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Griz host Whitworth Tonight.

I felt like that was a poor showing, but that they started to gel and figure out their offense in the last 12-15 minutes. I know it's early, but man was there a lot of rust. Whitworth seemed outgunned (which they were) but just smarter and with a far better game plan, and that allowed them to hang around FAR too long.

Watching them in person it seemed like they needed to slow down on offense. They missed a lot of layups and put-backs, as well as a dunk or two. They definitely underestimated the opponent today, maybe not by a bunch but enough to give them confidence going into the second half and even giving up the lead a couple times in the second.

A 12-point win is never a bad thing regardless competition, but here's to hoping they can gel sooner than later, spread the ball around more and execute on offense.

Go GRIZ


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Certainly wasn't the best outing but I'm not too concerned. We always seem to struggle early with the whitworths of the world.
 
Nothing good can come from a game with Whitworth. We win by 30 (which we should), and you think, "Why did we schedule them?" We win a close game, and you wonder, what the hell is wrong? We lose, and people put real estate signs in the coach's yard.
 
My quick takeaways. Whitworth is very well coached. I give them props. They will make some noise in their division. We are better inside than last year, but still not that strong defensively inside or rebounding - yet anyway. We are a guard oriented team that is very talented but struggles a bit with shooting the rock. Dorsey will be missed. We have several guys that can jump out of the gym. Oguine hit the weight room this past year. We will struggle at times with growing pains as we have little rhythm between players right now with so many new faces, but a high ceiling over next two years. Those takes from just one game, and the first game too, so take with grain of salt.
 
AllWeatherFan said:
Nothing good can come from a game with Whitworth. We win by 30 (which we should), and you think, "Why did we schedule them?" We win a close game, and you wonder, what the hell is wrong? We lose, and people put real estate signs in the coach's yard.

I agree. Sort of. But the Griz learned a lot more last night than they would have in a blowout against a lower division team. In their fourth-stright year as Montana's opening opponent, they were well prepped and not unlike a Big Sky team who knows your offense inside & out, they threw several defensive looks at the Griz, and provided an "opportunity" to work out the kinks against full court pressure after Montana had expanded the lead to 19.

A first-half shot chart would tell the story best on this game. The Griz shot 30% (10-for-33) in the first half and converted only 6-for-21 on point blank shots inside the key on drives or post-ups. Ahmaad & Mike shot a combined 4-for-16 from inside the paint for the game & I don't think that will continue.

As early as last spring, coach DeCuire was pretty upfront regarding how hard it is to schedule a D1 opponent for a home opener in Missoula. It's my interpretation that they tried all summer to get a D1 opponent before scheduling Whitworth again on relatively short notice.
 
The guys on the court that put some separation in the game were all a part of last year's team. This tells me that things are a work in progress with new guys. It was great to see them out on the court again even if it was via the internet.
 
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