Well, Griz were just all over the place last night. There were a few moments of inspired passing, and some fumbles that really broke up what could have been scoring plays.
Travis sees that he probably has the best 3 pt team in the conference and intends to use it. It gets points, forces the defenders out, and opens up the inside. If you've got the shooters, you can't pass up that strategy. He really went to it last night in a big way. I don't think it failed.
The 3pt percentage was OK. At 30%, it was below the last six game average of 39%, but considerably above the last two games of 25% and 19%. UM has had two conference games so far with 55% 3pt accuracy, one at 43% and one at 39%.
Had Griz shot their FG average of the last 6 conference games (49%), UM would have had 81 points. Had they scored their lowest previous FG percentage (45%), they still would have won with 77 points.
Had Griz shot their average FG percentage of 48%, they still would have won the game even if the 3pt score was at 19%, the season low, scoring 72 points.
If Griz had shot their season averages in both FG and 3pt, they would have scored 90 points, a blow-out.
Even shooting the 30% 3pt percentage last night, the Griz could have won simply by upping the FG percentage to 34% (65 points). That 32% was just that bad and that crucial.
Idaho shot pretty well, 38% 3 pt, and 44% FG. But, they only launched 54 times compared to Montana's 86 shots. So that's why Montana could have easily won this game with even a slightly better (even if still dismal) FG success.
FT also made the difference, UM with 13 of 17, and Idaho 22 of 29, but both percentages were 76%, they just got more of them.
Idaho didn't win this. Montana lost it.