Game Recap

Griz struggle to score, lose at Georgia

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Points were at a premium for the Montana Grizzlies once again against a Power 5 opponent. Tuesday, UM struggled to score in SEC country.

In seven years under the direction of head coach Travis DeCuire, the Griz have not shied away from playing Power 5 opponents. By the time its current non-conference schedule wraps up — Montana plays at Washington on December 16 and at Arizona on December 22 — UM will have played 24 games against Power 5 schools.

Tuesday, the Griz fell 63-50 to Georgia in Athens to fall to 1-21 under DeCuire against teams from the top tier of Division I. The loss drops Montana to 0-4 this season, marking the first time UM has lost four straight to open a season since the 2016-17 season.

“This game looked like their previous three games I watched on film: close and they find a way to open it up by crashing the offensive glass and pushing the ball really hard in transition, which is how they started,” DeCuire told Riley Corcoran during his post-game interview on the Grizzly Radio Network. “Once we got better offensive possessions and we got five guys back on defense, they struggled to score.

“But at the same time, we need to have that same resilience on the offensive end and not turn the ball over. You can’t turn the ball over 20 times and give up 18 offensive rebounds and think you are going to win.”

During DeCuire’s tenure, the Grizzlies have held their own defensively for most contests against Power 5s. This season has been no different despite the fact that two of Montana’s four losses are at USC to open the season and Tuesday’s loss in which UM held Georgia to 39.7 percent shooting but gave up 18 offensive rebounds and lost the battle of the glass 49-30.

Montana forward Josh Bannan (13) vs Georgia December 8, 2020/by University of Georgia Athletics

The defeat continued a trend that’s seen Montana struggle to put the ball in the bucket against the top level of men’s college hoops. In the 23 Power 5 games over the last seven seasons, UM is averaging 59.7 points per game.

In the last three seasons, Montana is averaging just 50.5 points per Power 5 contest with an average margin of defeat of 18 points per. Montana has scored more than 60 points in 10 Power 5 games in the last seven seasons, including an 83-78 win over Pitt in 2017 and the other closest upset bids: a 66-63 loss at Washington in 2017; an 86-81 loss at Ole Miss in the only other contest of the DeCuire era against an SEC team; and 76 in a two-point loss at Cal in DeCuire’s first season in 2014.

On November 25, Montana fell behind 32-8 in the first 13 minutes of the game at USC before winning the last 27 minutes 54-44. Tuesday, Georgia scored the first nine points of the game and opened with a 15-2 run before the game was five minutes old.

The rest of the game was dead even in terms of scoring. But struggles guarding in transition and an inability to keep the Bulldogs off the glass led to the seventh loss in eight games dating back to the end of last season for Montana.

Christian Brown’s jumper with twelve minutes, 51 seconds left in the first half pushed the Georgia lead to 21-7. Then Montana locked in, forging a 13-2 run to cut the deficit to 23-20. Eddy Egun’s third 3-pointer of the first half capped the run.

Montana guard Brandon Whitney (12) fights through pressure vs. Georgia on December 8, 2020/by University of Georgia Athletics

Montana shaved a 32-24 halftime deficit to five points when freshman guard Brandon Whitney converted a 3-point play early in the second half. But the Bulldogs pushed the pace and pushed the advantage to 49-33 over the next 10 minutes, marking the largest lead of the game.

Behind Kyle Owens’ fourth strong offensive outing of the season, the Griz hung around, cutting the lead to 10 points multiple times and getting as close as 59-50 with 2:04 left. Egun’s free throw to cut it to nine was the last points Montana would score.

Owens led Montana with 17 points, marking the second game in a row he’s led the UM offense. Egun notched a career-high 11 points and Whitney chipped in 10 for a Griz team playing without former starters senior guard Cameron Satterwhite and sophomore forward Derrick Carter-Hollinger.

“(Owens) is growing,” DeCuire said. “What you are seeing is an example of what hard work does. He put a lot of work in between March and September. I don’t know if anyone was in the gym more than him. You are seeing the results of that.

“We still need to grow. We need leaders on the floor through adversity. We need guys who communicate before things go bad. I think right now we are reactive more than proactive but that’s youth and that’s what happens when your returners are sophomores.”

Toumani Camara led Georgia with 15 points and 17 rebounds, including eight offensive boards. Sahvir Wheeler, the only player in the past 20 years of Division I history with three consecutive double-doubles of points and assists, finished with nine points and five dimes. Andrew Garcia (13 points), Justin Garcia (12) and P.J. Horne (10) also scored in double figures.

Part of the facilitation of the game contract being finalized came from the presence of Brian Fish on Georgia head coach Tom Crean’s staff. Fish spent five seasons as the head coach at Montana State before not having his contract renewed following the 2019 season.

Following the game, DeCuire and Fish shared a moment at half court where they exchanged a handshake.

Montana guard Josh Vasquez (3) shoots a three pointer vs Georgia on December 8, 2020/by University of Georgia Athletics

“Fish and I have mutual respect and I hadn’t seen him since I coached against him in the rivalry game in Bozeman (in February),” DeCuire said. “I always respected what he does as a coach. We competed as assistant coaches in the Pac 12 (DeCuire at Cal, Fish at Oregon) so we have crossed paths a lot.

“Obviously, he said some good things about me to their staff because Crean reiterated how they feel about our staff as coaches. It feels good to be shown respect after a defeat. It’s not often coaches show respect after they beat you so it means a lot and it’s good to hear but I’d prefer to hear it after a win.”

During his post-game interview with Corcoran, DeCuire announced that his team will play its first home game on Saturday by hosting Yellowstone Christian. The Griz will try to avoid their first 0-5 start since 1970.

“We never completed the schedule and we had one game open, “DeCuire said. “We knew there was potential to add an exempt tournament, which would give us three more games than the four we had scheduled. We knew with this tough schedule there would be some adversity so we wanted to play at home.

“We’ve had this game on the calendar for over a month, we just hadn’t contracted it because we wanted to see what opportunities were out there for us.”

Photos by University of Georgia Athletics. All Rights Reserved.

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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