPNAssignDesk pic.twitter.com/iUAtfuusYM
Montana outscored Denver 46-36 in the paint, shot 10 percent better than the Pioneers from the field, and had 19 assists compared to just 12 turnovers. Pridgen led the way, but several other Grizzlies shined as they are finally approaching full strength.
Austin Patterson had 16 points, shooting 60 percent from three and 75 percent from the floor. He added four rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block to be named Montana's defensive player of the game.
Money Williams had a relatively quiet 17 point night, and five other Grizzlies found the scoring column.
"I like the depth and versatility," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "We can play small, which we had to do for some stretches because they went small. We can go big when we need to and play a little more power ball and be better on the glass. What helped us pull away down the stretch was our defensive lineup, which had the ability to keep their two guards out of the paint. I thought our defensive lineup won the game for us."
Montana limited Denver to just 39.1 percent shooting and 2-of-19 from the three-point line. They forced difficult shots all night long, and it helped them take the lead early. The Pioneers started the game just 2-for-10 from the field. Montana had them doubled up early in the scoring as a result.
Not only did Montana force them into tough shots, but the Grizzlies also forced nine turnovers in the first half alone. It allowed the Grizzlies to take a 14-point lead into the break at 38-24.
"I thought we did a better job keeping them out of the paint in the first half. We forced some turnovers," DeCuire said. "The guards weren't willing passers so we squeezed and kept them out. I thought in the second half, the defense is in front of our opponent's bench instead of ours, and I thought our communication failed a little bit in the second half and we didn't do a good enough job keeping the ball out of the paint and that's why they scored at a high rate."
Montana ended the half on a 7-0 run, which was started by a Pridgen poster and ended with another dunk from No. 11.
𝐃𝐎 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐈𝐍 𝐉𝐎𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐆𝐄𝐍'𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐘 💥💥💥#SCTop10 | @ESPNAssignDesk pic.twitter.com/KnhBzacNPf
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) November 25, 2024
Denver came out firing in the second half, staring the period on a 13-5 run to get Montana's lead down to just six. Patterson answered the run with a triple to give the Griz some breathing room.
It went that way for much of the second half. Denver would climb within five or six points, and then Montana would answer. The biggest difference-maker came over a three minute stretch ending at 5:52 in which Jensen Bradtke scored five points during a 7-0 Griz run.
It put Montana in front 65-54, and Denver would never get within nine the rest of the way.
"Shot selection," DeCuire said was the biggest difference in the second half. "I thought that we had wide open shots that just weren't going down and we never really made an adjustment to attack the rim. We put some guys in that would do that, and then we just had a conversation about being more selective, let's get to the free throw line, let's get high percentage shots. Once we started touching the paint, we got way better shots and went on a run."
Down the stretch, it turned into the Joe Pridgen show. He had four dunks in the final five minutes of the game, and that didn't even count one that came after a foul was whistled on the ground where he rose over Denver's 7-foot center and threw it down.
Pridgen's 23 points were a season high, and he also added seven rebounds and three assists in his 31 minutes of action. He's now averaging 13.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game this year.
Malik with the no-look, Joe Pridgen with slam number 4⃣ pic.twitter.com/NGXYyUzZOH
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) November 25, 2024
It's the first game for Montana against like competition as their first three D-1 opponents are a combined 16-0 this year and all ranked in the top 50 in the country. It's also the first game that Montana has been at full strength, even if they still aren't all at 100 percent.
Jensen Bradtke made his first career start, Te'Jon Sawyer returned from injury to play 13 minutes, and Malik Moore made his season debut. Moore played 22 minutes scoring four points and dishing out three assists.
"You go into the year thinking you have a chance to be a good team. Then you play the schedule we've played and you start to wonder what you're capable of, and if expectations are too high and there's work for us to do," DeCuire said. "And there is always work to do, but what is it. Then when you get home and you've got a more like-opponent, you've got a chance to take a deep breath and say if we do the things we did in our previous game defensively, if we do the things we did at Tennessee offensively and put it together on the same night we will be fine. I thought we showed stretches of that."
It will be a quick turnaround for the Grizzlies as they are starting a stretch of three games in four days. They will return to Robin Selvig Court at 5:45 p.m. on Monday night, giving them less than 24 hours to get ready to go again.
The rest and preparation mimics the Big Sky Tournament format, and DeCuire is using that as a teaching opportunity for a team that hopes to be playing deep into March.
"We always reiterate treatment and taking care of your body. There will be some mandatory ice baths for a few guys for recovery and things like that, but the time you spend in the recovery room is important and then how you get up in the morning and prepare," DeCuire said. "When we get to shootaround in the morning, we can tell who just woke up and who's been here for a while. The ones that have been there for a while will probably help us win tomorrow."
The Grizzlies will play against Utah Tech in the round robin format of the Stew Morrill Classic. The Trailblazers opened the event at 2:00 on Sunday against CSUN, leading for much of the game before falling behind late in an 89-79 loss.
"I think they are a tough team. They are physical. There are some similarities to tonight, there's going to be a lot of penetration, a lot of ball movement, a lot of screens to run through," DeCuire said. "They will challenge our defensive principles, and then offensively, they've forced 14 turnovers a game so it's going to be hard to play one-on-one and get into the paint, so we're going to need to move that ball around and play together."
Team Stats
Denver
Mont
FG%
.391
.492
3FG%
.105
.280
FT%
.875
.842
RB
40
33
TO
13
12
STL
6
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
23
FGM
10
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
17
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
6
Pts
16
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
1
Pts
8
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
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