Griz face Presbyterian in CBI First Round

(5) MONTANA VS. (12) PRESBYTERIAN
Ro College Basketball Invitational First Round
Sunday, March 24 / 11:00 a.m. (MT) / Watch / Live Stats

Montana men's basketball will continue its season in Daytona Beach, Florida this weekend at the Ro College Basketball Invitational. It's the first postseason trip for the Grizzlies in five years, and marks their third-ever appearance in the CBI.

The Grizzlies will open the tournament as the No. 5 seed, facing off against No. 12 Presbyterian in the first round. First and second round games will be streamed on FloSports, while the semifinal and championship games will move to ESPN2.

Montana is hoping to put together a run in the tournament. In order to bring a trophy home to Missoula, the Griz would need to win four games in four days on the beaches of Daytona.

It's the first-ever meeting between Montana and Presbyterian, who finished sixth in the Big South with a final record of 14-18.

This will be the first postseason trip since 2019 and the fifth for head coach Travis DeCuire. The Grizzlies have played in two NCAA Tournaments, two CBIs and one NIT under DeCuire. This is Montana's first trip to Florida for a game since playing in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando in 2006.

The Grizzlies are coming off a heartbreaking loss in the Big Sky Championship game against Montana State. They led by six at halftime and built the lead to as many as 11 points in the second half, but went cold down the stretch and fell by 15.

They get a chance at some more basketball in Daytona Beach as they head across the country for the 15-team event. Montana is one of two Big Sky schools competing with regular season runner-up Northern Colorado also making the journey.

Outside of the Bears, Montana have played just 12 total games against the rest of the field. They haven't played against eight of the 15 teams, including their first round opponent Presbyterian.

They are hoping to extend the careers of their talented senior class with a tournament run at the CBI and return home to Missoula next week with a trophy in hand. But before they can do that, they need to get past the Blue Hose and into the quarterfinals.

If Montana wins on Sunday, they will play again on Monday at 12:00 p.m. (MT) against the winner of No. 4 Arkansas State and No. 13 Bethune-Cookman.

MOODY'S MILESTONES
Senior guard Aanen Moody scored his 1,000^th point at Montana in the Big Sky Championship to become just the third two-year player to join Montana's 1,000-point club. Ahmaad Rorie also scored 1,000 in his first two seasons at UM.

Moody is putting together one of the best scoring seasons in program history. His 568 points are the 9^th-most in a single season in program history. He needs 16 more points to pass Ahmaad Rorie's 2017-18 year and 45 more to move into 7^th.

DeCUIRE GETS WIN #200
Head coach Travis DeCuire picked up the 200^th win of his career in Montana's Big Sky semifinal victory over Idaho State. He becomes the second Montana coach and fifth Big Sky Conference coach to reach the 200-win mark.

MONTANA'S POSTSEASON HISTORY
This is Montana's first postseason trip since 2019 and 19^th in program history. This is the Grizzlies' third appearance in the CBI. Montana lost to Nevada 79-75 in 2016 and fell at home to Duquesne 87-76 in 2011.

Montana has 12 NCAA Tournament appearances and four NIT appearances in program history. This is the fifth time that DeCuire will lead a team into the postseason, which is the most by a coach in program history.

VAZQUEZ SETS A BIG SKY RECORD
Senior guard Josh Vazquez played in his 153^rd career game at Montana in the Big Sky title game, breaking a Big Sky record for most career appearances. He passed Southern Utah's Dre Marin at the top of the leaderboard.

He became Montana's all-time leader in games played in early January with his 135th appearance.

MARCH SUCCESS
The Grizzlies are now 28-17 under DeCuire in the month of March. The .622 winning percentage is the 39th best in the NCAA during the last 10 seasons.

Since Larry Krystkowiak's first season in 2004-05, Montana is 50-30 overall in the month of March. The .625 winning percentage is the best in the Big Sky and 27^th-best in the NCAA during that time.

SCOUTING PRESBYTERIAN (14-18, 6-10 Big South)

The Blue Hose were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Big South tournament last week by Gardner-Webb. Presbyterian led by as many as 12 points in the game, but gave up a pair of free throws with three seconds left to lose by one, 61-60.
Head Coach Quinton Ferrell, who graduated from Presbyterian in 2007, is in his fifth season leading his alma mater. Ferrell is 48-102 in charge of the Blue Hose.
This is the first postseason appearance for Presbyterian since 2019, when they lost to Marshall in the 2019 CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
The Blue Hose transitioned to Division I in the late 2000s, playing their first full-fledged DI season in 2012-13. They are 175-377 overall at the DI level.
They average 74.7 points per game while allowing 72.8. Presbyterian is one of the better shooting teams in the country, making 47.3 percent of their field goals to rank 46^th in the NCAA. They score nearly 55 percent of their points from inside the arc.
The Blue Hose are 5-11 in their last 16 games.
Marquis Barnett leads Presbyterian with 14.5 points per game, and also had a good year defensively, leading the team with 58 steals and 28 blocks. Barnett earned a spot on the All-Big South Second Team.
Samage Teel is second on the team in scoring with 13.2 points per game, and he leads the Blue Hose with 85 assists and 51 made three-pointers.
One of the smaller teams in DI with an average height of 6-4.1" (325/362), the Blue Hose have five players averaging between 4.0 and 5.0 rebounds per game. Jonah Pierce leads the team with 4.9 rebounds per game.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE BLUE HOSE
This is the first-ever meeting between Montana and Presbyterian.

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Players Mentioned

Aanen Moody

Josh Vazquez

University of Montana Athletics