Griz/Eags In Game Thread

[AtHomeInTheDahlbergDen]

The big lineup is phenomenal. One thing that I think could make it unstoppable: Qvale making a little better post passes. He was knocking down shots from a little past the FT line in a set where he'd get the ball there and drew would set up for a second under the basket. There were a few times where that pass went wayward. By all means, not a major thing. Great game tonight. Good decisions by Cam, CET managing the game very well and staying within himself, Stads providing the daggers and Drew and Jordo doing their thing. Great all around.

 

[grizpack]

Way to go Griz. I ran into one of the coaches today, and you could just tell that they are feeling the stress.

Nice job fellas. Now build on this!!!

 

[westsider]

Oh my gosh, what a great STUDENT turn-out for this conference game!!! It was a tremendous atmosphere tonight at Dahlberg Arena!! How could EWU possibly win with that type of crowd in Missoula???? They were on their feet all night long cheering on the Griz!!! Big Sky Conference hoops at it's best. :laugh:

 

[AtHomeInTheDahlbergDen]

Oh my gosh, what a great STUDENT turn-out for this conference game!!! It was a tremendous atmosphere tonight at Dahlberg Arena!! How could EWU possibly win with that type of crowd in Missoula???? They were on their feet all night long cheering on the Griz!!! Big Sky Conference hoops at it's best. :laugh:

Yeah, not a great turnout in terms of amount but at least we stood and got into it a bit. #10 and his nipple/attitude got us going a bit.

 

[mtgrizrule]

I am praying my post here does not jinx the team. Minus the turnovers and many would agree here, that was GRIZ basketball tonight. I wish I had seen it live or tv, sounds like they moved the ball well and played as a team. All our post players put up good numbers for boards and points. Guard was as solid as it has been all year. Sounds like Tinkle may have figured a few things out this past week in terms of strategy and playing time. I like that we went big for many more minutes tonight.

It looks as if he is trying to right this train, yet still build for the future without slighting anyone too badly. Qvale got a good amount of playing time, and put up solid numbers. It sounded to me that Staudacher got alot of time at the 2. Was he at the 2 quite abit? Qvale and Staudacher getting PT at their natural positions as underclassmen is great. I think Tinkle is sold on CET being our PG this year and next. I think he learned from LKs mistake in not giving Virgil minutes early his 1st season.

Tinkle seems to have made decisions on who is playing where and how many minutes. It looks like rest of the year Martin will see most of his time at the 2, some minutes at the 1. Rundles willl see minutes equally filling in as the 2nd pg, and be part of a 3 man sg rotation with Stauds and Martin.

I also am under the impression that Stauds is looking to shoot more, and the team is looking for him more. Was that the case tonight?

Tinkle apparently threw in some wrinkles offensively, going high low and even running some screens, pick in rolls. Athome has to be estatic about that one. At least for this game, have to give Tinkle and the team credit for some creativity and execution. I hope that continues rest of the year.

I cannot wait until Saturday, I will be heading to Greeley in hopes to see the same kind of execution and result as this game. Now if they just cut down the turnovers. It is nice to know this team is still capable of playing well. I promise you all I will be at my best saturday. I will be cheering for all of griznation. I cannot wait to finally post a game summary after attending live. I pray they will give me plenty to post positively about. :thumb:

GO GRIZ, see you guys Saturday, live from GREELEY!!! :thumb: arty: :beer2: :drinking: arty:

 

[Zirg]

Oh my gosh, what a great STUDENT turn-out for this conference game!!! It was a tremendous atmosphere tonight at Dahlberg Arena!! How could EWU possibly win with that type of crowd in Missoula???? They were on their feet all night long cheering on the Griz!!! Big Sky Conference hoops at it's best. :laugh:

Yeah, not a great turnout in terms of amount but at least we stood and got into it a bit. #10 and his nipple/attitude got us going a bit.

DeLeon is a real piece of work. He's got some game, but he is a smack-talkin',hand-clappin', Ric Flair "whooooo"-ing jack-ass. I think he really fired up the Griz with all his punk antics.

 

[GrizWhiz]

The Griz defense with Qvale in the middle was awfully good. The big lineup is the way to go. Defensively, especially, it makes a huge difference. He blocked some shots tonight, changed others and generally caused agony for EWU whenever they went inside. I'd even consider running Vanderjagt in to spell Qvale whe Hasquet and Strait are still in. Having the real big guy in the middle really makes the defense click and helps the rebounding tremendously. I think this also has lot to do with the offensive and rebounding success of Strait and Hasquet tonight. This was a fine effort by the Griz where they simply bludgeoned the other team to death with superior size and a game plan that fully utilized that size. The guard play, especially in the areas of defense and assists was also very good. Having the inside offense clicking also created some nice open looks for the perimeter players. :clap:

 

[AtHomeInTheDahlbergDen]

Oh my gosh, what a great STUDENT turn-out for this conference game!!! It was a tremendous atmosphere tonight at Dahlberg Arena!! How could EWU possibly win with that type of crowd in Missoula???? They were on their feet all night long cheering on the Griz!!! Big Sky Conference hoops at it's best. :laugh:

Yeah, not a great turnout in terms of amount but at least we stood and got into it a bit. #10 and his nipple/attitude got us going a bit.

DeLeon is a real piece of work. He's got some game, but he is a smack-talkin',hand-clappin', Ric Flair "whooooo"-ing jack-ass. I think he really fired up the Griz with all his punk antics.

Yeah, he's a f*cking nut. Talking trash when you're down double-digits isn't going to do anything good. Then pulling up his shirt and staring into the student section when his FTs cut it to like 9. It's retarded. I wasn't that impressed with his game at all. He made a few shots but for the most part he'd penetrate, we'd stop him, he'd jump then make an iffy pass that didn't do anything.

 

[mtgrizrule]

Bludgeoned, I love that word when referring to the GRIZ. :thumb:

I too would love to see Vanderjagt spell Qvale for 10 to 15 minutes per game. That way we can always have a true center in the game. Instead of us adjusting to other teams strengths, I want to see teams try adjusting to our strength. Speaking of Vanderjagt, great numbers. 1 minute, 2 rebounds, 2 points. Imagine what those numbers would be prorated for 40 minutes!!! 80 rebounds, 80 points, Wilt who? (just kidding). I do think though he could surprise some people if he ever gets minutes. :thumb:

 

[GrizWhiz]

Oh my gosh, what a great STUDENT turn-out for this conference game!!! It was a tremendous atmosphere tonight at Dahlberg Arena!! How could EWU possibly win with that type of crowd in Missoula???? They were on their feet all night long cheering on the Griz!!! Big Sky Conference hoops at it's best. :laugh:

The crowd was fair at best. The student sections were mostly filled but it does not seem, at this point, that they would fill an entire lower arena side if it was opened up to them.

 

[WashGriz]

GREAT WIN..!!

it looks like my post on the big line up..here for good...was
right on !
I would like to here more who were at the game.
QVALE sounded like he was a force..and some nice passes
to the posts !!
Radio announcer said Stauds might not play because of sprained ankle at practice on Wed..sounds like he gutted it out pretty good though.

I think we can win 2 of the next 3 games on the road and be
back in the hunt !!

 

[Swillbury]

They actually played like a team tonight. I was impressed

I thought I head a high pitched voice in the background, Was that you Swilly? :thumb:

Might of been.

 

[AtHomeInTheDahlbergDen]

Oh my gosh, what a great STUDENT turn-out for this conference game!!! It was a tremendous atmosphere tonight at Dahlberg Arena!! How could EWU possibly win with that type of crowd in Missoula???? They were on their feet all night long cheering on the Griz!!! Big Sky Conference hoops at it's best. :laugh:

The crowd was fair at best. The student sections were mostly filled but it does not seem, at this point, that they would fill an entire lower arena side if it was opened up to them.

Problem is getting the upperclassmen to show up. If the same number of sophomores, juniors and seniors showed up as freshman, the place would be packed.

 

[CDAGRIZ]

Oh my gosh, what a great STUDENT turn-out for this conference game!!! It was a tremendous atmosphere tonight at Dahlberg Arena!! How could EWU possibly win with that type of crowd in Missoula???? They were on their feet all night long cheering on the Griz!!! Big Sky Conference hoops at it's best. :laugh:

The crowd was fair at best. The student sections were mostly filled but it does not seem, at this point, that they would fill an entire lower arena side if it was opened up to them.

Problem is getting the upperclassmen to show up. If the same number of sophomores, juniors and seniors showed up as freshman, the place would be packed.

OK. First, thank god we got this win. Team effort, never trailed, awesome.

Second, Den, GB1, are Lou and I really as bad as westsider? C'mon man, if all you want to do is talk shit about UM's student section after a win, go elsewhere.

Grizwhiz: you say it in a non-smack way. I appreciate that a lot more than westsider's take.

 

[PlayerRep]

The team came out ready to play and with a sense or urgency from the get-go. Defense was good, except for a handful of open looks after multiple EWU passes in the first half, all of which EWU scored on. UM played some zone.

EWU was unable to handle Strait, who was 8-8. He got great position and received some nice passes. None of his shots were tough shots and no jump hooks. Quale played well, blocking shots and altering shots. He was 2-2 from about the free throw line. As someone mentioned, it may take some time for him to get his passes up to par. There were about 3 of them that were off the mark by a foot or two. He played 30 minutes.

The guard play was good. Martin had 9 in the first half and finished with 10. Staudacher shot well, including nice mid-range jumpers. CET ran the point well. Rundles had some terrific passes in the second half.

Besides the consistent good play by the big men, several key times/plays were Martin's 2 3-pointers in a row in the first half and 3 terrific assists by Rundles in the second half--at important times.

I didn't think EWU was very good, and they seemed outmatched. UM killed EWU on the boards, 36-15. EWU knocked down the open shots, tho, especially in the first half, and one guy hit 8 or 10 freethrows.

UM had 23 assists and 15 turnovers. The first two turnovers were attempts to get the ball into the big men. Freethrow shooting was better, but still needs improvement.

The EWU coach really got irked at something, and was ejected after 2 techicals in a row. No one seemed to know what set him off. He will have a one game suspension, I believe. It looked like he may have been trying to explain to a ref, between technicals, that a player on the bench had said something, but my understanding is that such a technical still goes to the coach. After our first technical shot, the EWU coach called time out, by saying "time f---ing out", I was told. That didn't get him a technical.

The officiating was weak, and the black ref made a half dozen bad calls, mostly against UM. The cheerleading and dancing was excellent.

 

[AtHomeInTheDahlbergDen]

Oh my gosh, what a great STUDENT turn-out for this conference game!!! It was a tremendous atmosphere tonight at Dahlberg Arena!! How could EWU possibly win with that type of crowd in Missoula???? They were on their feet all night long cheering on the Griz!!! Big Sky Conference hoops at it's best. :laugh:

The crowd was fair at best. The student sections were mostly filled but it does not seem, at this point, that they would fill an entire lower arena side if it was opened up to them.

Problem is getting the upperclassmen to show up. If the same number of sophomores, juniors and seniors showed up as freshman, the place would be packed.

OK. First, thank god we got this win. Team effort, never trailed, awesome.

Second, Den, GB1, are Lou and I really as bad as westsider? C'mon man, if all you want to do is talk shit about UM's student section after a win, go elsewhere.

Grizwhiz: you say it in a non-smack way. I appreciate that a lot more than westsider's take.

Well, the bleacher side—although not nearly as crowded as it could've been—stood the entire game. This was something that didn't happen much last year or even all that often the year before that.

 

[grizband]

Can someone tell me why Strait hasn't had this type of performance until the last few games (I know we are 1-2, but two losses of 2 points)? He is a stud if you let him play the inside game. This is the type of game I like to see.

 

[GrizWhiz]

Can someone tell me why Strait hasn't had this type of performance until the last few games (I know we are 1-2, but two losses of 2 points)? He is a stud if you let him play the inside game. This is the type of game I like to see.

When we go big (i.e. Qvale), it takes a lot of pressure off of Andrew inside. :twocents:

 

[Grizbeer]

Really good game for the Griz - the starting lineup dominated EWU. Then the starters mostly left, Griz switch to a smaller, 3 guard line up and start getting their ass handed to them, EWU cuts a 15 point lead to 4. Starters go back in and pull away. The bigger lineup is the way to go.

I thought Tinkle showed good patience players were allowed a few mistakes without getting benched.

I don't know that I would agree that EWU isn't very good, but they struggled shooting in the first 1/2 against Montana's starters, and couldn't really handle Montana's big men. The Griz were on from the 3 early on, which helped a lot.

Montana basically ran the same offense they have all year, with guards cutting through the key to get the open 3, and last night they were open, and knocked them down. There did seem to bore of a concerted effort to get the ball inside to Strait, and this resulted in most of the turnovers, but also was opened up the outside shooting.

When the Griz are on from 3 pointers they will be hard to stop, because it will force teams to not double team the post, which will open up the entry passes. The problem is, of course, that is a fairly low percentage shot, even if you are very good, and teams may be content to let the Griz try and beat them from the 3 point line, but not give up the inside game. It burned EWU, but we will see the rest of the way. CET is definitely getting better though, and having Qvale inside opens up another dimension for the Griz.

I would agree the officiating was bad, or at least inconsistent, but really I thought EWU was getting the worst end of the stick, at least until after the T. There were a couple times I couldn't believe Hasquet didn't get called. I have no idea why EWU coach got so upset when he got the T, that was an obvious call. After the T it seemed the refs were trying to even things up a bit, and Rundles especially seemed to be in their cross hairs.

Griz need to win 1 of 3 on the road - either EWU or UNC - to stay in the hunt for a tournament spot. Win 2 of 3 and they are in pretty good shape, Get swept and they will be back to desperation.

 

[GrizBBIsKing]

Griz need to take each game one at a time. Play as a team.

But, for those who like to look ahead, and figure how many wins it will take to get into the tournament:

Last year it took 8 games (.500 record).
Year before, the sixth seeded team won only 5 games.
And the year before that, it was a .500 record also, 7 wins.(before unco).

Last two of three seasons required at least a .500 record with a tiebreaker to get in the tournament. UM being 2 - 4 is certainly not out of reach. If Griz did lose yesterday, being 1 - 5 would be quite difficult to overcome. So, I consider yesterday's game as a must win, and Griz came through with flying colors. Came out the aggressor, or more like the lion instead of the sheep. That is how they have to go into each game from now.