After a 19-day road trip that took them nearly 7,300 miles from the sandy beaches of the U.S. Virgin Islands to the snow swept plains of South Dakota, the Montana Grizzlies are finally back home.
Nursing a 1-6 record that has come at the hands of the most difficult non-conference schedule in recent memory, Montana will play on its home court for the first time since a Nov. 14 loss to Wyoming when it hosts Milwaukee-Wisconsin at 7 p.m. Saturday.
UM head coach Travis DeCuire/ by Brooks Nuanez
Just 1-4 since the 73-72 loss to the Cowboys, Montana was seemingly overwhelmed by it arduous road trip. But a closer look at the results show the Grizzlies were competitive in each game. Montana suffered a three-point loss at Ole Miss, a five-point defeat at South Dakota and its 13-point loss to North Carolina State came after Montana held a 40-38 halftime advantage in the opening game of the Paradise Jam.
Only once were the Griz handled by an opponent: in an 87-63 loss to Washington State in the second game of the three-game tournament, which concluded with a 68-47 win over Oral Roberts, UM’s lone win this year.
Known as defense-first team in Travis DeCuire’s first two seasons as head coach, Montana’s former strength became its liability at times during the road trip. Though they are holding their opponents to 44-percent shooting from the field and 32 percent from behind the arc, there were stretches of poor defensive play during each loss that sealed the Grizzlies’ fate.
Only during the Washington State loss was Montana defenseless for an entire game. But the Griz allowed the Wolf Pack to shoot 61 percent in the decisive second half and allowed seven first-half threes to Ole Miss and South Dakota. Currently, Montana is allowing its opponents an average of 75 points per game, nearly eight more than it surrendered last season.
“It’s kind of the tale of lineups for us,” DeCuire said in a UM press release after the 72-67 loss at South Dakota. “We’ve got a group of guys that are really good offensively but they aren’t doing very well defensively, and then our best defensive lineup is struggling to score. We’ve got to find some combinations that can finish the job.”
Montana sophomore guard Michael Oguine, No. 10, missed UM’s first six games with a broken hand/ by Brooks Nuanez
One possible explanation for the defensive woes could be that the roster was in flux until just recently. Montana went into the first days of practice thinking it would rely on sophomore guard Michael Oguine as part of a stable of guards, while the Griz waited for freshman forward Alphonso Anderson to return from off-season knee surgery. As the season neared, Oguine broke a bone in his hand during a scrimmage and Anderson decided to redshirt, providing extra time for his twice-repaired meniscus to properly heal. Oguine returned to the lineup, playing 14 minutes before fouling out in South Dakota.
“He got us back in the game,” DeCuire said after the South Dakota game. “We were flat in the locker room, and coaches challenged the guys a little bit this morning to get going, and it just took us a while to wake up. Once we did that we were fine, and Mike was a big spark in that regard. He was one of the guys that started attacking the rim early and once he did that some other guys followed suit.”
In Oguine’s absence, freshman Sayeed Pridgett has provided relief. Versatile on both sides of the court, Pridgett is averaging 11.7 points, two off the team-best pace of sophomore Ahmaad Rorie (13.7 ppg). Pridgett has displayed an ability to get to into the lane, while also providing Montana a scoring option on the block.
Down in the post, another freshman has emerged as a scoring threat. Jared Samuleson, a Montana legacy and the first recruit DeCuire earned a commitment from, has three double-digit scoring games and is shooting 68 percent from the field. The son of Shawn Samuelson, is averaging 8.7 points per game as a redshirt freshman.
Further complicating matters for Montana has been the erratic play of senior guard Walter Wright. The honorable mention All-Big Sky selection as a junior and a preseason All-Big Sky selection entering his senior year has gotten off to a slow start in 2016. Shooting just 28 percent from the floor and just 2 of 24 from beyond the arc, Wright’s scoring has slipped from 13.2 points per game to 6.7 this season and he is sporting a 16-18 assist-to-turnover ratio.
The last time he was in Missoula, Wright spent the good portion of the second half of the loss to Wyoming on the bench. He responded against North Carolina State scoring 20 of his 22 points in the first half. Since that outing, he hasn’t scored any more than eight points and hasn’t spent more than 24 minutes on the court. Without his 22 agaisnt NC State, Wright is averaging just 4.3 points per game.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee comes to Missoula for the first time since the Panthers beat Montana 78-74 in Larry Krystkowiak’s final season coaching the Griz. Milwaukee is 3-4 with wins over Milwaukee School of Engineering, UC Irvine and Jacksonville.
Led by guards Brock Stull and Cody Wichmann, both averaging 11 per game, the Panthers are scoring just 63.9 points per game and 41 percent of their shots coming from beyond the arc.
With just one player taller than 6-foot-5 in the starting lineup – that being 6-9 center Brett Prahl – Milwaukee holds a slight rebounding edge over its opponents, skewed mostly by plus-20 margin over MSOE.
