Griz face Cats in 309th edition of the Brawl

MONTANA (12-8, 5-2 Big Sky) vs. MONTANA STATE (8-12, 3-4 Big Sky)
Saturday, Jan. 25 / 7:00 PM / Watch / Live Stats / Tickets

MAROON OUT
The game will be a Maroon Out for Montana with the players in the maroon jerseys at home for the only time this season. Fans are asked to join the theme and wear their best maroon Griz gear to help Maroon Out the Cats.

WINTER PEP RALLY
There will be a free Winter Pep Rally held on the Oval between the women's and men's games on Saturday from 4:00-6:30 p.m. The event will feature free ice skating and skate rentals, fire pits and snow domes, plus much more.

There will be a beer garden available, as well as free hot cocoa and popcorn. The pep rally will conclude with a bonfire at 5:30 p.m. and a fireworks show at 6:00 p.m.

PREVIEW
The Montana Grizzlies and Montana State Bobcats will meet on the hardwood for the 309^th time on Saturday as they renew the rivalry for the first time in 2025.

The Grizzlies enter the game in second place in the Big Sky Conference coming off a home win on Monday over Idaho. It was the first wire-to-wire win of the season for the Griz, who improved to 5-2 in league play by sweeping the season series against the Vandals.

They are in the midst of a four-game homestand, but playing their lone game of the week against the Bobcats. Montana is 9-1 at home this season, and 23-4 over the last two seasons in Dahlberg Arena.

The home success includes an 88-69 win over Montana State in last year's rivalry game in Missoula. The win improved head coach Travis DeCuire to 8-1 all-time against the Bobcats inside Dahlberg Arena.

Montana State had a difficult start to the conference season but have turned things around in the last two weeks. The Bobcats are on a two-game winning streak. They also won on Monday, taking down Eastern Washington in Bozeman.

The Bobcats started 0-3 in league play, but have won three of the last four games to move up the standings to sixth place.

Last year, Montana swept the rivalry during the regular season but fell to the Bobcats in the Big Sky Championship game. It was the third straight tournament title for MSU.

As a result, the two Montana schools were picked as the favorites in the league this season by both the coaches and the media. The Coaches' Poll had Montana in first with Montana State in second; the Media Poll had the reverse.

Northern Colorado has gained some separation from the rest of the league with an impressive 6-0 start, but Montana is still very much in the hunt for a regular season title.

They had a bounce-back win on Monday, led by veteran guard Brandon Whitney. The 5^th year player, in his 142^nd career game, matched his career high with four made three-pointers and led the Grizzlies with a season-high 18 points.

Whitney has experience in this game, playing in the rivalry for the 8^th time in his career on Saturday. In Montana's core rotation of seven players, Te'Jon Sawyer is the only other player to have experienced the rivalry.

The Grizzlies have nine players averaging at least 10 minutes per game this year, and seven of them will be playing in the rivalry for the first time.

Montana will look to remain hot at home and open league play at 6-2 for the first time since 2022, while Montana State hopes to keep its hot streak alive and pick up just a second win in Missoula in the last decade-plus.

WHERE TO WATCH
TThe 309^th Brawl of the Wild will air locally on Scripps Sports with Tom Wylie on play-by-play duties with Jeff Riggs providing analysis. It will air in Missoula on KPAX and around the state on the local channels.

The game will also be streaming live on ESPN+.

WINNING THE CLOSE ONES
Montana has been very good in close game situations this season. The Grizzlies are 7-2 in games decided by single digits, and 4-1 in games decided by four or fewer points. The Griz have won four straight games decided by single digits.

The only two losses have come against San Francisco and St. Thomas, a pair of road games against teams in the top 103 of the NCAA Net Rankings.

HOME DOMINANCE IN THE RIVALRY
Montana has dominated Montana State in Dahlberg Arena in recent years. Head Coach Travis DeCuire is 8-1 at home against the Cats, winning four games by double figures including last year's 88-69 victory.

The Grizzlies have won 12 of the last 13 at home over MSU and 16 of the last 18. Montana State have won in Missoula just four times since the turn of the century.

WHITNEY WATCH
Graduate guard Brandon Whitney is currently 5th in program history in career assists and 12th in scoring. Whitney has 405 career assists. He passed Will Cherry for 5th, and trails Kareem Jamar by two assists for 4th. He needs 30 more to tie Coach DeCuire for the program's all-time record.

Whitney has 1,455 points in his career. He passed Jordan Hasquet for 12th at Eastern Washington (1/2) and trails Will Cherry by 29 points for 11th.
Whitney has also played more minutes than any other player in program history, and needs to play in 13 more games to tie Josh Vazquez for the most appearances in program, and Big Sky Conference, history.

Whitney and MSU's Tyler Patterson are currently tied as the NCAA leaders for most career starts at the same school. Both players have started 136 games entering Saturday's contest.

MONTANA NOTES

The Grizzlies swept the regular season against Montana State last season. It was the sixth time in 10 seasons under DeCuire that Montana won home-and-away against the Bobcats in the same year.
Montana has swept the rivalry 10 times overall since 2010.
Monday's game against Idaho was the first game all year against a D-1 opponent that featured zero lead changes. Montana went ahead in the first minute and led for 39:18 in the win.
- It was the seventh time this season Montana has had a scoring run of at least 10 points.
In January games, head coach Travis DeCuire is 60-25 (.706) all-time at Montana. It's the 31^st best winning percentage in the country.
Montana is 9-1 at home this season.
The Grizzlies are 10-3 when scoring at least 70 points, and 7-0 when holding opponents under 70 points.
Joe Pridgen ranks 10^th in the NCAA in field goal percentage, making 62.4 percent of his shots this year. The number leads the Big Sky.
Montana is 11-1 when holding opponents under 45 percent from the field. They are just 1-7 when opponents shoot better than 45 percent.
In the previous four seasons, Montana shot under 60 percent from the free throw line in a game just five times. This year, the Grizzlies have shot under 60 percent in four contests.
The three-point line has been key to Montana's wins this year. They are 9-1 when shooting a better percentage from the arc, and 7-2 when making more threes than their opponent.
Montana has been outrebounded in 13 of its 17 D-1 games this year. The Grizzlies are 7-6 when the opponent has more rebounds.
The Griz made 12 threes against Idaho, tied for the most in a game this season. It was the fourth time that Montana made at least 10 three pointers as a team.
In the maroon jerseys, which Montana will wear on Saturday, the Grizzlies are 3-4 this season.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE CATS

The Brawl of the Wild is the 5^th-most played series in the NCAA with 308 all-time meetings between the two rivals. The Grizzlies lead the all-time series 156-152. Montana is 98-50 all-time in Missoula against the Cats.
DeCuire is 8-1 at home vs. MSU and 14-5 overall in the rivalry game. DeCuire also went 5-1 against Montana State as a player at Montana.
Montana has won 12 of the last 13 against Missoula at home, and 16 of the previous 18. The Grizzlies have outscored the Bobcats 729-630 at home under DeCuire, averaging 81.0 points per game and holding MSU to 70.0 points.

SCOUTING MONTANA STATE (8-12, 3-4 BIG SKY)

The Bobcats enter the rivalry on a two-game winning streak. They have won three of their last four to bounce back from an 0-3 start to Big Sky play.
MSU were picked as the preseason favorites in the Big Sky Media Poll. They were second in the Coaches' Poll behind Montana.
Montana State is 2-10 on the road this season with wins at Omaha and at Weber State.
The two sides have played nearly identical Big Sky slates so far and also shared three opponents during the non-conference. Both teams beat Northwest Indian College soundly. Montana won two games against Denver and CSUN, both at home, while MSU lost to Denver on the road and CSUN at home.
Head coach Matt Logie is in his second season in Bozeman. Logie has a 25-30 record with the Bobcats. He has been highly successful at every stop in his career with an overall record of 301-88 (.774) in 14 seasons as a head coach.
The Bobcats are a 3-and-D team, leaning on a stout defense and a lot of shooting from the arc as their strengths. The Bobcats allow just over 70 points per game to have the 3^rd best defense in the Big Sky. They make nearly 9 threes per contest, the 2^nd best mark in the league.
Montana State also takes care of the ball very well, averaging just 10.2 turnovers per game. They lead the Big Sky and rank 27^th nationally in the category.
The Cats share a weakness with the Griz this season. Montana State average just 31.9 rebounds per game, which ranks in the bottom 25 in the country and last in the Big Sky. The Griz rank 8^th in the league in the category.
Brandon Walker leads the Bobcats in scoring and rebounding at 15.3 points per game and 5.0 rebounds per game. He ranks 8^th in the league in scoring. He is shooting 53.6 percent from the floor.
Walker and Brian Goracke were both selected to the Big Sky Preseason All-Conference team this year.
Max Agbonkpolo is the only other Bobcat to average double figures at 11.8 points per game. Agbonkpolo also leads MSU with 15 blocks and is second on the team with 25 steals.
BJ Kolly played at Western Washington with current Grizzly Kai Johnson. Kolly averages 9.9 minutes per game.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kai Johnson

Joe Pridgen

Te'Jon Sawyer

Josh Vazquez

Brandon Whitney

University of Montana Athletics