Montana to host Blaine Taylor Classic

MONTANA (4-2) vs. LAMAR (2-1)
Sunday, Nov. 23 / 2:00 PM / Watch / Live Stats / Tickets

LAMAR vs. OAKLAND
Monday, Nov. 24 / 2:00 PM / Watch / Live Stats

MONTANA vs. OAKLAND (1-4)
Tuesday, Nov. 25 / 7:00 PM / Watch / Live Stats / Tickets

Montana will return home for Thanksgiving Week and host an MTE for the third straight season as they welcome Lamar and Oakland to Missoula for the Blaine Taylor Classic.

The Grizzlies nearly pulled off an SEC upset on the road last week at Texas A&M. They will look to bring the momentum from that game, where they outscored the Aggies 50-41 in the second half, back home to Missoula.

It's a pair of first-time opponents for the Grizzlies in Lamar and Oakland. While the teams may be unfamiliar for Montana fans, they have been very good in recent years in their respective conferences.

Lamar has averaged 19.5 wins per season over the last two years and comes to town with a winning record this year. Oakland, under the leadership of legendary coach Greg Kampe, pulled off a 14-3 upset at the NCAA Tournament two years ago. They are 1-4, but played #7 Michigan, #1 Purdue, and #1 Houston.

The Golden Grizzlies are coming off a four-point loss at UCF, a team that is 5-1 and in the top 65 of the country according to KenPom rankings.

Montana has had a terrific start to the season already in their title defense year. They are 3-0 at home and picked up one of the bigger non-conference road wins earlier this year at UNLV.

Inside Dahlberg Arena, Montana has won 10 straight games dating back to last year and are 31-4 over the past three seasons, the 29^th best winning percentage in all of college basketball.

The brand of basketball this season from Montana has been highly entertaining behind one of the best talents in the country, Money Williams. Williams was named the Lou Henson Award National Player of the Week for his performances at UNLV and home vs. Cal Poly as he became the first Grizzly to score 30+ in consecutive games since 2009.

Williams nearly led a miraculous comeback at Texas A&M on Tuesday, scoring 22 second half points and bringing Montana within a point in the final 10 seconds.

The Grizzlies are averaging 86.7 points per game this year and shooting over 50 percent from the field. They have scored 50+ in the second half of the last three contests.

Montana will start things off against Lamar on Sunday afternoon and play Oakland on Tuesday night after the two visitors meet on the neutral floor on Monday.

THE BLAINE TAYLOR CLASSIC
Head coach Travis DeCuire is honoring his own head coach from his playing days by naming the MTE the Blaine Taylor Classic. This is the third straight year that the event has been named for one of the legendary members of the Grizzly coaching tree.

Taylor coached at Montana for seven seasons, compiling a 141-66 (.681) record from 1991-98. It's the best winning percentage by a coach in program history. He would go on to lead Old Dominion for 12 years, going 242-149 (.619) with the Monarchs.

Montana is 4-1 over the last two seasons while playing in the Mike Montgomery Classic and the Stew Morrill Classic.

The game between Lamar and Oakland on Monday afternoon will not be ticketed. There will be no specific parking available for fans. Anyone attending the game is asked to use pay via the hourly lots on campus.

WILLIAMS NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Money Williams was named the National Player of the Week for his performances in Montana's wins over UNLV and Cal Poly. He averaged 30.5 points, 7.0 assists, and 3.0 rebounds across the two games.

Williams was efficient in his scoring, knocking down 56.1 percent of his field goals and 40.0 percent of his three-point attempts. He's the first player in program history to receive the honor.

The Preseason Big Sky MVP was also named the Big Sky Player of the Week after his performance.

SURGING IN THE SECOND HALF
Montana has been very good in the second half of games this season, particularly on the offensive end. The Grizzlies have scored 50+ points in the second half of three straight games and have scored at least 40 points in every second half.

They have only reached the 40-point mark in the first half of play twice this season. They are averaging 38.2 points on 46.6 percent shooting in the first half of games this year. In the second half, Montana is averaging 48.5 points on 54.0 percent shooting.

A big reason for that is the play of Money Williams. Williams is scoring 13.8 points per game in the second half this year while being held to just 6.7 points in the first half.

SCOUTING LAMAR (2-1)

The Cardinals are coming off a road win at UL-Monroe on Nov. 17. They hosted Texas A&M-San Antonio in the season opener, winning 93-53. The only loss this year came at TCU by a score of 78-65.
Head Coach Alvin Brooks is in his 5^th season with Lamar. He has a 52-77 (.403) record with the Cardinals. Brooks and DeCuire are two of 51 coaches in the country that are leading their alma mater.
Last year, Lamar went 20-13 and reached the championship game at the Southland Tournament.
They have one of the top defenses in the country through the first few weeks of play, holding opponents to just 65.7 points per game. They rank 64^th in the NCAA in scoring defense, and are 14^th in the country in blocks with 6.3 per game.
Lamar force 15.7 turnovers per game and commit fewer than 11. They have a 5.0 turnover margin, which ranks 44^th nationally.
Andrew Holifield leads Lamar in scoring at 16.7 points per game. He's inside the top 200 in the country in scoring. Holifield also ranks 21^st nationally in blocks with 2.7 per game.
Jayden Gambrell and Rob Lee Jr. both average over 13.0 points per game for the Cardinals.

GRIZ VS. THE SOUTHLAND
The Griz are 8-0 all-time against teams from the Southland Conference. The last time they played a team from the league was 2018. Montana defeated Incarnate Word at the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase. This is the first-ever meeting against Lamar.

SCOUTING OAKLAND (1-4)

You would be hard-pressed to find a more difficult schedule than the one that Greg Kampe's team has played this year. It ranks No. 1 in the country according to KenPom by a significant margin. They have a +28.70 net rating strength of schedule with 2^nd place in the NCAA at +23.55.
The Golden Grizzlies have played the No. 1 team in the country twice already this year (Purdue and Houston) and have three top 10 games on their schedule. They have played just one home game, beating non-D-I Defiance 113-47.
They will play at Eastern Michigan on Friday night. The game against Montana will be Oakland's third in five days, all coming away from home.
Head coach Greg Kampe is in his 42^nd season at Oakland. He has a career record of 716-559 (.562), taking the Golden Grizzlies from D-II to D-I in 1999 and bringing them plenty of success at every level.
Oakland has averaged 79.2 points per game while allowing 84.0 through the first five games of the season.
Isaac Garrett leads Oakland with 16.8 points per game. They have five players averaging double figures through the first five games of the season.

GRIZ VS. THE HORIZON
Montana is 2-4 all-time against the Horizon League. The last matchup with a team from the Horizon was in 2016, a 75-69 win over Milwaukee in Missoula. Four of the six all-time matchups are against Milwaukee. The last time Montana played a non-Milwaukee team from the Horizon was 1998 against Illinois-Chicago. This is the first-ever meeting with Oakland.

GRIZ NOTES

The loss at Texas A&M may sting in the moment, but the result was a positive one for Montana. The Griz jumped up to 139 in the KenPom rankings after the loss, moving up 10 spots despite the result. It's the best ranking for Montana since being 113 on Jan. 25, 2024.
Montana made 16 three pointers against Texas A&M, shooting 51.6 percent from the arc. It's just the second time ever under Coach DeCuire that Montana has made 16 or more threes on better than 50 percent shooting.
At 4-2, this is the best 6-game start for Montana since 2021. They dropped their 7^th game of the season that year. The last time a Montana team was 5-2 was 2018. The last time a Grizzly team started 6-2 or better was 2005, when they opened the year 10-1.
At home, Montana has won 10 straight overall and 22 of the previous 23 games.
Montana is now 4-0 when going on a scoring run of at least 10-0 in a game.
Montana allowed 90+ points in a game for the first time since last season at Utah State on Nov. 18 in the loss at Stanford.
Montana started 2-0 for the first time since 2018. It was just the third time under Coach DeCuire that the Grizzlies have opened a season with consecutive wins. The previous two times that Montana started 2-0, they would go on to win Big Sky Championships.
The Griz held Ottawa to just 39 points. It's the first time Montana has held a team under 40 points since 2021 when they defeated Dickinson State 74-27.

PLAYER NOTES

Money Williams was named the National Player of the Week and Big Sky Conference Player of the Week after his performances against UNLV and Cal Poly.
- One of two players in the country averaging at least 20.0 points, 6.0 assists, and 5.0 rebounds per game. Kansas State's PJ Haggerty is the other.
- Averaging 13.8 points in second halves this year.
- He's led Montana in scoring in five of the six games this season.
- Needs five more points to reach 750 in his career.
- Grabbed his 200^th career rebound at Texas A&M.
- Williams uses the 5^th highest percentage of possessions in the country. He also has the 30^th highest shot percentage, taking 34.0 percent of Montana's total field goal attempts this year.
Brooklyn Hicks scored a season high 18 points at Texas A&M. He has reached double figures off the bench in four of the six games this year.
- He is second on the team with 12.2 points per game, sharing the team lead with 11 made three pointers.
- He has the 71^st best effective field goal percentage in the country (69.3%).
Tyler Isaak has been in double figures for Montana in three straight games. He scored 13 points and had a career-high 7 assists at Texas A&M.
Tyler Thompson has made a three in every game this season, including a season high three on Tuesday night at Texas A&M.
Chase Henderson has played 10+ minutes in three straight games.
There are two teams with Grizzlies in their nickname at the NCAA D-I level. They will meet for the first time ever on Tuesday.

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Players Mentioned

Chase Henderson

Brooklyn Hicks

Tyler Isaak

Tyler Thompson

Money Williams

University of Montana Athletics