Griz Hoops on the road again to face Fighting Hawks

MONTANA (1-2) at NORTH DAKOTA (1-2)
Saturday, Nov. 14 / 11:00 a.m. (MT) / Watch / Live Stats

On the road again. That has become the motto for head coach Travis DeCuire and his Montana basketball team early on in the 2026-27 season. They will play their third road game of the young season on Saturday in Grand Forks against North Dakota.

Montana starts the season with seven road games in the first nine contests.

The Grizzlies have shown promise in the first two road games of the season. They were tied at Oregon with 10 minutes left to play and led for over 32 minutes on Tuesday night in San Francisco.

Promise only goes so far as Montana has a 1-2 record following the first week of the season as the Ducks and Dons were both able to pull away late for wins.

Montana will now set its sights on a North Dakota team that has a matching 1-2 record. The Fighting Hawks will be playing their first home game of the season after opening with three straight on the road.

The lone win for North Dakota came over Winthrop in a 93-90 shootout on Nov. 7. The Fighting Hawks' two losses were at Minnesota and at Clemson.

It's still early in the season and North Dakota has played a difficult schedule, but the Fighting Hawks rank 340^th in scoring defense and have allowed opposing teams to shoot 56.6 percent from the floor, the second-worst mark in all of D-I basketball.

There has plenty to like for Montana in its first two road games of the season even if the results haven't gone their way. The Grizzlies have 10 newcomers this year and many are making an instant impact, including freshman guard Semaj Carter.

Carter came off the bench at San Francisco to score 16 points and grab 7 rebounds, both team highs. He's shooting 60.0 percent from three-point range this season with nine makes, ranking 21^st in the country in percentage.

Montana's defense stifled San Francisco for much of the game, but troubles from the free throw line and untimely turnovers helped the Dons come from behind for the win.

The Grizzlies rank 73^rd in scoring defense this season, holding opponents to just 63.3 points per game. The Griz are scoring 77.3 points per game and getting more than 35 points per game from their bench.

Saturday's game will be streamed live on Midco Sports and the Summit League Network. The "Voice of the Griz" Riley Corcoran will provide the radio call on KGVO and the Varsity Network App.

GRIZ VS. THE SUMMIT
Montana is 26-15 vs. teams from the Summit League going back to 1988. When playing in a Summit League opponent's home gym, Montana is 8-7. Coach DeCuire is 15-8 overall and 4-5 on the road against Summit League foes.

BIG SKY-SUMMIT SCHEDULING AGREEMENT
This game is part of a scheduling agreement between the Big Sky and Summit League. The Big Sky-Summit Challenge ended last year, but four teams from each league agreed to a four-year series with rotating opponents.

This season, Montana plays at North Dakota and hosts South Dakota on Dec. 8. Over the next three years, the Grizzlies will also play home-and-away against North Dakota State and South Dakota State.

SCOUTING NORTH DAKOTA (1-2)

The Fighting Hawks are coming off a 92-77 loss at Clemson. They have played all three gams on the road to start the season with a 93-90 win over Winthrop and an 85-50 loss in the season opener at Minnesota.
North Dakota went 18-17 overall last season and 10-6 in Summit League play. They reached the championship game of the conference tournament, losing 70-62 agasint North Dakota State.
Head coach Paul Sather is in his 8^th season at North Dakota. He has a 92-134 overall record.
The Fighting Hawks were picked 6^th in the Summit League Men's Basketball Preseason Poll.
North Dakota returns two starters in Zach Kraft and Josh Jones. The pair combined to average just over 10 points and five rebounds per game last season.
There are 11 newcomers on North Dakota's roster with four freshmen and seven transfers.
Samuel Hincapie averages 17.0 points per game to lead North Dakota. Hincapie, a transfer from Le Moyne, is shooting 54.5 percent from the field and also averaging 1.00 block per game.
Carter Evanson is averaging nearly three steals per game to rank inside the top 50 nationally.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE FIGHTING HAWKS
Montana leads the all-time series over North Dakota 20-7. In Grand Forks, the Griz are 6-6 after a win inside the Betty last season. DeCuire is 10-1 against the Fighting Hawks in his career. This is the third straight game in the series to be played in Grand Forks as North Dakota won 79-77 at home in 2021.

Last season, Montana won 79-75 in Grand Forks behind a 30-point effort from Money Williams. The Grizzlies led by one points inside the final 30 seconds when Williams made a tough bucket to help seal the win.

Tyler Thompson had 17 points and four steals in the win and Kenyon Aguino added 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists.

GRIZ NOTES

Montana has not had the same leading scorer yet this season. Through three games, four different players have led or co-led Montana in scoring.
Dating back to last season, Montana has lost six straight road games.
Freshman Semaj Carter led the Grizzlies in both points (16) and rebounds (7) at San Francisco. Carter is shooting 9-of-15 (.600) from three-point range this season.
It's an early sample size, but just 25.7 percent of opponent field goal attempts have come from three-point range this season. That's the lowest percentage in the country as the Griz have done well chasing teams off the line.
The return of Kenyon Aguino will help, but Montana's current roster has an average height of 76.4", which ranks 327^th in D-I basketball. The average roster height is 77.5", according to KenPom.
Montana is one of the least experienced teams in the country in terms of D-1 experience. The Griz roster averages just 0.63 years, which ranks 333^rd.
The Griz are still awaiting the season debut of star forward Kenyon Aguino. He has missed the first three games of the season with a foot injury.

UP NEXT
Montana will play at Kansas State on Monday, Nov. 16. It will be the first game against the Wildcats since 1978. The Grizzlies are 0-2 against the Big 12 under Coach DeCuire.

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Players Mentioned

Kenyon Aguino

Semaj Carter

Tyler Thompson

Money Williams

University of Montana Athletics