Montana heads to Boise seeking 12th Tournament Title

BIG SKY QUARTERFINAL – #2 MONTANA (22-9, 15-3 Big Sky) vs. #7/#8 Winner
Sunday, March 9 / 8:00 PM / Watch

Montana's six-year title drought came to an end on Monday night inside Dahlberg Arena as the Grizzlies celebrated the school's 13^th regular season championship and 24^th overall trophy following an 83-72 win over Eastern Washington.

The victory capped off an impressive run through Big Sky Conference play. Montana finished 15-3 in the league, its best record since 2017-18, and had at least one win over each of the nine schools in the conference.

The balanced Grizzly team now sets its sights on cutting down the nets in Boise as they prepare for the Big Sky Conference Tournament. They will head to "Starch Madness" as the No. 2 seed after losing a tiebreaker with Northern Colorado.

Montana's first game will tip off at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday night against the winner of a first round game featuring Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington. All games will be streamed on ESPN+ with potential semifinal and championship games also televised on ESPN 2.

The Grizzlies were a combined 4-0 against their two potential first round opponents. They finished the regular season against Eastern Washington, meaning if the Eagles advance it will be the second time in six days that the two faced each other.

Montana last played Northern Arizona on Feb. 8, winning 83-80 in Flagstaff to complete the season sweep over the Lumberjacks.

It's been a season ripped right from the pages of a storybook for Montana, and they are hoping to keep that going in Boise with three more wins and a ticket to the Big Dance.

The Grizzlies have had a lot to celebrate in the last two weeks, starting back on Feb. 22 with a road win over rival Montana State. The Grizzlies won 89-85 in Bozeman, picking up win No. 221 for head coach Travis DeCuire.

The victory brought him into a tie with George "Jiggs" Dahlberg for the most wins in program history. DeCuire then broke that record in Montana's next outing with a 60-54 win at Sacramento State.

The win was also the 10^th straight for a Montana team that caught fire through the middle stretch of Big Sky play, particularly after making a change to the starting lineup. Shifting Kai Johnson into the opening unit and bringing Money Williams off the bench improved both of their production, and the Griz have gone 10-1 since making the move.

The winning streak was the longest for the Grizzlies since also winning 10 straight in the 2018-19 championship season.

Montana defended its home court for the 15^th time this season with Monday night's win, showing a national television audience an impressive atmosphere inside Dahlberg Arena with a packed students section. The 15 home wins are tied for the 3^rd most in program history.

Brandon Whitney, playing in his 70^th and final career game on his home floor, recorded his 436^th career assist in the closing minutes. The assist broke his head coach's program record, and it also spurred a 13-2 Montana run to finish out the game on the way to a title.

It's been the perfect story so far, but there is another chapter still that Montana hopes to write as they head to Boise. They will have to win three straight games to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.

The regular season title will be celebrated, but the job won't be finished for the Grizzlies until they are cutting down the nets in Idaho Central Arena. They begin the postseason run this Sunday night at 8:00 p.m.

REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS AGAIN
Montana ended a six-year championship drought on Monday night by winning against Eastern Washington to finish tied with Northern Colorado at 15-3 in Big Sky play. It's the 13^th regular season title in program history, and the 24^th overall.

The Grizzlies have now won seven Big Sky Regular Season Championships this century, more than any other school in the Big Sky. The 13 titles trail only Weber State, who have the most all time with 22. The Wildcats won eight of the first 10 championships from 1964-73.

This is the longest time between trophies for Montana since going eight years from 1978 to 1986.

HISTORY AS THE NO. 2 SEED
Montana enters the Big Sky Tournament as the No. 2 seed for the 11^th time. The Grizzlies are 13-8 as the second seed, winning Big Sky Tournament Titles in 2006 and 1997. Montana has reached the championship game the last six times they were the No. 2 seed dating back to 1985.

This is the first time that Montana has been the No. 2 seed at the tournament since 2016. The Grizzlies reached the championship that season, falling 62-59 to Weber State in the first neutral site championship game in Reno, Nev.

Since the tournament moved to Boise in 2019, the No. 2 seed has won the tournament twice, but has also been eliminated in the first round three times. The No. 2 seed has won the tournament the last two odd years (2023 and 2021).

WHITNEY BREAKS DeCUIRE'S RECORD
Brandon Whitney made history on the final game of the regular season by recording his 426^th career assist. It moved him past his own head coach and into first place all-time in Montana's history.

He did it in dramatic fashion, setting up Malik Moore for a three-pointer with 2:42 remaining. The play broke a 70-70 tie, and set Montana off on a 13-2 run to close out the game and clinch the regular season championship.

Whitney has averaged 2.8 assists per game in his five years at Montana. DeCuire, who played at Montana from 1991-94, had 435 career assists in 87 career games, averaging 5.0 per game.

TWO-YEAR STRETCH OF SUCCESS
Montana has won 46 games over the previous two seasons. It is tied for the fourth most in a two-year span in program history. The 2018 and 2019 teams won 52 games, followed by 50 wins from the teams in '91 & '92 and '12 & '13.

The 46 wins are tied for the 33^rd most in the NCAA during that time, and it is the 19^th among mid-major teams.

EMBRACING THE LATE-NIGHT TIP
If Montana hopes to win a Big Sky Tournament Title, it will have to endure some very late nights. The Grizzlies' first game tips at 8:00 p.m., and the two potential games in the future would both start at 9:30 p.m.

The Griz got a taste of the late night action with their regular season finale against Eastern Washington. The ESPN2 broadcast pushed the start time of that game back to 9:00 p.m.

Montana may not mind a late start. The Grizzlies are 20-5 in night games this year. In games that tipped before 5:00 p.m. local time, they are just 2-4.

EXPERIENCE ON OUR SIDE
Montana head coach Travis DeCuire is no newbie to the Big Sky Conference Tournament. In his first 10 years at Montana, DeCuire's teams have won 15 games at the conference tourney. It's the most in the Big Sky during that time, leading Eastern Washington (13) and Montana State (12).

DeCuire has also reached the final in half of his career tourney appearances, and has been eliminated in the quarterfinals just twice.

Montana also has a veteran team. The top seven rotation players have combined for 762 career appearances heading into the postseason, an average of 109 games per player. The Griz rank 46^th in the country in terms of D-1 experience, according to KenPom.com.

MONTANA NOTES

Montana has scored at least 80 points in 16 different games this season. It's the most 80-point games in a single season in program history. They are 14-2 when scoring at least 80 points.
The Grizzlies went 15-3 in league play, and the .833 winning percentage was the best for the program since 2017-18 (.889). Montana's 22-9 (.710) overall record has led to the best total winning percentage since 2018-19 (.743).
Joe Pridgen had the first double-double by a Grizzly in Big Sky Conference play this season in Monday's finale against Eastern Washington, recording 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Montana is second all-time in Big Sky Tournament games won, trailing only Weber State. Montana will have a chance to break 50 overall wins in the tournament this weekend and also catch the Wildcats potentially. Weber State has 49 wins, Montana has 48 as the two squads head to Boise this year.
This is the 7^th time in program history that Montana has won at least 15 games in Big Sky Conference play.
Monday's game at Eastern Washington was just the second time that Montana has won a game in which they trailed for a majority of the minutes. The other came at Weber State on Jan. 16.
It's also the largest deficit that Montana has overcome for a win this season. Montana was 0-7 in games where they trailed by double digits entering Monday's game.
In the second half of Monday's game against Eastern Washington, the Griz scored 53 second-half points to overcome a halftime deficit. It's the most points scored by UM in a half this season, and brought their record to 4-7 when trailing at the half.
Montana is 18-1 when shooting a better three-point percentage than its opponent. The Griz are 13-2 when making more threes than their opponent, and 17-2 when limiting opponents to fewer than 8 made threes.
DeCuire's team is 14-1 when making more free throws than its opponent.
The Grizzlies are 16-3 when shooting better than 50 percent from the floor. They have also shot over 55 percent in eight games, and are undefeated in those games.
Money Williams has led Montana in scoring in consecutive games. It's the first time since mid-January that the Grizzlies have had the same leading scorer in consecutive games.
Head coach Travis DeCuire has been named a finalist for the Ben Jobe Award. The award is presented annually to the top minority head coach in division I college basketball.

Montana heads to Boise seeking 12th Tournament Title

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Players Mentioned

Kai Johnson

Malik Moore

Joe Pridgen

Brandon Whitney

Money Williams

University of Montana Athletics