Griz enter final week with plenty on the line

MONTANA AT EASTERN WASHINGTON
Thursday, Feb. 29 / 7:00 p.m (MT) / Watch / Live Stats

MONTANA AT IDAHO
Saturday, March 2 / 3:00 p.m. (MT) / Watch / Live Stats

The final week of the season has arrived and Montana's title hopes remain alive as they head west to face off against league-leaders Eastern Washington on Thursday and Idaho on Saturday. The Grizzlies are the hottest team in the league at the moment, taking a three-game winning streak on the road as they look to upset the Eagles and get within a game of first place.

Montana swept a three-game home stand over the previous two weeks, knocking off Montana State, Sacramento State, and Portland State in order. They won each game by at least seven points, separating themselves from the middle of the pack in the conference standings in the process.

Eastern Washington once looked a lock to win the regular season title, but losses in two of their previous three games have given the teams trailing them some hope. Montana and Northern Colorado are both tied for second place and just two games behind the Eagles in the league standings.

Montana is surging at the right time, which has become a staple of teams coached by Travis DeCuire. The Grizzlies opened the season 2-4, playing some incredibly tough competition, but since then are 17-5. They won six games in December, six games in January, and will look to close out another six-win month with a victory in Cheney on Thursday.

They continue to play good team basketball with a starting lineup that features five seniors. The star of the game changes seemingly every time they take the floor. In Saturday's win over Portland State, it was Dischon Thomas who led Montana with a 20-point, eight-rebound night.

Thursday against Sacramento State saw Laolu Oke shine with 10 points and 15 rebounds. It was his fifth double-double of the season, and first in Big Sky play. Brandon Whitney averaged 14.5 points and 3.5 assists across the two wins last weekend, while Aanen Moody averaged 13.5 points and made his 300^th career three in a clutch moment to help seal the Portland State win.

It's been the story of the season for Montana in conference play. Aanen Moody, Montana's top scorer, ranks 10^th in the Big Sky in conference play with 14.9 points per game. Dischon Thomas (14.2) and Brandon Whitney (13.7) are both in the top 16 in scoring.

Te'Jon Sawyer is averaging 10.5 points off the bench to five Montana four players averaging double figures in league games. Vazquez narrowly misses the mark at 9.5 per contest.

They will need everyone performing well on Thursday night if they are going to upset the Eagles in Cheney. Eastern Washington won the first meeting by 13 points and currently have a three-game winning streak over Montana.

If the Grizzlies were able to leave Eastern Washington with a win, it would be the signature victory of the season. Montana has been very good at handling business against teams below it in the standings, but against the current top four in the league they are just 1-4. The only win came at home over Weber State.

The Grizzlies will play three games in five days to close out the season, following Saturday's contest in Moscow up with a Monday night home matchup against Idaho State. If they are able to win out, a share of a conference title isn't out of the question. But first, they have to go up against the league's top team that is looking to clinch its second straight Big Sky title at home.

POSTSEASON OUTLOOK
Montana enters the final week of the season tied with Northern Colorado for second place in the Big Sky standings. Thursday will be quite the night for Big Sky hoops, as Montana faces league leaders Eastern Washington while Northern Colorado takes on fourth-place Weber State.

Should the Grizzlies and Wildcats both win on Thursday, Montana will have the inside track for a top-two seed and an extra day of rest at the Big Sky Tournament in Boise. They would also be within a game of the Eagles for the regular season title. Montana's last regular season title came in 2018-19.

The Grizzlies are almost guaranteed a top four seed at the tournament, even with a loss on Thursday night. A Grizzly loss, combined with a Weber State win, would mean that three teams would be tied at 10-6 in league play with two remaining games.

DECUIRE SET FOR MORE HISTORY
Head coach Travis DeCuire enters this week tied with Montana State's Mick Durham for the second most league wins in Big Sky Conference history. DeCuire is 123-57 in his 10 seasons at Montana against Big Sky teams.

The Grizzlies improved to 10-5 in Big Sky play with last week's home sweep. It's the ninth time in 10 seasons under DeCuire that the Griz have won double-digit games in Big Sky play.

DeCuire is also one win away from yet another 20-win season. It would be the fifth time that a DeCuire-led team has reached 20 wins, which would be the most in program history.

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS
Montana is 9-1 in Big Sky play against teams in the bottom six of the league. They swept the season series over Northern Arizona, Sacramento State and Montana State. They have the chance to sweep both Idaho schools in the final week. Their only loss came at Portland State.

But the Grizzlies have struggled against the top of the league, going just 1-4 against Eastern Washington, Northern Colorado, and Weber State. They have a chance for a signature victory on Thursday.

SCOUTING EASTERN WASHINGTON (18-10, 12-3 Big Sky)

The Eagles enter the week coming off an 85-76 road win over Northern Colorado last Saturday. The win snapped a losing streak for the Eagles, who had dropped their previous two games after starting Big Sky play at 10-1.
They still lead the Big Sky Conference standings by two games, and would clinch at least a share of the conference title with a win on Thursday night.
Eastern Washington is 9-1 on Reese Court this season, but lost their last home game to Weber State 90-84 on Feb. 17.
The Eagles are the top team in the Big Sky according to both the NET Rankings (129) and KenPom (139).
They are one of the top shooting teams in the country, making 49.7 percent of their field goal attempts and 37.2 percent of their threes. They rank sixth in field goal percentage and 23^rd in three-point percentage in the NCAA, and lead the Big Sky in both categories.
The Eagles rank 13^th in the NCAA and lead the Big Sky with 17.4 assists per game. They share the ball well, but have also struggled taking care of it. They average 13.3 turnovers per game, which ranks 294^th in the country.
Eastern Washington leads the Big Sky and rank 52^nd in the NCAA in free throw rate, according to KenPom.com. It measures a team's ability to get to the free throw line by diving free throw attempts over field goal attempts. Montana are last in the league and outside the top 300 nationally in the category.
The Eagles are one of the largest teams in the country with an average height of 78.4" putting them 22^nd in the NCAA.
They have the top offense (81.4 PPG) in the Big Sky in league play and the fourth-best scoring defense (72.1).
Cedric Coward is in the Big Sky MVP discussion, averaging 16.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game this season. He scored a career-high 30 points to go with six rebounds in the win over Northern Colorado.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE EAGLES
Montana leads the all-time series between the two schools 71-52. They are 28-29 in Cheney after losing there last season 64-57. The Eagles have won six of the last 10 meetings. DeCuire is 10-11 against Eastern Washington overall, the only team in the Big Sky that he has a losing record against.

Eastern Washington won the first meeting 78-65 in Missoula. The game featured 46 fouls called and 51 total free throws between the two teams as the Eagles scored 27 points from the charity stripe. Dischon Thomas led Montana with 19 points and eight rebounds.

SCOUTING IDAHO (11-17, 5-10 Big Sky)

First year head coach Alex Pribble has led Idaho to its most wins since 2017-18. They are one win away from matching their most Big Sky wins since that season as well.
The Vandals are coming off an 86-76 road win at Northern Arizona on Saturday. Since the first meeting between the Griz and Vandals on Feb. 1, Idaho has gone 3-3.
Idaho has been better at home this year, going 6-8 inside ICCU Arena. Saturday will be Senior Day for the Vandals as they play their final home game of the year.
They are currently 9^th in the Big Sky standings at 5-10, but could still climb as high as 5^th depending on results in the final week. The top six teams get a bye at the Big Sky Tournament.
They rank 9^th in the Big Sky in scoring offense (67.1 PPG) during league games, but have been better defensively, ranking 5^th among the 10 teams at 72.3 PPG.
The Vandals have a roster composed almost entirely of freshman or lower level transfers. They rank dead last in the NCAA out of 362 teams in total D-I experience, according to KenPom.com. Montana, meanwhile, rank 30^th in the country in experience.
Quinn Denker leads the Vandals in scoring with 12.8 points per game. He's upped that to 14.5 points during conference play, making 21 threes in league competition.
Julius Mims is averaging 11.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game this season. He's recorded five double-doubles on the year. He's also second in the Big Sky and 74^th in the country with 1.6 blocks per game. Mims is originally from Billings, Mont. and transferred to Idaho from North Idaho College.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE VANDALS
Idaho leads the all-time series 112-93, including a 75-23 record in Moscow. The series has been all Montana as of late, however, with the Grizzlies winning nine of the last 10 meetings. Since DeCuire's first season at Montana, which was also Idaho's first year back in the Big Sky Conference, Montana is 12-6 in the series.

The Grizzlies are also 7-3 in the last 10 games played in Moscow, dating back to 2010. Montana won the first meeting 73-70 this year, overcoming a 12-point deficit for their largest comeback win of the season. Dischon Thomas had his fifth double-double of the season in the win.

GRIZ NOTES

The current starting lineup will be opening their 15^th game overall and 14^th straight together.
The Griz led wire-to-wire in the win over Portland State. It's the sixth time this year that Montana has won a game in which they never trailed.
The bench scored 20 points in the win over Portland State. It's the 17^th time this year that the Grizzly bench has had 20-plus in a game. The Grizzly bench averages 20.7 points per game this year.
Montana is 15-1 when leading at the half this season.
The Griz are 18-2 when scoring at least 70 points this season. They won 68-62 over Sacramento State (2/22) for their first win when being held under 70 this year. Montana are also 14-0 when holding opponents under 70 points this year.
The Griz are 18-0 when shooting the same or better than their opponent this year. They have shot better than 50 percent 13 times - all Griz wins – and have held their opponent under 40 percent seven times.
Montana has had more assists than its opponent in 20 of the 29 games this season. They are 17-3 in such games.
Saturday's win was the third straight for Montana. It's the fourth time this year they've had a streak of at least three wins with the longest being five straight from Dec. 2-19, although two of the wins were vs. NAIA teams. The Griz haven't won four straight games against D-I competition this year.
The 19 wins this season have come by an average of 16.8 points per game. They have been good in the first half of wins, taking an average lead of 9.7 points into the locker room.
Similarly, the Grizzlies have been out of their nine losses for much of the game. The Grizzlies have faced an average halftime deficit of 11.3 points in losses this year, and they have lost the overall games by an average of 17.8 points per contest.
Montana still has not lost consecutive games in Big Sky play. They have rebounded from every loss with a victory in the next game, and haven't lost two straight since November against No. 6 Houston and Nevada.
The Grizzlies 12-3 on Robin Selvig Court so far this season and will close the season at home against Idaho State (3/4). They have won at least 10 home games in 13 of the previous 16 seasons.
Montana doesn't have a player in the top nine in the league in scoring in conference play. Aanen Moody is 10th with 14.9 points, Dischon Thomas is 14th at 14.2 points, and Brandon Whitney is 16th with 13.7 points.
Montana has won 19 games in a season for the first time since the NCAA Tournament team in 2018-19 won 26 total games. They are seeking their fifth 20-win season under DeCuire, which would be a new program record.
The Grizzlies have scored 90 points in a game six times this season. This is the first time since the 1994-95 season that Montana has had six 90-point games in the same season. The Grizzlies have never had seven games of at least 90 points in a single season.
When the opponent is held under 45 percent from the floor, the Grizzlies are 12-2.
Montana has shot better than 50 percent in nine of the last 16 games overall.
Montana's 24 assists vs. NAU (2/8) were the most since the Grizzlies recorded 27 in a win over Sacramento State on Feb. 14, 2008. They were spreading the love that day, and Ceylon Elgin-Taylor dished out 10 assists to lead the way.
The Grizzlies are 15-1 when leading at the half with the only loss coming at home in overtime to Northern Colorado.
Uni-watch: Th Griz are 4-7 in the traditional road maroon uniforms this season. One of those wins came at home in the Brawl of the Wild. They are a perfect 4-0 in the alternate gray road uniforms.
The Grizzlies are 11-2 when they finish with fewer turnovers than their opponent, and are 15-3 when forcing at least 10 turnovers in a game.
Montana is 9-2 in games played on Saturdays this year. They are 3-4 in Thursday games.
The top eight players in Montana's rotation have all had at least one game with 17 points this season.
Montana overcame a 12-point deficit vs. Idaho (2/1), the largest comeback win of the season for the Griz.
The three-point line has been crucial to wins this year. Montana is 15-1 when finishing with a higher three-point field goal percentage and 13-3 when making more threes than their opponent.
Montana has had a different leading scorer seven times this year. Moody has led Montana 10 times and Whitney has done so seven times.
The team that reaches 70 points first is 26-1 in Montana's 28 games this year. The team that enters the break with the advantage is 22-4 overall as there has not been a lot of drama down the stretch in games this year.
The Grizzlies have shot at least 80 percent as a team from the free throw line in 16 games this season and six straight. They are second in the country in the category, trailing on Iowa's 17 games.
At 19-9 (.679), Montana currently have the third-best winning percentage of DeCuire's 10 seasons. He's looking for his fifth 20-win season as a head coach. The 2017-28 team (26-8, .765) and 2018-19 team (26-9, .743) are the only teams with better winning percentages. They both reached the NCAA Tournament.

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Players Mentioned

Aanen Moody

Laolu Oke

Te'Jon Sawyer

Dischon Thomas

Brandon Whitney

University of Montana Athletics