MISSOULA — Jamar Akoh is settling in for the Grizzlies.
Montana fourth-year head coach Travis DeCuire has emphasized in recent weeks the need to get his junior big man going early on in games. That priority was accentuated with Montana’s Sunday afternoon matchup against zone-heavy UC Riverside.
Akoh, a 6-foot-8, 253-pound post who sat out last season after transferring from Cal State Fullerton, battled foul trouble early in games and saw his minutes fluctuate in Montana six games. Over the last four, Akoh has steadily improved and his smooth abilities as a passer out of the post as well as his scoring prowess have followed.
On Sunday, Akoh played arguably his best game as a Griz. His efficient performance sparked similar effectiveness for Montana.
Akoh scored 17 points on five field goal attempts, a career high, and pulled down a career-best 12 rebounds to pace UM to a 77-61 victory over Riverside in front of 2,817 on Sunday at Dahlberg Arena.
“Every game, there’s a lot of pressure on me to come out and have a presence, make plays, score, rebound, defend,” Akoh said. “When I come in, have a sweat, ready to go, make things happen early, I think my teammates feed off of me as well. That gets us all going and it gets me going as well. When I stay out of foul trouble, get a couple of rebounds, my first run, it feels pretty good.”
Akoh commanded the high and low post against Riverside’s variety of zone defenses, allowing guards Ahmaad Rorie and Michael Oguine and wing Bobby Moorehead to cut to the rim. Montana converted 13 of its 25 second-half field goal attempts after, pushing a 12-point halftime lead to a 29-point advantage with just over eight minutes in moving to 6-4 this season.
“The guys figured out the more touches (Akoh) gets, the more they get,” DeCuire said. “Guys start getting layups because the ball went in the post.”
Montana junior guard Michael Oguine against UC Riverside/ by UM Athletics
After nearly flawless defensive execution in the first half — Riverside shot 30 percent and committed seven turnovers against Montana’s aggressive half court trap — the Griz cranked up the intensity after halftime. UM started the second half on a 17-0 run to push the lead to 50-25.
Akoh’s old-fashioned 3-point play with 8:51 left pushed the lead to 61-32, Montana’s biggest lead of the night. Akoh converted four of his five field goal attempts and hit all nine of his free throws.
“He’s staying out of foul trouble and he’s also more prepared to play in the first four minutes,” DeCuire said. “I though the came out with a sweat and was aggressive early and when he does that, he’s hard to guard.”
Earlier in the week, DeCuire continued to talk about the importance of Akoh to Montana’s offensive and defensive attacks. DeCuire said the biggest challenge for a big man who sits out a year is re-adjusting to the pace of the game. DeCuire said he felt Akoh is “there now” and that it was just a matter of “keeping himself on the floor early on.”
Akoh picked up a foul in the first four minutes but managed to not pick up another. That led to one of his best games.
“The pace, how fast it is, how fast I have to play, the rhythm I have to play with,” Akoh said when asked about the biggest adjustment. “Rhytnm was a big part as well, getting back into the flow, back into our routines.
“My teammates, the coaching staff having confidence in me and getting in a rhytnm have been big. We are 10 games in and I’m starting to find a rhythm here.”
Montana senior post Fabijan Krslovic/ UM athletics
After Montana’s lead swelled to 29, Riverside started chipping away. A Koh Flippin 3-pointer with just under two minutes cut the Griz lead to 73-60, the closest the Highlanders would get late. DJ Sylvester scored 16 of his team-high 18 points after halftime.
“We played the score a little bit, had the up 29 intensity and then it dropped,” DeCuire said. “You try to sub a little bit, get some other guys in there but it wasn’t the same intensity. We had some combinations that haven’t played together that might’ve played a role but there was some guys that lost their intensity when they saw the score flip.”
Montana’s defense held Riverside to 38.5 percent shooting and forced 16 total turnovers. The Highlanders missed 10 straight 3-pointers before hitting three triples down the stretch to cut the Griz lead.
“I thought we scrapped and I thought we got each other’s backs,” DeCuire said of Montana’s defensive execution. “There were times there might’ve been an advantage here or there but we rotated quickly. We deflected a lot of balls.
“Some of it is effort and some of it is having a feel for where to be, executing and trusting that if I go somewhere, someone else will be where I left. Sometimes, you have a habit of staying with your guy to leave and you just have to trust the next guy is going to make the same rotation you make.”
Despite the huge second-half advantage, Rorie — who finished with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting — Oguine, and Moorehead still played significant minutes down the stretch. Rorie, who entered the game playing 37 minutes a game, played 38. Moorehead played 31 and Oguine played 29.
“There’s so many teams doing that right now,” DeCuire said. “If you think about it, the top teams in the country probably only play seven guys anyway and probably only have 10 on scholarship. Those guys are going to play minutes and that’s what it is. I would’ve liked to gotten them out and kept them out a little longer but also, there’s a lot of growth this team can experience with them on the floor.”
Montana’s attention now turns to UC Irvine, the preseason favorites in the Big West. Montana moved to 2-1 against the league after Sunday’s win, the other contests an 80-73 loss at UC Santa Barbara and an 86-68 home win over Cal State Northridge.
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