For the first time in the Travis DeCuire era, the Montana Grizzlies are searching for a way to rebound from a road sweep. Once 5-1 and on solid ground in the Big Sky Conference, the now 5-3 Grizzlies enter a tough three-game home stand that begins with Eastern Washington on Thursday and then brings Idaho and Montana State to Dahlberg in a stretch the Griz will have to win if they hope to win their second regular season title in three seasons under DeCuire.
Surprisingly for Montana, defense was the issue in the consecutive losses to Portland State and Sacramento State. After leading the conference in points allowed through the first six games of conference play, the Griz gave up 88 to the Vikings and 92 to the Hornets. In both games, Montana gave up better than 50-percent shooting and fell victim to second-half runs that put the Griz in holes they couldn’t rebound from.
Just three weeks ago, Montana beat Idaho to begin a road sweep of the Vandals and Eagles, becoming the first Big Sky team to accomplish the feat since Idaho returned to the conference in 2014. Montana held both teams to less than 60 points and against Eastern, junior forward Fabijan Krslovic marginalized Jake Wiley in the first half and then eliminated Bogdan Bliznyuk’s effectiveness in the second in the Grizzlies’ 65-59 win.
EWU senior Jake Wiley posts up MSU sophomore Sam Neumann/ Courtesy of EWU athletics
Wiley, a former Montana Grizzly and two-time NAIA All-American at Lewis & Clark State before coming to Cheney, has been a revelation for the Eagles in the post-Venky Jois era. The reigning two-time Big Sky Conference Player of the Week, Wiley currently leads the league with 24.6 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per night since conference play started. Wiley has scored at least 20 points in five of his last seven games, including back-to-back games of at least 30. He has been instrumental as the Eagles have become the league’s most dangerous offensive team since Big Sky play began on New Year’s eve.
Montana coach Travis DeCuire addressed his team’s issues and how they expect to complete a sweep of the Eagles this week during a press conference Wednesday evening.
RELATED: Eastern chases Big Sky title in post-Jois era
You said Saturday night that your team has kinks to work out, what did you mean by that?
“I don’t know that we’ve had multiple guys play well at the same time. Our issue — we’ve had major slippage defensively. We’re just giving up way too many points. We’ve scored 81, 88 and 83 in losses and that should never happen. Our biggest issue right now is defense, getting stops and going back to the fundamentals. The other piece is we just haven’t clicked together. We’ve had career highs on the wrong night. … We should win games going away when guys have career nights. That’s really what I meant by that.”
The last time you played these teams you held both below 6o points. Were these same defensive issues apparent then, or is this new?
“No, but preparing for Idaho, they’re more of a system team so our team rules defensively work for them. But then when you play Eastern, when you play Portland State, when you play Sac State their style is completely different and there are things you have to do different to stop those teams. I think we just had slippage and more and more from one game to the next from those three teams in two weeks. We needed to come back and rebuild. It’s been awhile since we’ve really spent a lot of time on our defensive concepts because we’ve had so many nick-nacks and injuries.”
Is that slippage in half-court or transition?
“Half court. Some of it was our ball-screen defense against Portland State and some of it was our help-side defense against Sac State. When those things break down you find yourself one-on-one on an island a lot and those things happened too much.”
Are there any lingering effects from those two losses?
“Yeah, hunger. We’re upset, we’re frustrated, we’re pissed off, which is exactly where I want my team right now. I don’t want to be complacency and maybe complacency is why we got swept.”
You said in the preseason that roles have changed for everybody. Where is that process with this team?
Eastern Washington head coach Jim Hayford/ by Brooks Nuanez
“We’re close, we’re close. I don’t want to peak right now. I want to play good enough basketball right now to win a championship rather than peak. I think Sayeed Pridgett kind of hit a wall and then showed signs last week of a return to where he was in November. Walter’s (Wright) shot is starting to fall. Ahmaad (Rorie) is getting more aggressive. Fab is starting score more. So I think guys are starting to settle more into roles and therefore you’re starting to see production from other areas. Mike (Oguine) still isn’t 100 percent, but he’s starting to get his legs and his pop back so I think we’re maybe a week or two away from getting those guys from clicking at the same time.”
You said you were going to have a team meeting Sunday and another Monday. How did those go and what were those to address?
“They were positive. At some point guys have to start communicating about what they expect of each other and you have to take ownership of areas that you can improve and we got a lot of that. It was time for us to have a heart-to-heart; we haven’t had one of those this year. This year it was a little later than it was last year, but we have those every year. I thought it was very positive and I think our mood is very positive and we’re hungry. We hit a reset button and we’re starting from scratch.”
Eastern has used Wiley on the perimeter, do you expect them to do that Thursday?
“They didn’t do it in Cheney, they did it a lot against Weber and they had success. He made two threes in that game, but they were the only two threes he made all year. He had it going that night. I think that was one of those where you feed the beast. He makes his first five shots and you just keep giving him the ball and finding ways to give it to him.
“I think it’s game by game, but they’re going to feed him. The entire time in conference Bliznyuk and Wiley have taken half the team’s shots so nothing has changed; They were doing that in the beginning and they’re doing that now. He has got the ball in some different areas from time to time and we’ve got to be prepared for that.”
Other key information:
Montana is ranked No. 174 in the kenpom.com rankings and is No. 201, third in the Big Sky, in ESPN RPI rankings.
Eastern Washington led by sixth-year coach Jim Hayford, is ranked No. 197 in the kenpom.com rankings and is No. 166, second in the Big Sky, in the ESPN RPI rankings.
When: Thursday, 7 p.m. MDT
Where: Dahlberg Arena (7,500)
Radio: KGVO 101.5 FM
Watch: watchbigsky.com
Series: Montana leads 67-41.
Last: Montana shut down Eastern Washington in a 65-59 win in Cheney on Jan. 7.
kenpom Prediction: Montana, 68 percent (76-71)
Probable starters
Montana
G – Ahmaad Rorie, 6-1, So., 17.6 ppg
G – Michael Oguine, 6-2, So., 11 ppg
G – Brandon Gfeller, 6-5, Sr., 4.4 ppg
F – Jack Lopez, 6-6, Sr., 7.3 ppg
F – Fabijan Krslovic, 6-8, Jr., 7.5 ppg
Eastern Washington
G – Luka Vulikic, 6-5, Fr., 3.4 ppg
G — Bogdan Bliznyuk, 6-6, Jr., 18.2 ppg
F – Felix Von Hofe, 6-5, Sr., 12.5 ppg
F – Jacob Wiley, 6-7, Sr., 17.5 ppg
F – Mason Peatling, 6-8, Fr., 4.5 ppg
Photos by Brooks Nuanez and attributed. All Rights Reserved.
