MISSOULA, Montana — Travis DeCuire has praised Sayeed Pridgett all Big Sky Conference season for being able to force the issue while at the same time taking what opposing defenses give him.
Thursday night in Missoula, Weber State guarded Pridgett one on one. Pridgett took full advantage, destroying WSU junior Michal Kozak over and over again. At one point, he scored 15 out of 18 points for the Griz, making seven consecutive field goals in the process.
On Saturday night, Idaho State did a little bit of everything to try to slow down Montana’s versatile senior who plays most positions in the span of a single game.
And Sayeed Pridgett did whatever he wanted from start to finish in front of a season-high crowd of 4,657 at Dahlberg Arena.
In the first 10 minutes of the game, Pridgett scored eight points and dished out four assists, having a hand in 16 of UM’s first 22 points. When he faced single coverage, he used his elite footwork to spin and dip his way to soft angles to score off the glass. When he was double-teamed or trapped, the 6-foot-4 veteran from Oakland found open shooters.
For much of Saturday night, Pridgett also led Montana’s high-energy transition offense, either finishing at the rim after his patented Euro-step or finding a trailing teammate for a high percentage shot. By halftime, he had eight points, seven assists and five rebounds.
In the second half, Pridgett did all he could to help the first-place Grizzlies put away the pesky last-place Bengals. He scored 16 points, including six straight to help UM push its lead to 69-51 with 7:07 left. And down the stretch, Pridgett flirted with the third triple-double in University of Montana men’s basketball history.
One of the Big Sky ‘s leading MVP candidates continued to bolster his resume by scoring 24 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out nine assists to lead Montana to a 78-63 victory over Idaho State on Saturday night.
“I feel bad for him because he easily could have three (triple-doubles) right now,” DeCuire, who played point guard for the Grizzlies alongside Delvon Anderson, the first Griz to ever record a triple-double. “He’s aggressively looking to score and he is making great decisions when it’s not there. He is playing with his teammates, he trusts his teammates and that’s why our offensive production has become so much more effective than early in the year.”
The win moved Montana to 12-3 in Big Sky play and 16-10 overall. Saturday night’s victory keeps the Griz 1.5 games ahead of Eastern Washington and Northern Colorado, who are both 10-4.
EWU avoided a second straight loss by posting an 89-81 win at Portland State two nights after losing to last-place Idaho. Northern Colorado posted a 68-65 win at Sac State.
Despite losing five seniors, a group that won 52 games and two straight Big Sky regular-season and tournament titles over the last two seasons, Montana is in first place with March on the horizon.
“I feel like we have something to prove,” Pridgett said. “A lot of people underestimated this team because of what we lost and that we are very young.
“A lot of us have a chip on our shoulder.”
Since a two-game losing skid to end January, Montana has been the best in the league and the Griz have done it against its fiercest rivals. UM’s five-game winning streak includes wins over Montana State, Eastern Washington, Idaho, Weber State and a 19th straight victory over an Idaho State team that lost for the 10th game in a row. ISU is now 3-13 in league, 6-18 overall in its first year playing under head coach Ryan Looney.
“The prize is close and when it’s within reach, you find a little more incentive to play through pain, play through adversity, stick together,” said DeCuire, who is trying to help Montana to its fourth regular-season Big Sky title in his six seasons at the helm for his alma mater. “They have done a good job. And the biggest thing is our chemistry.”
Pridgett’s outstanding performance gives him 10 games with 20 points or more this season. He now has 1,579 points in his career, the seventh-most in program history.
If he would’ve gotten one more assists — he had a chance on a chest pass to senior Kendal Manuel for a 15-foot jump shot the shooting guard missed and Pridgett had another chance when he threw an alley-oop to Derrick Carter-Hollinger that the true freshman bobbled — Pridgett would’ve joined Delvon Anderson and Kareem Jamar, each former MVPs of the Big Sky, as the only Griz to record a triple-double in a single game.
“When I knew I was close, I threw that oop to D.J. but we didn’t quite get it,” Pridgett said. “And everyone on the team was giving him crap for not making it.
“Guys were in the right spots and I was just trying to help us score. Me driving and creating for my teammates is how I was getting it.”
When Pridgett started in the post on offense, when Idaho State chose to guard him with guards Austin Smellie or Chidi Udengwu, Pridgett scored at will. He finished 10-of-14 from the floor, including 6-of-9 in the second half.
When Idaho State ran a “monster trap” with Pridgett in the post, he efficiently used skip passes in the corner, namely freshman Josh Vazquez, who knocked down all three of his 3-pointers during an 11-point night on assists from Pridgett.
“Offensive execution has been great and playing through Sayeed has been huge because he’s a willing passer who can score,” DeCuire said. “Teams have been loading up two guys on him so we just go ahead and throw the ball in there anyways and play out of that. Guys are making wide open shots.
The Griz shot nearly 62 percent in the first half, including hitting 6-of-11 from beyond the arc. Vazquez hit all three of his 3-pointers in the first half. Manuel scored 12 of his 16 points and hit both of his 3-pointers in the first half. And Timmy Falls hit his lone 3-pointer from the corner on Pridgett’s seventh assist of the first half.
“It’s huge because now we have the better defenders are on the other guys,” DeCuire said on Pridgett’s ability to draw double teams. “Jared (Samuelson) in the paint, Sayeed has post players and guards on him and Kendal is a tough cover so Josh and Timmy are getting left open quite a bit. Their ability to make open shots has been huge.”
Montana missed all five of its attempts from distance in the second half, one of several factors that helped Idaho State hang around. Falls took a hard spill after converting a layup. He was helped off the court and did not return. Vazquez ended up playing 36 minutes as Falls only played 16.
ISU shot 10 more first-half free throws to enter the locker room down 45-37 despite letting the Griz hit 19 of their first 30 shots. ISU turned the ball over 10 times in the first half alone but finished with 15 turnovers.
Idaho State won the battle of the boards 33-31, scored eight more points than Montana at the charity stripe and saw four players score in double figures. But Pridgett and the Griz eventually pulled away to move to 11-1 this season at home.
Montana’s attention now turns to rival Montana State. UM beat MSU 78-64 on February 1 in Missoula, marking the 18th time in 19 matchups that the Griz downed the Bobcats. Unlike the first matchup, the Grizzlies have the week off leading up to Saturday’s showdown in Bozeman.
“We will lay low tomorrow as we always do on a Sunday and we will be in here on Monday,” DeCuire said. “It will be our typical Monday practice. We will grind and go hard because we have time to recover. Tuesday we will make a decision based on Monday. Maybe they can earn a day off and try to be fresh going down the stretch more for the next few games than just the Montana State game.”
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