Griz face Bison in Big Sky-Summit Challenge

Wednesday, December 3

Missoula, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

North Dakota State

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Photo by: Marley Barboeisel/University of Montana

12/1/2025 3:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Game Notes

By: Montana Sports Information

MONTANA (4-4) vs. NORTH DAKOTA STATE (5-3)
Wednesday, Dec. 3 / 7:00 PM / Watch / Live Stats / Tickets

The Montana men's basketball team will return to action on Wednesday, opening up the 2025 Big Sky-Summit Challenge at home against North Dakota State. It will be the first game in over a week for a Montana team that filled the calendar in November.

This will be the third straight home game for Montana, which is in the midst of a stretch of five home games out of six total contests. The only road game in that time will be the other Big Sky-Summit Challenge matchup at North Dakota.

The Grizzlies are looking to rebound from a pair of losses in the Blaine Taylor Classic. Montana fell to Lamar in the opener of the MTE and then lost the finale to Oakland in a pair of close games.

It's the first time since 2014 that Montana has lost consecutive non-conference games at home. They will aim to snap that brief losing streak against a familiar foe in North Dakota State.

It's the fourth time in the last four seasons and 7^th time in head coach Travis DeCuire's 12 years that Montana and North Dakota State have faced off. This is the second time they have done so as part of the Big Sky-Summit Challenge, an event that has been claimed by the Summit League in the first two iterations.

The Challenge winner is decided by results across 36 total men's and women's games. Montana has a 3-1 record in the challenge and has earned 3.5 points on the men's side. It's tied for the second most points on the men's side and 3^rd most overall in the two-year history of the challenge.

The Grizzlies played two very different games over the three days of the Blaine Taylor Classic. Montana and Lamar had a defensive battle in the opener with the Grizzlies being held to a season-low 63 points.

They resolved the offensive issues in the second game against Oakland, but the Golden Grizzlies raced past Montana in a shootout. The Griz fell 95-87 in an intense, action-packed game that saw several incredible individual performances from Montana players.

Money Williams had 15 points and 15 assists in the losing effort. It's the most assists ever by a Grizzly against a D-I opponent, and the 2^nd most assists ever in a game in Montana history.

Even with the record, Williams may not have even been Montana's best player in the game. True freshman Kenyon Aguino scored 24 points and added 16 rebounds in one of the best games ever by a Grizzly freshman. It was the first double-double by a Grizzly freshman since 2021.

Redshirt-freshman Tyler Thompson also had a career day with 19 points on 5-of-7 shooting from three-point range. Te'Jon Sawyer (14) and Tyler Isaak (11) also reached double figures in scoring as DeCuire got 83 of his team's 87 total points from the starting lineup.

Montana is looking to avoid a three-game losing streak for the first time since the start of the 2023-24 season. That streak started with a home loss to North Dakota State and was followed by road losses at Houston and Nevada.

This time they will look to get a home win over the Bison to avoid a three-game losing streak. The game will tip off at 7:00 p.m.

BIG SKY-SUMMIT CHALLENGE
This is the third year of the Big Sky-Summit Challenge. Montana is undefeated at home and 3-1 overall in the challenge's history. They defeated South Dakota State 71-67 in Missoula last year and lost at St. Thomas 88-81.

In the first year of the challenge, Montana won at North Dakota State 96-86 and then came home to beat South Dakota 82-63. Montana has won 3.5 total points for the Big Sky, but the Summit has emerged victorious in the first two editions of the challenge.

COACHING AT THEIR ALMA MATERS
There are 51 head coaches in the NCAA that are currently leading their alma mater. Wednesday night's matchup features two of the longest tenured coaches in that category in Travis DeCuire (Montana, '94) and David Richman (NDSU, '02).

There are only 10 coaches with 10+ years leading their alma mater. DeCuire and Richman are tied with the 6^th longest runs at their former school. Matt Painter, currently in his 21^st season at Purdue, is the longest tenured coach at his alma mater.

HOME NON-CONFERENCE RECORD
Montana has been dominant at home in the non-conference under DeCuire, winning over 90 percent of its home games outside of league play. The Grizzlies are 56-8 overall. The .875 winning percentage is tied for 79th best in the NCAA.

The Griz had won 14 straight home non-conference games entering last week's Blaine Taylor Classic, but fell in both contests. They have won 35 of the previous 39 home non-conference games.

The Grizzlies are trying to avoid losing three straight home non-conference games for the first time since 2003. They haven't lost three straight games at home of any kind since 2004.

HISTORY AGAINST THE SUMMIT LEAGUE
Montana is 25-14 (.641) all-time against teams from the Summit League. They have won four of the last five and eight of the last 10 against teams from the Summit League. Coach DeCuire is 14-7 (.667) against teams from the Summit League.

SCOUTING NORTH DAKOTA STATE (5-3)

The Bison enter the week at 5-3 overall. They lost the last outing at Arkansas State as part of an MTE 85-80 in overtime. Prior to the loss, the Bison had won five straight games.
North Dakota State is 0-3 in true road games this year. They played at Oregon State, UC Davis, and Arkansas State.
They were 21-11 in 2024-25, going 10-6 in Summit League play to get the No. 4 seed at the conference tournament. They were upset in the first round.
Head coach David Richman is in his 12^th season at North Dakota State, the same institution that he graduated from in 2002. Richman has an overall record of 216-145 (.598) as head coach at NDSU, leading the Bison to five 20-win seasons.
The Bison rank 62^nd in the country in scoring defense, holding opponents to just 66.6 points per game this season. They force over 17 turnovers per game to rank 13^th in the country.
They are not only excellent at taking the ball away, but the Bison have been very good at taking care of the ball. They average just 10.6 turnovers per game. The turnover margin of 6.6 is the 7^th best mark in college basketball.
Markhi Strickland leads the Bison in scoring at 14.3 points per game. Strickland is shooting 62.7 percent from the field to rank 32^nd nationally.
Andy Stefonowicz leads the Summit League in assists per game with 5.5. The mark ranks 45^th nationally.
Trevian Carson and Andy Stefonowicz both average 2.00 steals per game, which is tied for 78^th nationally.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE BISON
This is the 14^th all-time meeting between Montana and North Dakota State. The Grizzlies have a 9-4 record against the Bison, including a 6-1 mark in Missoula. The Grizzlies have won three of the last four, but did drop the last home game against NDSU in 2023.

This is the 7^th time that DeCuire and Richman have faced off since taking over their respective alma maters in 2014. DeCuire has a 4-2 record against North Dakota State.

GRIZ NOTES

The Griz are 3-1 all-time in the Big Sky-Summit Challenge. This is the second meeting with North Dakota State in the event. Montana won 96-86 in Fargo in 2023-24.
Montana has not lost three straight home games ever under DeCuire. The last time they lost three straight in Dahlberg Arena was in 2004.
After playing eight games in November, Montana will have just five games in December. They will play three of the five at home with two coming against non-D-I opponents.
The Summit League won last year's challenge 24.5-17. The two leagues tied at 21.5 points each in 2023-24 with the Summit winning a total points tiebreaker.
Montana lost while going on a scoring run of at least 10 points for the first time this season against Lamar. They are now 4-1 when scoring 10+ straight at some point in the game.
The Grizzly starters combined for 83 of the 87 total [points in the loss to Oakland.
The team leading at halftime has won all eight games that Montana has played in this season. The Griz are 4-0 when leading at the half and 0-4 when trailing.
The last five games that Montana has played in have all been decided by single digits. Montana has wins by 8 and 9, while losing by 5 twice and 8 once.
Montana is 3-0 when finishing with more rebounds than its opponent.

PLAYER NOTES

Money Williams
- 12^th in the NCAA in total assists (52)
- 15^th in assists per game (6.5), leading the Big Sky in total and per game.
- Set a new program record against D-I competition with 15 assists in the loss to Oakland. It's the second most assists in a single game in program history. It's the 3^rd most assists in a game by any player in the NCAA this season.
- Went 11-for-11 from the free throw line against Lamar. It's the first time since 2017 that a Grizzly player made 100 percent of his free throws on 11-or-more attempts.
- Recorded his second career double-double with 15 points and 15 assists against Oakland (11/25).
- Has scored 15+ points in seven straight games.
Tyler Isaak
- 2.67 assist/turnover ratio ranks 105^th in the NCAA and 3^rd in the Big Sky
Kenyon Aguino
- Set new career highs in both points (24) and rebounds (16) against Oakland.
- Recorded the first double-double by a true freshman since Josh Bannan in 2021. It's the first time a freshman has ever recorded 24+ points and 16+ rebounds in the same game at Montana.
- He is one of just two freshmen in the country to have a game of 24+ points and 16+ rebounds, joining David Mirkovic of Illinois.
- Had the first 20+ point, 15+ rebound game by a Grizzly since Josh Bannan had 23/17 against St. Thomas in 2022.
- 16 rebounds against Oakland were the most by a Grizzly since Feb. 22, 2024 when Laolu Oke had 15.
Tyler Thompson
- Scored a career high 19 points against Oakland, going 7-of-9 from the field and 5-of-7 from three-point range.
- The first Grizzly freshman since Cameron Rundles in 2007 to make 5 three-pointers in a game.
- Made multiple three-pointers for the fourth time this season.
Courtney Anderson Jr.
- Scored a career high 15 points against Lamar, going 4-of-5 from three-point range.
- He's made at least one three pointer in four straight games and six out of eight this year.
Te'Jon Sawyer
- Scored his 800^th career point against Oakland (11/25).