Griz fall to Wisconsin 85-66 at NCAA Tournament

Thursday, March 20

Denver, Colo.

11:30 AM

Montana

25-10,15-3Big Sky

(3) Wisconsin

27-9,13-7Big Ten

Montana

Wisconsin

Photo by: Tommy Martino/University of Montana

3/20/2025 4:08:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana Grizzlies season came to an end at the First Round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday afternoon in Denver. The 14-seed Montana fell short in its upset bid of 3-seed Wisconsin, dropping the contest 85-66.

The Griz finish the season at 25-10 after winning the Big Sky Tournament for the third time under head coach Travis DeCuire. Montana hung tough against the Badgers of the Big Ten, cutting the lead to four with 15 minutes remaining in the game, but a late 9-0 run from Wisconsin tilted the final score in favor of the higher seed.

"Tough one. We went into this with a ton of confidence. For stretches of the game we showed that we could play with them. We just couldn't sustain it," DeCuire said. "We had long stretches where I don't think we were executing very well on either side of the ball. I think a good basketball team met a better basketball team today. I thought they did a good job of preparing themselves. They played their game."

Kai Johnson and Te'Jon Sawyer led Montana with 15 points each. Johnson matched his career high with four made three pointers, while Sawyer led Montana with eight rebounds to just miss out on a double-double.

Joe Pridgen had 12 points and five rebounds, including four on the offensive end.

Montana couldn't replicate the impressive shooting that led to 14 wins over the final 15 games of the season against the long Badgers defense. The Griz shot under 40 percent for the first time in mid-January.

The size also led to a 40-29 advantage in rebounding. The Badgers leaned on Montana early, outscoring them 16-4 in the pain in the first 10 minutes of the game to open a 21-13 lead.

Pridgen and Johnson scored the next 11 points for Montana, including a vicious slam from Pridgen on a drive down the lane. It was one of two dunks for Pridgen on the day to bring his season total to 39 in a memorable year for No. 11.

The hot stretch cut the Badger lead down to 27-22 with six minutes left. Wisconsin pulled ahead by double digits again, but a late three pointer from Jensen Bradtke and a jump shot from Sawyer made it 40-32 going into the break.

Against the much bigger Badgers, Montana held its own down low with the duo of Pridgen and Sawyer.

"I feel like we did a decent job. They're bigger than us, but I felt like we were as strong," Sawyer said. "We tried to make it hard for their guards, seeing if the bigs can try to beat us. They made shots, but I think down low, we were pretty physical."

The Grizzlies grabbed the momentum early in the second half behind four straight points from Pridgen. A lay-up from Sawyer cut the lead to 42-38, but Wisconsin answered with a 5-0 run.

The energy inside a packed Ball Arena started to change in favor of Montana as the underdog hung around in the second half. Kai Johnson connected on a three, and the Grizzlies got a steal that led to a fastbreak lay-in from Money Williams, and the momentum was fully in favor of the Griz. Montana trailed just 51-47 following the basket.

The Grizzlies had several similar moments but were able to make consecutive shots just twice in the opening 38 minutes of the game. The Badgers responded with a three on the other end to start an 8-0 run.

"Yeah, I think we hit shots on that run obviously. Put a couple stops together," Johnson said of Montana cutting the lead to four. "I don't think we had runs like that throughout the game because we couldn't string our stops with our buckets."

After the Grizzly run, Wisconsin would close the game on a 34-19 run to secure a double-digit win and advance to the Second Round. The best free throw shooting team in the country used the line a lot down the stretch, surviving a six-minute field goal drought by connecting on 80 percent of their 20 free throws.

DeCuire had to roll the dice with lineups after both Johnson and Pridgen picked up four fouls with over 10 minutes to go in the game. He trusted both players, leaving them in despite the foul trouble.

Montana did a good job of keeping All-American John Tonje in check as he went just 2-for-5 from the floor with two turnovers. Tonje was effective getting to the line, however, and knocked down all nine of his attempts to finish the day with 15 points.

"Yeah, foul trouble was a problem for us in multiple areas. Kai as well. Just the four fouls backs you off," DeCuire said. "One of the things we talked about going into this game was try to keep them off the free-throw line. You can't have a guy score 15 points on five attempts and think you're going to win a basketball game."

Montana finishes the season 25-10. It's the most wins for Montana since 2019, and the first NCAA Tournament appearance since that year. It's a season that has been full of incredible highs, from Brandon Whitney breaking Coach DeCuire's assist record to DeCuire climbing to the top of the legendary Grizzly coaching tree with his 222^nd career win.

Montana came together after a 7-6 non-conference season and a shaky Big Sky start and put together one of the most dominant runs in program history. They won 14 of the final 15 games leading into the NCAA Tournament and will be proud to have ended Montana's six-year tournament drought.

How will the team be remembered in the future?

"I think just by how hard we fight. This team has been through a lot of adversity, one of the most that I've been a part, not only just myself but down the line, all 16 had some type of adversity," Sawyer said. "It was us showing we can fight through battles. We had a lot of close games, showing we had heart.

"I think that's a team to be remembered, just by our fight."