MISSOULA — Brian Katz began observing Montana’s coaching lineage while working as an assistant at Santa Clara. Mike Montgomery had just come from UM to take over as the head coach at Stanford.
When Katz realized Montgomery followed the late legend Jud Heathcote in Missoula (with two years of Jim Brandenburg as the bridge), the roots of Montana’s impressive tree made an impression.
Katz carved out a California Junior College Hall of Fame career while serving as the head coach at Lassen Community College (1989-1993) and the 17 seasons prior to taking the Sacramento State head job in 2008 at San Joaquin Delta CC.
While Katz was cutting his teeth, Montana’s head coaching stars continued to roll through, from Stew Morrill to Blaine Taylor to Don Holst to Larry Krystkowiak to Wayne Tinkle. Katz can reel off every member of the Montana family tree without solicitation or hesitation.
In Sacramento, Katz’s Hornets have steadily improved, going from a 2-27 team that won just one Big Sky Conference game in his first season 10 years ago to a 21-win team that earned a CIT bid in 2015.
Sacramento State head coach Brian Katz/ by Brooks Nuanez
While he’s built the Hornets into a hard-nosed team that is a tough matchup each night out in league play, his respect for Montana has continued. Sac State hosts UM on Thursday at the Nest, a place no member of the Griz roster has ever posted a victory. Montana has lost three straight times in California’s capital, but that doesn’t erase the tradition Katz knows defines Grizzly basketball.
“We might have won three straight but I’m pretty sure they still dominate something like 38-9,” Katz said. “And at one point, it was 38-2. We’ve had a few victories of late but things always go in cycles.
“It doesn’t matter what has happened recently. We have great respect for Montana. The program is unbelievable. If you go back 40 years, I know I can name all the coaches.”
After successfully naming every coach from Heathcote to Brandenburg, Krystkowiak to Tinkle to current head coach Travis DeCuire and everybody in between, Katz continued to praise Montana.
“I’ve followed Montana basketball forever. I remember when Jud Heathcote was coaching there and I also remember when Michael Ray Richardson was playing there. It’s an unbelievable tradition and we have great respect for them. It’s one of the most unbelievable programs in the country when it comes to that lineup of Hall of Fame coaches.”
With surging Montana coming to town — UM has won six of its last seven, including four straight to begin Big Sky play — the admiration Katz and his Hornets hold for the Grizzlies does not stop at those who preceded DeCuire at the helm.
Sac State swept Montana last season, including a 92-83 win over UM in Sacramento that DeCuire described as “embarrassing”. DeCuire is 0-3 in Sacramento in his career and has just one win, a 77-58 victory in Missoula in January of 2016, against the Hornets. Yet Katz is fully aware that this is a dangerous Montana team coming to the Nest.
“I think they are the best defensive team in the league,” Katz said. “I think they are defending at an unbelievably high level. It’s really, really, really good, really good. Their length, their athleticism but also their commitment to it is just tremendous. In my opinion, there’s a lot of teams in the league that can be solid defensively but they can be dominating.”
Montana forward Bobby Moorehead (24)/by Jason Bacaj
While Sac State’s basketball tradition pails in comparison to Montana’s — the Hornets have only been Division I since 1991 — DeCuire reciprocates the respect given by his counterpart.
“We haven’t won at Sac State, they embarrassed us at their place last year, blew a lead there two years ago and then they swept us last year,” DeCuire said. “We should have every reason to treat this like a championship heavyweight fight. Then we will deal with Portland State when we get to Portland State.”
Last season in Missoula, Sac State star forward Justin Strings poured in a then-career high 29 points on 13-of-20 shooting to lead the Hornets to a 67-65 win to complete the season sweep of the Griz. In front of a capacity crowd in Sac earlier in the season, Nick Hornsby led four Hornets in double figure scoring with 25 points to pace the hosts to the 92-83 win.
“It’s a difficult one to explain,” DeCuire said when asked about the Grizzlies’ struggles against Sac. “Part of it is style of play. The pace, tempo, we like it upbeat and they like to slow it down. They play a style that is a lot different than anyone else in our league.
“They will sit in a zone. They will trap you out of the zone. They will three-quarter pressure you out of the zone. They will go 3-quarter court man. Out of timeouts, they will do some tricky stuff and they get you out of sync. That’s why teams have leads and blown them. You have to find ways to sustain your aggression and control the tempo in your own way. I think going in and being aggressive is huge. We just need to control the tempo and not look at the scoreboard.”
Fabijan Krslovic is Montana’s lone senior. Thursday, he will play his fourth game in the Nest and, like DeCuire, is in search of his first victory.
Sac State forward Justin Strings (3)/ by Brooks Nuanez
“It’s a tough place to play,” Krslovic said. “Every year we play them, they are ready to play. They are ready to give us their best matchup. Whether they are having a down year, up year, whatever, they come at us 100 percent when they are playing us.
“That paired with the fact that we’ve never won there, it’s going to be a big game Thursday. I think all of us who played last year have a sour taste in our mouths. They beat us twice and we don’t want that to happen ever.”
Montana began conference play with a 5-1 record last season only to go 6-6 down the stretch and lose in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Tournament. This Griz team has shown renewed focus and cohesiveness during their strong start. A three-game road stretch that also includes Saturday’s game against Portland State and next week’s showdown against rival Montana State begins with a chance for redemption on Thursday at 8 p.m. MST.
“In order to be in competition for a championship, you have to beat everybody,” DeCuire said. “You can’t get swept. And you have to win games on the road. That’s our challenge this week.”
Photos attribution noted. All Rights Reserved.
