THE GAME: The University of Montana Grizzlies (7-4/3-0 BSC) continue their Big Sky Conference slate, hosting the Portland State Vikings (3-7/1-2) on Saturday, Jan. 5, with tip-off at 7:00 p.m. in UM’s Dahlberg Arena (7,321).
RADIO/STREAMING/TV: The “Voice of the Griz” Mick Holien, who has been selected the “Montana Broadcaster of the Year” 12 times in his career, calls the play-by-play on Missoula’s KGVO Radio (1290 AM and 101.5 FM) for his 20th season in a row. Color radio commentary is provided by Greg Sundberg. Audio Streaming is available at UM’s official site at www.gogriz.com, while video streaming is on BigSkyTV.com. The game will not be on TV. (The Griz Radio Network is listed on add 4 of the weekly release).
GRIZZLIES’ LAST GAME: At Montana 81, EWU Eagles 66: Guard Jordan Gregory and forward Spencer Coleman combined for 32 points to lead the Griz as they remained unbeaten (3-0) in early league play. Jordan scored a career-high 17 points, while Coleman tallied a career-best 15. Senior forward Mathias Ward was also in double figures with 12 points, but he saw limited playing time (16 minutes) due to foul trouble.
Both UM and EWU went to the line a lot, and they were both very efficient from there, as the Griz made 28-of-34 (82.4%) charity shots, and the Eagles made 20-of-24 (83.3%). The Griz out-rebounded the Eagles 31-28, including 21-11 in the second half. Montana had just 5 turnovers (EWU had 11) in the game.
GRIZ RANKED IN 3-POINT% & FT%: In the most recent NCAA rankings (Jan. 4), the Grizzlies are ranked 7th in the nation in free throw percentage at 76.7%) while Lehigh is the leader at 80.5%. Montana is ranked 10th in the country in 3-point field goal percentage at 41.0%. The leader is also Lehigh in that category at 44.8%.
SERIES/LAST YEAR: The Griz lead the series 29-20 and Montana is 19-5 in Missoula. Last year: at UM 75, PSU 64 and UM 69 at PSU 67. (Last season’s UM-PSU box scores are included in this weekly release).
CHERRY 4TH ON BIG SKY CAREER STEALS LIST: Cherry now has 231 career steals, which ranks him fourth in Big Sky history. He needs 53 more to pass all-time leader DaShawn Freeman of Sac State, who had 283 steals from 2002-06. (See page 3 for Cherry’s career stats rankings).
See Game Notes for rosters, cumulative stats and more.
See the 2012-13 Media Guide.
Montana Sports Information — GoGriz.com