Next up 1/7 vs. PSU

[EverettGriz]

TDC:

Started a little slow with TO

16 assists is great. Four guys in double figures is also.

Our guards get to teh basket and find guys. Walter had a great assist to TO ratio. Both over 50% from the field

We defended well. We kind of went into a lull at 8:00, but I'll take it.

Goal was to hold them under 35%.

PSU was really denying 3Feller which opened up other guys, but then he goes and shoots nearly 100% when we got him open.

PSU is good, but chemistry is hard to put together sometimes. But they'll beat some people.

Crowd was great and made some noise. BUt we need the listeners here. We need to get rid of the execusues and get to the gym. We need as many fans as can be here. And we've got some guys you want to come watch, including MB, who won't be around next year.

Another double/double for MB. We wanted to get more than 10 shots for him, but MB is all about winning so hes fine with it.

GO GRIZ!!

 

[PlayerRep]

Good game by UM. Slower start, too many early turnovers, and generally too many mistakes and bad decisions. However, generally good defense, after they started defending the guy making all the 3 pointers (maybe 4 in a row).

Griz shot very well overall and from 3. PSU was quick and had good hands, and sometimes defended well, but sometimes didn't defend.

Terrific game by both guards. PSU could not stop Wright going to the hoop. Probably 8 or 9 assists, and only 2 turnovers (both in first 9 minutes and right in a row). He sometimes plays too fast and makes some bad decisions. 22 points, 3 for 4 from 3, and great drives. In the first half, he had a drive and finish that is as good as any I've seen by a Griz at home.

Nice game and defense by Lopez, who started. Hit his first 3 and couldn't hit after that. Breunig had double double, his 5th of the season. Was getting doubled constantly. Missed a handful of shots he'd normally make. Quietly scored about 14.

GFeller was defended well in first half, and then PSU had to adjust to slow down the drives. He knocked down 4 3's in a row, and then a long 2. He is confident and shooting great.

PSU had alot of talented players, who can shoot and are athletic. Not really a team, tho. Lots of transfers. No chemistry, and not much heart. Could improve over the season.

Crowd didn't like the refs, especially in 2d half. Travis got a technical later in 2d half. UM had big lead, but PSU started chipping away right after that.

Griz have improved considerably, have alot of guys who can play, are shooting well now, and are ready and poised to make a run at the conference title. I'm more positive on them now than early in the season. If they play very hard and fight consistently, they should win most games. That's hard to do, but I think Travis is a very good coach and should be able to keep them on track.

The young cheerleaders who performed at halftime were awesome. Probably ages 8-10, maybe a couple younger. Very talented. Great gymnasts. Could do the lifts. Could dance. Very impressive. Must have been almost 15 of them. That young Missoulian reporter, Sample, sat there typing and looking at his screen the whole halftime. Missed the event, which should have been his story line. He's need to step up.

 

[haZyskies]

walter wright is sooo shifty!! he had a crossover on a fast break during the first half that nearly had me falling out of my seat. It was hoopmixtape quality!! wright and oguine are fun to watch. future looking good for the Griz

 

[i do love the griz]

walter wright is sooo shifty!! he had a crossover on a fast break during the first half that nearly had me falling out of my seat. It was hoopmixtape quality!! wright and oguine are fun to watch. future looking good for the Griz

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ShaunRainey/status/685283767863267329[/tweet]

 

[BelierPeaux]

I loved the three guard set out there. Oguine, Wright, and Dunn. Created chaos multiple times on Defense. Oguine really looks comfortable out there shooting the ball.

 

[UMGriz75]

walter wright is sooo shifty!! he had a crossover on a fast break during the first half that nearly had me falling out of my seat. It was hoopmixtape quality!! wright and oguine are fun to watch. future looking good for the Griz

Mick described it as an "ankle breaker," good description.

 

[gotgame75]

The young cheerleaders who performed at halftime were awesome. Probably ages 8-10, maybe a couple younger. Very talented. Great gymnasts. Could do the lifts. Could dance. Very impressive. Must have been almost 15 of them. That young Missoulian reporter, Sample, sat there typing and looking at his screen the whole halftime. Missed the event, which should have been his story line. He's need to step up.

I really hope this is sarcasm that just isn't coming across right...

Nice to see Wright showing what he's capable of. His speed and athleticism are off the charts (which is why I prefer him over KDS. Not that Keron is any slouch either). There's a wow factor about that makes him super fun to watch. Will be interesting to see how he develops over the course of the season.

Could substitute Oguine's name for Wright in the paragraph above and it'd just as true. Been quite awhile since we've seen a true freshman make such an impact, especially in the scoring department. It's going to be scary to watch this kid mature. He's going to be a dominant force in the Big Sky, no doubt.

Once Dunn gets healthy, it's going to be insanely fun to watch him, Wright, and Oguine run the floor. Going to be very difficult for any team in the conference to compete with our guard talent. The addition of Rorie (an athletic freak himself) next year could make this team a nightmare in the Big Sky and a Mid Major force to be reckoned with. We are finally starting to see Decuire's offensive philosophy come to life. Will be a fun next 2-3 years. I hope Griz fans come out and show support for TD's brand of basketball. This is team has the potential to be the most entertaining squad we've seen in a long time.

 

[mtgrizrule]

The young cheerleaders who performed at halftime were awesome. Probably ages 8-10, maybe a couple younger. Very talented. Great gymnasts. Could do the lifts. Could dance. Very impressive. Must have been almost 15 of them. That young Missoulian reporter, Sample, sat there typing and looking at his screen the whole halftime. Missed the event, which should have been his story line. He's need to step up.

I really hope this is sarcasm that just isn't coming across right...

Nice to see Wright showing what he's capable of. His speed and athleticism are off the charts (which is why I prefer him over KDS. Not that Keron is any slouch either). There's a wow factor about that makes him super fun to watch. Will be interesting to see how he develops over the course of the season.

Could substitute Oguine's name for Wright in the paragraph above and it'd just as true. Been quite awhile since we've seen a true freshman make such an impact, especially in the scoring department. It's going to be scary to watch this kid mature. He's going to be a dominant force in the Big Sky, no doubt.
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Once Dunn gets healthy, it's going to be insanely fun to watc him, Wright, and Oguine run the floor. Going to be very difficult for any team in the conference to compete with our guard talent. The addition of Rorie (an athletic freak himself) next year could make this team a nightmare in the Big Sky and a Mid Major force to be reckoned with. We are finally starting to see Decuire's offensive philosophy come to life. Will be a fun next 2-3 years. I hope Griz fans come out and show support for TD's brand of basketball. This is team has the potential to be the most entertaining squad we've seen in a long time.

Very well said. The benefit of having DeCuire as head coach with this guard talent is that he is showing all of them to be true PG's. They are all great defenders, and scorers, but only Dunn has had experience being a true ball distributor. Even with him, that was on his AAU team. Last year, I feel he was just beginning to be a true Div 1 PG.

I will be at the game Saturday night. Thanks to my work schedule finally working for me to attend an game.

 

[grizd]

The young cheerleaders who performed at halftime were awesome. Probably ages 8-10, maybe a couple younger. Very talented. Great gymnasts. Could do the lifts. Could dance. Very impressive. Must have been almost 15 of them. That young Missoulian reporter, Sample, sat there typing and looking at his screen the whole halftime. Missed the event, which should have been his story line. He's need to step up.

Why would the Grizzlies beat writer make his story for the night about grade school cheerleaders? I'm sure they're great, every year they are, but I am more concerned with getting people excited about grizzly basketball again than youth cheerleaders. I think he's doing a good job with his articles and tweets personally so no need to step up his cheerleaders coverage in my book.

 

[Mavman]

The young cheerleaders who performed at halftime were awesome. Probably ages 8-10, maybe a couple younger. Very talented. Great gymnasts. Could do the lifts. Could dance. Very impressive. Must have been almost 15 of them. That young Missoulian reporter, Sample, sat there typing and looking at his screen the whole halftime. Missed the event, which should have been his story line. He's need to step up.

Why would the Grizzlies beat writer make his story for the night about grade school cheerleaders? I'm sure they're great, every year they are, but I am more concerned with getting people excited about grizzly basketball again than youth cheerleaders. I think he's doing a good job with his articles and tweets personally so no need to step up his cheerleaders coverage in my book.

I would assume maybe his great granddaughter was one of the cheerleaders hence why he brought it up??

On a more serious note did any of you have problems with eversport? I could not get video on the i-pad , my phone, or my x-box one. It would play then freeze and I got audio only.

 

[grizzlyjournal]

I loved the three guard set out there. Oguine, Wright, and Dunn. Created chaos multiple times on Defense. Oguine really looks comfortable out there shooting the ball.

THIS! is going to be a lineup to anticipate after Dunn gets his game conditioning back. I can't see any defense in the Big Sky capable of keeping up. Plus, the Griz won't be losing much on rebounding muscle with both Oguine and Dunn on the floor.

 

[UMGriz75]

On a more serious note did any of you have problems with eversport? I could not get video on the i-pad , my phone, or my x-box one. It would play then freeze and I got audio only.

I have a 60 MB download feed and even with that got some freezeups (3 or 4); aside from that though the feed was very high def. and generally good.

 

[UMGriz75]

DeCuire worked the starters pretty hard last night, 31-33 minutes for Wright, Oguine, Gfeller, Breunig and Lopez.

Lopez only made one basket of four attempts (a 3ptr), but his defensive skills are outstanding.

Pretty decent stats, 57% FG, 55% TFG, 67% FT.

The rest of the team pretty much sat on the bench. Moorehead (13 min) and Krslovic (12 min). Krslovic only got one basket of three attempts, but did get 3 steals. Dunn played 11 minutes, 2 pts, one steal. Riley Bradshaw played just one minute.

Krslovic has really been sidelined this season; Coach also not showing much faith in Boehning, DeJong or the rest.

 

[mtgrizrule]

DeCuire worked the starters pretty hard last night, 31-33 minutes for Wright, Oguine, Gfeller, Breunig and Lopez.

Lopez only made one basket of four attempts (a 3ptr), but his defensive skills are outstanding.

Pretty decent stats, 57% FG, 55% TFG, 67% FT.

The rest of the team pretty much sat on the bench. Moorehead (13 min) and Krslovic (12 min). Krslovic only got one basket of three attempts, but did get 3 steals. Dunn played 11 minutes, 2 pts, one steal. Riley Bradshaw played just one minute.

Krslovic has really been sidelined this season; Coach also not showing much faith in Boehning, DeJong or the rest.

The bench is paying the price for letting SUU back into the game. Travis tried to give the bench the last 8 minutes (rough guess). They absolutely played terrible, to the point where Travis brought back in the starters. The bench will have to see it's share of minutes on the UNC/UND road trip.

 

[PlayerRep]

The young cheerleaders who performed at halftime were awesome. Probably ages 8-10, maybe a couple younger. Very talented. Great gymnasts. Could do the lifts. Could dance. Very impressive. Must have been almost 15 of them. That young Missoulian reporter, Sample, sat there typing and looking at his screen the whole halftime. Missed the event, which should have been his story line. He's need to step up.

Why would the Grizzlies beat writer make his story for the night about grade school cheerleaders? I'm sure they're great, every year they are, but I am more concerned with getting people excited about grizzly basketball again than youth cheerleaders. I think he's doing a good job with his articles and tweets personally so no need to step up his cheerleaders coverage in my book.

I would assume maybe his great granddaughter was one of the cheerleaders hence why he brought it up??

On a more serious note did any of you have problems with eversport? I could not get video on the i-pad , my phone, or my x-box one. It would play then freeze and I got audio only.

Nope (no grandkids yet; I'm too young for grandkids), but I did talk to Kyle about this at the end of halftime, and joke about this being his story line, and did have lunch with him yesterday. Just an inside and apparently bad joke.

 

[PlayerRep]

I loved the three guard set out there. Oguine, Wright, and Dunn. Created chaos multiple times on Defense. Oguine really looks comfortable out there shooting the ball.

THIS! is going to be a lineup to anticipate after Dunn gets his game conditioning back. I can't see any defense in the Big Sky capable of keeping up. Plus, the Griz won't be losing much on rebounding muscle with both Oguine and Dunn on the floor.

This line up will work in some situations, but it's a very small lineup, especially when Kryslovich is not on the floor and Lopez is. And, I assume that GFeller isn't going to be on the floor in this lineup.

Another point is that GFeller is shooting great right now, but how long will that last or how consistent will it be? His terrific shooting is adding a huge boost to the team right now. If teams are going to focus on him at the perimeter, and double team Breunig, then the guards are going to be able to drive the lane and finish. Breunig is getting huge attention, and it's hurting his offensive production, but it's helping the penetration of the guards and the outside shooters.

 

[mtgrizrule]

How disappointing? The replay of this game is not the conference website or gogriz.com (which I pay for), WTF?

 

[grizzlyjournal]

How disappointing? The replay of this game is not the conference website or gogriz.com (which I pay for), WTF?

I provide details for access to the Big Sky games on another eGriz thread.

For starters, go to: http://www.eversport.tv/

click on "college sports," and then on "Big Sky Conference." The rest is pretty straightforward...

 

[mtgrizrule]

How disappointing? The replay of this game is not the conference website or gogriz.com (which I pay for), WTF?

I provide details for access to the Big Sky games on another eGriz thread.

For starters, go to: http://www.eversport.tv/

click on "college sports," and then on "Big Sky Conference." The rest is pretty straightforward...

I went to eversport. I clicked on archives. I selected Big Sky Conference, mens basketball, Montana, selected the proper time frame, etc. The only game I can watch is GRIZ/SUU

Never mind, I found it, finally. I had to move up to this week. Navigation is a challenge there. All is well now though.

 

[mtgrizrule]

I finally watched the game. Listening to the game broadcast on radio did not do the GRIZ justice, even though the radio broadcast was great. Seeing the ball handling, ball distribution, and creative shots by Wright and Oguine was so enjoyable, from a coaching and fan point of view. Those 2 are developing very nicely. Scary part is that when Dunn gets back to 100% basketball shape, he does those things well too. Wright's crossover dribble in the 1st half was absolutely sick. His quickness and ballhandling created so many opportunities for his teammates. Now I see why Travis was so high on this kid. His transition from a scoring PG to creator (for himself and teammates) is amazing. He had 9 assists. That stat line could have been 14 or 15 assists very easily too. A few missed 3's, Breunig and Krslovic each bobbled potential assists from him as well. I can see Wright picking up a few double doubles this year. I believe Oguinne had 4 or 5 assists as well.

Huge improvement in the confidence and leadership in Oguine and Wright compared to the 1st month of the season. Also huge improvements by Breunig in knowing where his teammates are when teams collapse on him. He struggled with that early this season. Gfeller not only has found his stroke, but also looks confident every time down the court. His passing and awareness has improved a lot as well. He is verging on becoming a complete player.

This offense can get better too. Lopez is a better shooter than his stats show so far. He is capable of being a near 40% 3 pt shooter, and looks pretty comfortable shooting it. Krslovic has been inconsistent offensively so far as well. He just does not look as comfortable on the court this year, even though he does move a lot better this year.

Speaking of Lopez and Krslovic, I paid a lot of attention to figure out more as to why Lopez is playing more and Travis going with a small line up more often. (1) As a whole, the quickness of our guards (Oguine, Wright, Dunn) are all over the place and pesky as hell. (2) Lopez consistently plays great position defense, and is comfortable defending inside and outside. His awareness when a post player does not protect the ball is amazing. He has strong and quick hands. Meanwhile Krslovic's knack is tipping passes. It looks to me their playing time will be determined by the skill sets of opposing post players. Krslovic is a better fit when rebounding and size is needed. Lopez is better against quicker teams and or when the GRIZ need versatility. Also Breunig has a lot more room to work in the paint with Lopez on the court. The spacing of the offense makes defenses work harder as a whole.

I also wonder what PSU fans think of Forte? I can see the guy has muscle and talent, but his attitude is terrible. He also does not protect the ball at all. Lopez and our guards were getting to the ball most every time he got the ball in the post. He has next to no court awareness regarding his teammates and defense he is facing. Physically, Forte should be dominating. It would do PSU a world of good if someone can get into his head the importance of knowing where your teammates are at. PSU had a lot more open opportunities than they got when the ball went to him. At times he was a damn black hole. I am not sure if he is a positive or negative for PSU? I feel he is the key to PSU's season this year. If he cannot or does not buy into the team, he should be riding the pine more to develop other players. Simply put, this guy is a make you or break you kind of player. For any PSU fans reading this, please believe me, my intent is not to upset any of you. The guy just seems like a very enigmatic type of player. I hope he meets his upside as the season progresses.

After watching the replay online, I am so excited to see the GRIZ/Sac St game tonight. GO GRIZ!!!