Griz face Big 10's Ducks, return home on Sunday

MONTANA (1-0) AT OREGON (1-0)
Eugene, Ore. / Matthew Knight Arena
Friday, Nov. 8 / 8:00 PM (MT) / Watch / Listen / Live Stats

MONTANA VS. NORTHWEST INDIAN
Missoula, Mont. / Dahlberg Arena
Sunday, Nov. 10 / 8:00 PM / Listen / Live Stats / Tickets

The Montana men's basketball team will face its first real test of the season on Friday when they travel to Eugene, Ore. to play against the Oregon Ducks of the Big 10. It's the second straight year that Montana will open their road schedule inside Matthew Knight Arena.

The Griz then return home on Sunday to play against Northwest Indian College. Last year, Montana won 107-59 in the season opener against the Eagles.

Friday night's game will be televised on the Big 10 Network. There will be no live stream for Sunday's contest, but the "Voice of the Griz" Riley Corcoran will provide radio play-by-play for both games on the Montana Grizzly Radio Network and the Varsity Network app.

Fans got their first look at the rebuilt Montana roster on Monday in a season-opening 31-point win over Hawaii Hilo. Montana played 10 players in the game, and nine of them were on the floor for at least 10 minutes.

Of those nine players, six were making their Grizzly debuts as head coach Travis DeCuire was forced to bring in the largest transfer class in program history following the departure of four senior starters.

The newcomers aced the first test, looking very impressive in a rout of the visiting Vulcans. Senior guard Kai Johnson, a transfer from Western Washington, even made a bit of history in the season opener.

Johnson scored 27 points, the most in a Grizzly debut in program history and the most since Ahmaad Rorie scored 21 in his first game after transferring from Oregon. The guard made 10-of-14 field goals and also 6-of-7 free throws, scoring from all three levels.

He wasn't the only newcomer to impress in his first game in a Montana uniform. Joe Pridgen, a physical forward that came to Montana from Northeastern, scored 14 points on near-perfect shooting and added eight rebounds.

Austin Patterson scored 12 points and Jeremiah Dargan and Amari Jedkins both impressed in limited action. And while not a transfer, redshirt-freshman Zack Davidson looked good in just 13 minutes of action, scoring seven points and grabbing six rebounds.

Montana shot 56.7 percent from the floor as a team, and did a bulk of their damage inside in the paint, scoring 62 points in the restricted area. It would have been the second-most points in the paint all of last season. They led the entire game, and had a double-digit lead for over 10 minutes.

Overall, it led to a 92-61 win. It's the 26^th time under DeCuire that Montana has scored at least 90 points in a game, and they improved to 24-2 when doing so.

But that was against a non-D-I team. They will have to increase the intensity inside what is sure to be a raucous atmosphere at Matthew Knight Arena on Friday night.

The Ducks and Grizzlies are meeting for the second straight season, and DeCuire's team has already proved that they can hang in that type of atmosphere. The Griz, in front of over 7,000 fans, led early, were tied at halftime, and retook the lead with 17 minutes to go.

Then Oregon ended the game on a 36-19 run to pull away and spoil the upset bid.

The teams will both look different this year. Montana's top scorer from that game, Aanen Moody with 17, has graduated, and seven of the point scorers for the Grizzlies in last year's contest will not be playing this time around.

But there are also several players that have experience against the Ducks, including Money Williams. The game last season was an early sign of what was to come with the phenomenal freshman as he scored 13 points and added six rebounds in the loss.

Williams had an average start to the year statistically speaking with five points and five assists on Monday, but an extraordinary start when you consider just what the sophomore is dealing with at the moment.

He should only grow into the year, and he's also got fifth-year senior Brandon Whitney in the backcourt with him to provide a steady hand. Whitney could move into 13^th on Montana's all-time scoring chart in his 118^th career start for the Griz.

UP NEXT
Montana will have a quick turnaround following Sunday's game against Northwest Indian. They travel to Knoxville, Tenn. for the first-ever matchup against the #12 Tennessee Volunteers.

SCOUTING OREGON (1-0)

The Ducks won their season opener 91-76 over UC Riverside on Monday. Kwame Evans Jr. led the Ducks with 23 points. Nate Bittle had a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double.
Oregon went 24-12 last season, winning the last Pac-12 Championship game to advance to the NCAA Tournament. They won a first-round game as an 11-seed and were eliminated in the Round of 32 by Creighton.
Head coach Dana Altman is in his 15^th season at Oregon and has a 346-152 record with the Ducks. Overall, Altman has won 756 career games as a head coach in a 36-year career.
Matthew Knight Arena will have a new-look this year as they redid the floor during the offseason. The "Deep in the Woods" theme remains, but the fir trees that line the court are lighter in color.
The Ducks are ranked 33^rd in the Pomeroy Ratings, and are ranked 21^st in offensive rating at 114.8.
In the Big 10 Preseason Media Poll, Oregon was picked to finish 6^th in the new 18-team league.
Oregon returns three starters from last years team, including Jackson Shelstad. The sophomore is a preseason All-Big 10 pick after a great freshman year where he averaged 12.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.8 assists.
The Ducks added four impact transfers, all of which have played over 100 career games.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE DUCKS

Oregon leads the all-time series against Montana 25-4. The Ducks are 19-2 in games played in Eugene, and have won four straight in the series, all of which were road games for the Griz. Montana's last win in the series came on Nov. 23, 2009 in a 68-55 road victory.

GRIZ AGAINST THE BIG 10
There's a new-look to the Big 10 this season with 18 total teams. When looking at the current roster of schools, Montana has a 19-95 (.167) all-time record. A majority of that, however, comes against Oregon and Washington, fellow Northwest schools that were long a part of the Pac-12 and its iterations.

This is the first game against a Big 10 opponent since Montana's NCAA Tournament matchup with Michigan in 2019.

If you remove the additions from the Pac, Montana has a 3-17 record against the other 14 teams in the conference.

A NOTE FOR NORTHWEST INDIAN
The Griz and Eagles will play for the second straight season on Sunday in a game that will not be streamed. Montana won 107-59 last season, scoring the third-most points of the DeCuire era in the blowout victory. The Griz shot 63.1 percent from the floor, also the third-best shooting percentage for a DeCuire-coached team.

Northwest Indian played against another Big Sky team, Weber State, in their season opener. The Wildcats won 118-35.

MONTANA NOTES

Brandon Whitney needs 15 points to pass Ken McKenzie for 13^th on the all-time scoring chart at Montana.
Kai Johnson started his 60^th career game on Monday. He has played in 85 total contests and is six minutes away from 2,300 in his career.
Joe Pridgen had three blocks in his Grizzly debut, which matches a career high. It's his fifth career game with three blocks, and brings his career total to 54.
Amari Jedkins had two blocks in his Griz debut, setting a new career high. He had two total blocks in his 11 career games at Green Bay.
The Grizzlies had 62 points in the paint in Monday's win, the most by a Griz team since last year's season-opening win over Northwest Indian (64).

HOME OPENER HISTORY
Montana won its eighth straight home opener under DeCuire with a 92-61 win over Hawaii Hilo. The head coach is 10-1 in home openers in his 10 years at his alma mater with the only loss coming in a one-point contest to Wyoming in 2016-17.

In season openers, Montana is now 6-5 under DeCuire. The Grizzlies have run the gamut on opponents during that time with some incredibly difficult road trips to kick off campaigns, including Stanford, USC, and Duquesne, to go along with several non-D-I opponents.

ALL-OUT OFFENSE
Montana set a program record in 2023-24 by scoring 2,768 points. They played 36 games, more than any other team in program history, and averaged 76.9 points per game, which ranked 7th in program history.

The Griz matched a program record by scoring at 80 points in 15 different games, and also matched the program record with six 90-point games.

Montana had four different players average at least 10 points per game, led by Aanen Moody with 16.8. Moody and Dischon Thomas (11.6 PPG) are gone, but Money Williams (13.4 PPG in 12 games) and Brandon Whitney return to lead the offense in 2024-25.

LIFE IS HARD ON THE ROAD
Montana have struggled in road openers under DeCuire, having lost six straight. The last win in a true road opener came over Pitt in 2018, an overtime victory as part of the Legends Classic in 2017.

DeCuire is 1-9 all-time in his first road game of the season.

Montana has typically struggled in road non-conference games, going 9-44 (.170) under DeCuire.

The Griz have been impressive lately, however, winning three straight non-conference games away from Missoula to end last season. It's the longest road winning streak in non-conference games of DeCuire's tenure, and only the second time the Griz have won back-to-back on the road.

NAVIGATING NOVEMBER
Historically speaking, November has been the most challenging month of the season for Montana under Coach DeCuire. It's no surprise, as Montana typically loads up with Power-4 games during the first month of the season, and this year is no different.

Montana will play eight games in November this year. They play on the road against Oregon, #12 Tennessee, and Utah State, all three of which were NCAA Tournament teams last season.

The Griz are 25-34 under DeCuire in November. It's truly been a tale of two teams at home and away. The Grizzlies are 19-4 at home in the month, but 2-26 on the road under DeCuire. They have also played eight neutral site games, going 4-4.

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Players Mentioned

Jeremiah Dargan

Zack Davidson

Amari Jedkins

Kai Johnson

Aanen Moody

Austin Patterson

Joe Pridgen

Dischon Thomas

Brandon Whitney

Money Williams

University of Montana Athletics