Big Sky Conference

Healthy Oguine proving pivotal for Griz

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Once they finish describing his explosive finish to an alley-oop, or an all-out sprint for a loose ball or a high-flying, out-of-nowhere rebound or a blocked jump shot, the people around Michael Oguine will inevitably tell you about what a nice and respectful person he is. But for awhile this fall, Oguine wasn’t shaking anybody’s hand.

Oguine, Montana’s explosive sophomore guard, broke a bone in his right hand — his shooting hand, his writing hand, his dominant hand — during a scrimmage on a team retreat to Coeur d’ Alene. It put his right hand in a cast for the better part of a month and kept him from putting on a Griz uniform until the Griz went to Vermillion, South Dakota on Nov. 27 and lost to the Coyotes. Cleared to practice and play, Oguine was still cautious and careful with his healing hand. Approached in any manner, Oguine would extend his left hand and keep the right by his side.

“It’s funny because when you have the cast and the splint on, everybody can tell you’re injured and treats you like this and then you take the cast off and people think you’re automatically 100 percent,” Oguine said. “Like, nah, my hand was still broken with the cast off.”

Montana sophomore guard Michael Oguine (0)/by UM Athletics

Montana sophomore guard Michael Oguine (0)/by UM Athletics

It was unusual to see Oguine timid in the face of contact. In the more than 18 months since his arrival in Missoula, Oguine has built a reputation as a fearless competitor in the face of any challenge. In his first collegiate game last season, he spearheaded a furious second-half comeback to defeat a Boise State team on the outskirts of the top 25. He moved into the starting lineup in Game 2, became a defensive stopper in a Big Sky Conference stocked with perimeter talent, and a high-energy offensive force who produced the second-best freshman scoring average in school history.

But even in his return to the court, even as he cleared the glass and locked down the perimeter and scored 16 in his third game, uncertainty remained. While sporting a cast, Oguine did next to nothing with his dominant hand. He couldn’t shoot, couldn’t dribble, couldn’t dunk, couldn’t practice, could hardly write — he had to pinch his pen between his slightly exposed index finger and thumb and labor to turn scribbles in legible penmanship. He lost much of the strength in his wrist and hand and fell out of shape.

Oguine had never broken a bone before, but when he got his hand caught going for a steal during the scrimmage, he remembers immediately thinking something was wrong. Team trainer Justin Hunt examined the hand and confirmed it was broken. Oguine would miss eight weeks.

“Honestly it didn’t really hit me and I got the cast on,” Oguine said. “I was like, ‘I’m not going to be able to go play basketball right now’.”

Montana sophomore Michael Oguine

Montana sophomore Michael Oguine

Though he remained positive about the injury, joking about his awkward handshakes and welcoming the encouragement of coaches and teammates, not being able to play in the season opener was a biting realization. Montana was set to open the season in Los Angeles against USC a short drive from where he made his name as a big-game performer at Chatsworth’s Chaminade High. The only basketball he was going to get in the interim was the time he could dribble with his left hand under Hunt’s supervision — and the times he praacticed left-handed dunks and layups when Hunt wasn’t watching.

There were other reasons, too. Prior to the injury, Oguine was coming off a summer that had his coaches and teammates singing his praises. He was shooting the ball as well as he ever had and was his usually high-energy self. In one sequence during a September practice, Oguine fought through a screen and rejected a layup. He then raced down the floor and dunked home a missed layup. On the other end, he raced around a series of off-ball screens and locked up freshman Sayeed Pridgett, blocking the 6-foot-5 wing for the second consecutive possession, only this one came 23 feet away from the hoop. By all accounts, Oguine was playing at a level those within the program weren’t expecting that early in the season.

“He went and worked on a lot of the things that weren’t strengths last year — 3-point shooting,” Montana head coach Travis DeCuire said. “He was a guy that was shooting set shots from three and then rising from mid-range. He came back shooting elevated jump shots from everywhere on the floor, which meant he spent a lot of time working on the things we told him he needed to work on.

“I thought he was playing at a high level — he was playing against pros. His athleticism was at its peak. He was rolling. He was incredible with what we saw earlier.”

His absence was one of two offseason injuries that caused trouble for the Griz. Alphonso Anderson, a freshman forward expected to give Montana minutes at the 4, had to undergo two surgeries on his meniscus and decided to redshirt. Without him, DeCuire, desperate for depth in the front court, reassigned sophomore Bobby Moorehead and senior Brandon Gfeller, two players more suited for the wing, to help fill in at the spot opposite junior post Fabijan Krslovic. And without Oguine, DeCuire had to reassess which players would make up his starting lineup and how quickly he would bring along Pridgett and fellow freshman Jared Samuelson. With two open spots, the freshmen got a lot of minutes early and they produced, each reaching double figures in the home opener and then Pridgett scored 12 against North Carolina State. But as they so often do, teams put Pridgett and Samuelson on the scouting reports and made the necessary adjustments.

UM freshman Sayeed Pridgett/ By Jason Bacaj

UM freshman Sayeed Pridgett/ By Jason Bacaj

“They took away what they were doing well and forced them to go to Plan B,” DeCuire said. “When you have to go to Plan B in conference it’s very difficult. You don’t know what it is and you’re forced to figure out what it is. You’re forced to go work on it and you’re developing it while you’re on the floor. That’s very difficult for any young player.”

Oguine’s broken hand didn’t just affect the freshmen, it influenced the structure of the team. Players adjusting to new roles explained during the offseason were readjusting on the fly. It upset some of the team’s on-court chemistry and in all likelihood prevented they Griz from completing games against Power 5 teams they had on the ropes down to the final minutes. But aside from some of the confusion it led to on the court, Montana was missing a key attribute without its sophomore guard.

“His competitiveness. I think that he is a young man that impacts games without making shots,” DeCuire said. “He could have an 0-for-10 night and help you win a game. He’ll go get 10 rebounds, he’ll go get two or three steals, he’ll take two charges, he’ll dive on the floor for three or four loose balls, he’ll lock someone down and make it very difficult for them. He just competes in every aspect of the game and that is very difficult to get especially in a young guy”

Michael Oguine free throw copyOguine returned in the loss against South Dakota with the caveat that his minutes be capped somewhere around 25. Oguine played upwards of 30 minutes a night as a freshman, still acclimating to the increased intensity of the college game. His body wore down and he and Montana’s trainers have adjusted his rehabilitation. Oguine is spending more time soaking in ice baths and stretching out his knees, which have been prone to tendinitis. Still, DeCuire approached Oguine’s return with caution and didn’t want to play him under the same load as last winter. That plan lasted as long as it could and was lifted around the time Big Sky play started.

“It’s out the window,” DeCuire said with a laugh. “The biggest reason is just we weren’t playing well and you need him out there to play well.”

Since conference play began, Oguine is averaging almost 14 points per game and is shooting 45 percent from three, some 14 percentage points better than his freshman total. As he regained strength and confidence in the wrist, Oguine met associate head coach Chris Cobb for high-intensity 25-minute shooting sessions to restore some of the confidence Oguine said he lost in his shot during the six-week rehab. His improved accuracy from outside has forced defenders to spread out to the perimeter to check him. It’s opened lanes for Montana’s other guards to penetrate and allowed Oguine to sneak back door for the the explosive dunks that have infused the Griz and their hometown fans with energy. Against Idaho, he knocked the ball loose from Victor Sanders and raced in for a last-second layup that forced overtime, which Idaho used to hand Montana its fourth-straight loss.

“I feel like I’m fresher,” Oguine said “Right now I feel like I’m in great shape, I feel strong and able to play long minutes and go for loose balls, get rebounds, get pushed around and still be able to bounce back. That’s a big thing just being fresher.”

Photos by Brooks Nuanez and Jason Bacaj. All Rights Reserved. 

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