Montana NCAA-Bound For First Time Since 2013, Excited To Face U-M
Montana players expected be facing Gonzaga in a 4-vs.-13 game. Instead the Grizzlies drew Michigan for their first NCAA Tournament appearance under fourth-year head coach Travis DeCuire.
Montana is 26-7 overall and went 16-2 in Big Sky Conference play, capturing the regular season championship. They earned the automatic berth by winning the Big Sky Tournament in Reno, Nevada, but struggled along the way.
The Grizzlies were down 11 at half to Northern Colorado in the semifinals before rallying for a two-point win in overtime, but handled Eastern Washington in the final (full game below).
“I feel great, man,” junior guard Mike Oguine told the Missoulian. “It's really hard to explain the feeling. It's unbelievable. Everyone dreams of doing this ever since they've been doing basketball. So to be here, it's a great feeling, but we still know we have work to be done. We don't want to be a team that just showed up and wasn't ready to play. We want to make sure we're prepared to give our best against Michigan.”
Players reportedly started researching the Wolverines immediately after the announcement.
“There was a lot of excitement,” senior forward Fabijan Krslovic said. "I think at the time we kind of knew it was going to be us. It was the last bracket to be revealed, and we thought we were going to be a 13 or 14 seed so we were really anticipating a matchup against Gonzaga in Boise, but when that didn't happen, we saw Michigan flash up as the three seed, and we were pretty sure we were going to be 14.”
It’ll be the Grizzlies' 11th NCAA tournament appearance in program history. They went 2-11 in their first 10 appearances and made the Sweet 16 under Jud Heathcote in what was then a 32-team tournament, losing to John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins.
Montana has lost four consecutive tournament games. They made the Sweet 16 under Jud Heathcote in the 1970s before Heathcote took over at Michigan State.
“This is a rare opportunity,” DeCuire said. "If you can afford to make the trip and you have the time to take off, the NCAA tournament is something special. And we’re not the only team that you’ll be there to watch."
Montana and Michigan face off at 9:50 p.m. Thursday night. The Grizzlies are led by Oregon transfer and junior Ahmaad Rorie, a 6-1 standout averaging 17.2 points per game, while Oguine averages 15.8.
The two teams had one common opponent this year — Penn State. Michigan handled the Nittany Lions on the road, while Montana lost 70-57 in Happy Valley in November.
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