Ducks ride defense to big win over Griz

Friday, November 8

Eugene, Ore.

8:00 PM (MT)

Montana

1-1,0-0Big Sky

Oregon

2-0,0-0Big Ten

Montana

Oregon

11/8/2024 10:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana Grizzlies fell 79-48 to the Oregon Ducks on Friday night in Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks, an NCAA Tournament Team from last year that are receiving votes to be ranked this season, used their length and athleticism to hold Montana's offense in check for most of the night.

The Grizzlies (1-1) shot just 34.0 percent on the evening, making 17 of their 50 attempts and struggling from three-point range with just three makes on 19 attempts. The Ducks also forced Montana into 14 total turnovers, although Montana cleaned it up in the second half with just four over the final 20 minutes.

Head coach Travis DeCuire said that the length from Oregon (2-0) made things difficult for his team in the paint.

"I don't think we worked well enough to get great shots," DeCuire said. "There were some things there that we saw that we never really consistently took advantage of in the ball screens. We just did not execute that very well and when you take hard shots, the easy ones are harder to make, and that's kind of what happened tonight."

Joe Pridgen was the star of the game for the Grizzlies, just missing out on a double-double for the second straight game with a team-high 14 points and nine rebounds. Pridgen made hustle play after hustle play for the Griz, recording three steals and pulling down four of his boards on the offensive side.

Pridgen also made his first six shots, and didn't miss a field goal until there were fewer than three minutes remaining in the game. He ended the night 6-of-7 shooting. He's averaging 14.0 points and 8.5 rebounds through the first two games of the season.

"He gives us a ton of confidence with his aggression, his athleticism, his physicality. I would have liked to have played him at the three more, but Amari got two fouls early in the first half which never allowed me to play the bigger lineup, which I thought would have been better for us offensively."

The Grizzlies took the first lead of the game on a three-pointer from money Williams. Joe Pridgen had a solid start as well, contributing four early points to have Montana tied at 7-all with 17:13 on the clock.

But after that, a long scoring drought allowed the Ducks to take total control of the game. Montana went 9:16 without a point and nearly 10 minutes without a made field goal, and in that time Oregon was able to score 15 straight points to take a 22-7 lead.

The Griz struggled against the length of the Ducks, missing 10 straight shots and also turning the ball over six times during the drought.

Williams ended the scoring drought with a pair of free throws, and then hit a step-back three-pointer to cut the Oregon lead to 10. Montana got back withing single digits, but another long Oregon scoring run extended the lead over 20. The hosts made a pair of threes right before the halftime buzzer to take a 44-20 lead into the break.

Oregon's defense was particularly effective on Montana's starting backcourt. Williams scored eight points but shot just 2-of-13 from the floor. Kai Johnson and Brandon Whitney combined for just three points on 10 shot attempts. The biggest factor in slowing the Montana guards down?

"It was the bigs," DeCuire said. "Those guys were trying to get in the paint and the seven-footers were coming over and contesting shots, and those shots needed to be drop offs. At the end of the day, we were one pass away from a good shot."

Montana struggled from the floor in the opening half, shooting just 23.1 percent as a team and turning it over 10 times.

The Grizzlies started much better in the second half, particularly on the defensive end as they held the Ducks to just 35 points in the second half.

A three-pointer from Austin Patterson as part of a 5-0 personal run for the senior transfer cut the lead to 60-37. It allowed Montana to outscore Oregon 17-16 through the first 10 minutes of the second period.

Then another cold streak hit, and Montana fell out of it for the rest of game. The Griz didn't make another basket for over five minutes, and the Ducks were able to build the lead over 30 points as a result.

"You find out if there is still some fight in the dog when you're down," DeCuire said of the second half. "When things aren't going your way, how do you handle it? We wanted to clean up some stuff offensively and get better shots, which we did. They didn't really go down, but I thought we were cleaner in the second half."

The Griz were able to hold Oregon without a made field goal for nearly seven minutes down the stretch, another bright spot on the defensive end, but ended the night falling 79-48. It's the first 30-point loss for Montana since the Big Sky opener at Weber State last season.

Montana was much better in the second half, and most of the minutes came against Oregon's starters and main rotation as nine players got the bulk of the minutes for the Ducks on the night.

The shooting improved to 45.8 percent in the second period for Montana, and they cleaned up the ball control with just four turnovers as a team. The Griz just couldn't compete with the size as Oregon outrebounded them 42-31 and scored 10 more points in the paint.

One crucial area in the game was transition, as Montana hoped to slow the Ducks down on one end and then play fast on the other to not let the big 7-footers get set in the halfcourt defense.

But Oregon came prepared for that gameplan and held Montana to zero transition points, while scoring 14 of their own, to win the category.

Montana will now reset as they have a home contest on Sunday against Northwest Indian College before traveling to a nationally ranked Tennessee team on Wednesday.

"Be better the next one," DeCuire said. "On paper, they say the next one is a better team and they're going to have size and there's going to be some different issues in terms of how they play. But it's another opportunity to show growth, so we need to be better offensively in that game. A little jump defensively, but a big one offensively and with execution."

Before they take on the Volunteers, Montana will play against Northwest Indian in a home game that will not be televised. The Griz beat Northwest Indian 107-59 in the season opener last year.

"We need to show growth," DeCuire said of Sunday's game. "We have to play better than we did last Monday, and play against these teams the same way that we would attempt to play against an Oregon or a Tennessee if we want to get better."