MISSOULA, Montana — Following a rare loss for his Montana Grizzlies in Bozeman last Saturday, Travis DeCuire lamented the weakness of his defending Big Sky Conference champions.
In the aftermath of his team’s 76-67 loss at Montana State — just the fifth loss in 22 matchups against the rival for UM’s veteran head coach — DeCuire said that his team was playing good enough defense night in and night out to win ball games. That particularly night, Montana held the Bobcats to 41 percent shooting and got plenty of stops.
DeCuire said that his team needed to find their way offensively, especially when it came to turning the ball over.
Montana responded on Monday with a runaway 98-72 win over Northern Arizona that included a season-high for points for the Griz. But when UM turned the ball over 14 times in the first half and trailed 43-36 to Weber State on Thursday night at Dahlberg Arena, it seemed like the same demons that had thwarted this talented Montana squad were rearing their heads again.
Instead of spiral, DeCuire instead got his charges back on track. And once Montana found its footing, the Grizzlies raced to an 81-65 win over the Wildcats.
“That was another conversation after the Montana State game, which was we weren’t sharing the ball, just taking too many tough shots,” DeCuire said following his team’s 11th win in its 20th game. “There’s a lot of open guys out there where we crack the paint in transition, and 10 assists are not enough. We’ve got to be a team that you want to make the pass to whoever is open, let him get the shot and trust that they can make shots. And we’ve had over 20 assists since.”
DeCuire also referenced defensive adjustments to help limit Weber State’s secondary fast break, points in transition and points in the paint. He said that Montana made those adjustments after the under-12 media timeout in the first half. But it took until halftime to get those adjustments locked in.
Adjustments, assists…more than anything though, Montana took care of the ball in the second half. UM finished the game with 17 turnovers after committing 14 in the first stanza.
“I was pretty intense on the sideline before halftime,” DeCuire said when asked about his halftime inspiration. “We had some adjustments we were trying to make after the second media. We just never executed them, and they just continued to get too many points in the painting. We had to contain the ball. And so once we settled down and had five guys execute on the defensive side the ball, we got Weber out of the percentage shots. Our ability to communicate determines how well we execute defensively.”
When Montana takes care of the ball and guards like DeCuire demands, the Grizzlies have been one of the most efficient offensive teams in the country for three years running. UM is shooting 51 percent from the floor this season and has a field goal percentage over the last three seasons cumulatively that ranks 6th in the country.
Thursday’s effort only bolstered that. UM shot 63 percent in the second half and 62 percent overall, finishing the game 31-of-50 from the floor despite leading scorer Money Williams being held to seven points and just 2-of-12 shooting.
The rest of the team went 29-of-40 from the floor. Tyler Thompson was 7-of-9 from beyond the arc in scoring a career-high 21 points. Senior Te’Jon Sawyer finished 5-of-6 from the floor on the way to scoring 13 points while Brooklyn Hicks went 6-of-8 and scored 13 points off the bench. In his second career start, Grant Kepley went 4-of-5 and scored 11 points.
“Simplify the play you are trying to make,” DeCuire said. “Every pass doesn’t have to be an assist. First half, we were trying to hit home runs. We were trying to squeeze the ball into small windows in the post. It’s ok to get a hockey assist and we got a ton of hockey assists in the second half.”
Montana finished with 22 assists, including six from Williams.
The Money man struggled shooting the ball. But he still managed to surpass 1,000 points in his career. He’s the sixth-fastest Griz to reach the mark despite missing the second half of his freshman season two years ago with an injury.
“It would’ve been faster if he wasn’t hurt,” DeCuire said with a grin. “He’s special. There’s not a lot of words for me to describe him as a player. But he can create offense every time down the court for himself or others. That’s pretty valuable to have.”
Williams is one of the leading scorers in the Big Sky at 19.1 points per game. He is also averaging nearly six assists per contest as well. The Big Sky’s Top Reserve a year ago has embraced a leadership role as a junior as he tries to guide the Griz back to the NCAA Tournament.
“I didn’t know I got it, or that I was that close,” Williams said with an endearing smile. “I was locked in in the huddle and I looked up at the scoreboard and saw, 1,000 points. I’m just grateful. It’s a blessing.”
Montana has won two straight since the rivalry loss and now sit at 5-2 in Big Sky Conference play, alone in third place in the standings behind Portland State and Montana State.
The Griz lost six seniors off last season’s NCAA Tournament team. After an up and down non-conference that included a win at UNLV and a loss to NAIA Montana Tech at home, Montana seems to be meshing entering February.
“We have to not be complacent, not be satisfied,” Williams said. “In Bozeman, we got punched in the mouth. Now we know. We won’t let that happen again.”
