Griz looking to bounce back

MONTANA (10-7, 3-1 BIG SKY) AT WEBER STATE (7-10, 1-2 BIG SKY)
Thursday, Jan. 16 / 7:00 PM / Ogden, Utah / Watch / Live Stats

MONTANA AT IDAHO STATE (6-8, 1-2 BIG SKY)
Saturday, Jan. 18 / 6:00 PM / Pocatello, Idaho / Watch / Live Stats

The Montana men's basketball team continues Big Sky play this week with two road contests against a pair of teams that are 1-2 in conference play. The Griz face Weber State on Thursday and Idaho State on Saturday.

Montana will aim to rebound from a difficult home loss in a first-place game against Northern Colorado. The Bears jumped out early and ran away from the Griz, handing UM its first loss both at home and in conference play this season.

Despite the loss, Montana still sit in second place in the Big Sky standings through the first two weeks of the season with a chance to make another road statement this week. After an 0-6 start to the season on the road, the Griz righted the ship the first week of January with a road sweep of Eastern Washington and Idaho to open up Big Sky play.

It was the first time since 2017 that Montana had swept that road trip, and was Montana's first 2-0 start to Big Sky play since 2020.

They bumped that record up to 3-0 with a convincing win over Northern Arizona last Thursday, but fell short against the undefeated Bears on Saturday.

The Griz now head out on a road trip that they have swept three times in 10 seasons under Coach DeCuire to play a pair of teams that are much better than records would indicate at this point in the season.

Weber State are a historically great program that were picked 3^rd in the preseason Media Poll. The Wildcats had lost four straight going into last week, but took down Idaho State 77-69 in Pocatello to get their first conference win.

The Wildcats' Blaise Threatt has been one of the top players in the Big Sky this season on both sides of the ball, ranking 3^rd in scoring (16.9 PPG) and leading the Big Sky and ranking 13^th nationally with 40 steals.

Last season, the Wildcats handed Montana its worst loss to a Big Sky team in the DeCuire era, winning 93-63 at home. The Griz will look for some revenge from that game on Thursday.

Idaho State, despite last week's loss to Weber State, sits ahead of Montana in the NCAA Net Rankings having played some very competitive games against Big 10 opponents in the non-conference schedule. They defeated Northern Arizona in Flagstaff and nearly upset Northern Colorado in Greeley, falling by just a single point in overtime.

In a league filled with plenty of great offenses, the Bengals have hung their hat on a stout defense. They allow just 67.9 points per game, a top 90 mark in the country, and dominate the boards to do so. They have the third-best rebounding margin (+12.0) in the NCAA.

Montana has dominated Idaho State historically, winning five straight games and 27 of the last 28 against the Bengals. On Saturday, they will aim to extend that winning streak to six.

The Big Sky Conference has proven to be a highly competitive league through the first two weeks of action, and Montana will have another pair of tough tests this week as it looks to remain in the Big Sky title hunt through the first third of the season.

ROAD BIG SKY STARTS
Montana started 2-0 on the road in Big Sky play for the first time since 2018-19 with the wins over Eastern Washington and Idaho. The Grizzlies lost their third road contest that season.

The last time Montana won their first three games on the road in league play was 2017-18. The Griz started 7-0 on the road (and 13-0 overall) in Big Sky play that season on the way to regular season and tournament championships.

WHITNEY RECORD WATCH
Graduate guard Brandon Whitney is currently 5th in program history in career assists and 12th in scoring. Whitney has 402 career assists. He passed Will Cherry for 5th, and trails Kareem Jamar by five assists for 4th.

Whitney has 1,425 points in his career. He passed Jordan Hasquet for 12th at Eastern Washington (1/2) and trails Will Cherry by 59 points for 11th.

Whitney has also played more minutes than any other player in program history, and needs to play in 16 more games to tie Josh Vazquez for the most appearances in program, and Big Sky Conference, history.

RIDE THE HOT HAND
Montana has the benefit of several scorers and playmakers sharing the floor this season, allowing DeCuire to go with whoever is hot at the moment. The Grizzlies have had four different players lead them in scoring at least four times.

Malik Moore and Money Williams have each led the Griz five times. Kai Johnson and Joe Pridgen have all led Montana in scoring four times. Moore led the team last Thursday with 20 points, while Williams led on Saturday with 15 points.

The quartet of players all average double figures per game, led by Williams (14.2 PPG) and Moore (13.7 PPG).

BEST IN THE BIG SKY
Since head coach Travis DeCuire took over as head coach before the 2014-15 season, Montana leads the Big Sky Conference in wins (211) and winning percentage (.617). There are only five teams with winning records in the league during those 11 years.

Eastern Washington is second in wins (209), followed by Weber State (192), Northern Colorado (181), and Montana State (169).

Montana has also won more road conference games than any other team in the Big Sky during that time. DeCuire is 60-35 (.632) on the road in league play. Eastern Washington has the second-most wins at 58.

GRIZ NOTES

Money Williams is leading Montana with 16.3 points per game in Big Sky play. He's shooting 41.8 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from three-point range against league opponents, and also shares the team high with 15 assists.
Seven players have appeared in all four league games this year as Coach DeCuire has tightened the rotation. 12 players did appear on Saturday, the most in a single game since 12 players saw the court on Nov. 24 in a win over Denver.
Joe Pridgen ranks 9^th in the NCAA in field goal percentage, making 64.8 percent of his shots this year. He has made at least half of his attempts from the floor in 13 straight games.
Pridgen is close to Montana's single-season field goal percentage record set by Steve Vanek. Vanek shot 66.2 percent from the floor in 1986-87. Pridgen is currently shooting 64.9 percent.
Brandon Whitney leads the Big Sky and ranks 22^nd nationally in assist/turnover ratio at 3.25. He's become even better in league play with a staggering 7.50 ratio against Big Sky opponents.
Montana scored just 26 points in the paint on Saturday, the fourth-fewest paint points this year. They were outscored 52-26 in the paint.
The Griz had four separate three-minute scoring droughts in Saturday's loss, the most in a game this year.
Saturday was just the third time that Montana shot worse than 40 percent from the floor. They are 0-3 when doing so. They had shot better than 50 percent in three straight games prior to Saturday, and better than 45 percent in seven straight.
Northern Colorado (56.7 FG%) became the third opponent this year to shoot better than 55 percent from the floor against Montana.
It was the first loss for the Grizzlies when holding their opponent to 7-or-fewer made three pointers. They are now 8-1 in such games.
The Griz shot and made more free throws than Northern Colorado in the loss. It's the first time they've lost this year when doing so, falling to 7-1 in both categories.
Northern Colorado had 22 assists, the second-most by a Grizzly opponent this year.
The 24-point loss was the worst home loss of DeCuire's career. It was previously a 90-76 loss vs. Eastern Washington in 2021.
- It was tied for the 6^th-worst home loss in program history, and the worst since falling 108-56 to Portland State in 2008.
- It was the 4^th-worst loss against a Big Sky team in the DeCuire-era, and just the 16^th time in 11 seasons that Montana has lost to a Big Sky opponent by double figures.
- Northern Colorado are just the second Big Sky team and 4^th team overall in the DeCuire-era to win a game in Missoula by 10+ points.

SCOUTING WEBER STATE (7-10, 1-2 BIG SKY)

The Wildcats snapped a four-game losing streak last Saturday by defeating Idaho State 77-69 in Pocatello. It was the only game of the week for both teams.
Weber State opened league play with road losses to Northern Colorado, by 17, and Northern Arizona, by three.
Head coach Eric Duft is in his third season leading the Wildcats. He has a 45-37 overall record.
Weber State is 3-3 at home this year, but all three wins came against non-D-1 opponents. They have lost all three home games to D-1 teams, falling to UC Irvine, North Dakota State, and Utah Valley.
The Wildcats are a solid overall team. Statistically speaking, they have no great strengths but also no weaknesses. They shoot the ball well, ranking in the top 100 in the country in both field goal percentage (46.6) and three point percentage (35.4).
Shooting is the only category in which they rank in the top 100. They are in the top half of the conference in rebounding (36.5/game) and have the second-best bench unit in the league (24.2 PPG).
Blaise Threatt has been a workhorse for Coach Duft, playing nearly 33 minutes per game to rank 3^rd in the conference. He leads the team in scoring (16.9 PPG), assists (3.8 APG), and steals (40).
The Wildcats have two of the best deep threats in the conference in Dyson Koehler and Miguel Tomley. They both rank inside the top five in the Big Sky with over 2.0 made threes per game.
Tomley, a transfer from Idaho State, was on the Preseason All-Big Sky team.
Alex Tew ranks 3^rd in the Big Sky with 14 blocks this season. The senior big man has started 76 games and appeared in 110 overall for the Wildcats.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE WILDCATS

Weber State leads the all-time series 76-66 over Montana. The Wildcats have been dominant in Ogden with a 48-18 record at home against the Griz. Head coach Travis DeCuire is just 3-5 in games played in Ogden.

Montana won the previous meeting between the two 77-62 in Missoula last year. It was a revenge game after Weber State handed DeCuire his largest Big Sky loss earlier in the year 93-63 in Montana's first game following Money Williams' injury. Montana won the previous meeting in Ogden 74-69 on Feb. 11, 2023.

SCOUTING IDAHO STATE (6-8, 1-2 BIG SKY)

After an impressive opening week of Big Sky play on the road, Idaho State fell flat at home against Weber State last Saturday, losing 77-69 in the only game of the week for both schools.
The Bengals opened Big Sky play with a five-point win in Flagstaff over Northern Arizona. They then had league leaders Northern Colorado on the ropes in Greeley before falling by a single point in overtime.
Idaho State are 3^rd in the Big Sky in the NCAA Net Rankings, sitting above Montana. They have played three games against Big 10 or Big 12 opponents, and were competitive in all three losing two by single digits with the worst loss by 14 at UCLA.
Head coach Ryan Looney is in his 6^th season at Idaho State. He has a 59-105 record with the Bengals. Looney has 21 years of head coaching experience, moving up from D-III and then D-II to get the ISU job. He has an overall record of 387-239 (.618).
The Bengals are one of the best rebounding teams in the country, ranking 3^rd in the NCAA in rebounding margin at +12.0. They average 40.4 rebounds per game, including 15.2 offensive boards.
They rebound over 40 percent of their misses, which ranks 5^th in the country.
Idaho State is among the least experienced teams in the country, ranking 348^th in D-1 Experience, according to KenPom.com. Montana, meanwhile, rank 46^th in that same category.
Dylan Darling averages 15.8 points per game this season overall, but leads the Big Sky through two weeks of conference games by averaging 23.3 PPG.
Darling also averages 5.7 assists per game to rank 2^nd in the Big Sky and 30^th nationally.
Jake O'Neil is averaging a double-double for the Bengals this season with 13.6 points per game and 10.7 rebounds per game. O'Neil plays over 33 minutes per contest to rank 2^nd in the Big Sky.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE BENGALS

Montana has dominated the series against Idaho State with a 115-45 overall record. The Griz also have a winning record in Pocatello at 42-30. They are one of four teams in the league that Montana is above .500 against on the road.

Head coach Travis DeCuire is 19-1 against Idaho State, including wins over the Bengals at the Big Sky Tournament in Boise the last two years. Montana has won 27 of the last 28 games against Idaho State. They are 40-10 in the last 50 games dating back to 2000.

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

Kai Johnson

Malik Moore

Joe Pridgen

Josh Vazquez

Brandon Whitney

Money Williams

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