After spectacular neutral-site win, Gonzaga seems to defend residence court docket towards Montana
Whereas most Gonzaga college students have spent the previous a number of days at residence for his or her vacation break, the men’s basketball team stays in Spokane for one final sport earlier than getting a much-shorter day off.
The Zags (9-3) will host Montana (6-5) on Tuesday at 6 p.m. earlier than getting a seven-day break, which ends on Dec. 28 when Gonzaga welcomes Jap Oregon.
Ranked No. 11 within the nation, the Zags are driving a four-game successful streak after Saturday’s victory over Alabama in Birmingham.
Ahead Drew Timme was the Zags’ leading-scorer in all 4 video games, averaging 26.5 factors on 64.5% taking pictures from the sector in that span.
Montana additionally enters Tuesday’s matchup coming off a string of consecutive wins — three to be actual — and like Gonzaga, a lot of their offensive manufacturing comes from a giant man.
Junior ahead Josh Bannan sits atop the Grizzlies in eight statistical classes, together with his per-game averages in factors (15.4), rebounds (9.1) and assists (3.2). He is additionally taking pictures a team-high 55% from 3-point vary on 20 makes an attempt.
The 6-foot-10 Melbourne, Australia native scored 22 factors on 8-of-10 taking pictures from the sector in Montana’s most up-to-date win over Prairie View A&M on Saturday.
The Grizzlies’ starters registered all 81 factors towards the Panthers, with redshirt senior guard Aanen Moody being the crew’s second-highest scorer with 21 factors.
Montana shot 57.9% from the 3-point vary whereas holding Prairie View A&M to 30.0% from the identical distance.
“We really feel that if we’re bodily and aggressive, we are able to hold our opponents’ field-goal share low, and one of the best ways for us to shoot at a excessive share is to get the precise shot for the precise man in the precise locations,” said Montana head coach Travis DeCuire on the Gonzaga Nation podcast.
The final time the Zags and Grizzlies confronted off was Dec. 8, 2015, when Gonzaga narrowly averted an upset in a 61-58 win.
“We have been in a extremely great place to shut the sport, however we made some errors… and let that one get away,” DeCuire mentioned. “Hopefully we’ll discover ourselves shut down the stretch once more.”
Though Montana has an 0-9 all-time file towards Gonzaga, DeCuire doesn’t need his gamers to method the matchup in another way from every other sport.
“I attempt to deal with each sport the identical,” DeCuire mentioned. “You do not need your crew to be too excessive or too low. You don’t need to method a non-D-1 sport with much less power than you’ll a chance to play a top-20 program — nervousness comes into play typically once you try this.”
After enjoying Gonzaga, the Grizzlies will open convention play within the Large Sky towards Jap Washington on Dec. 29 and Idaho on Dec. 31. Each video games are at residence.
The Zags’ first West Coast Convention opponent is Pepperdine on Dec. 31 on the McCarthey Athletic Middle.
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