MBB: Aggies (2-0) @ Montana (1-1) 6 pm Sunday 11/12

BlueGoldAg

The Aggies are coming off their remarkable, comeback win over Pepperdine 79-78 and now travel to Missoula for a game with the Griz. Montana is 1-1 for the season including a blowout win over Northwest Indian College before losing to Oregon in a hard fought battle 75-61. The Griz gave the Ducks all the could handle for 30 minutes before Oregon's superior size took over the game.

So far this season Montana is led in scoring by 6'3 G Annen Moody with 21 ppg and 6'4 Fr G Money Williams at 16 ppg. They also have plenty of size and strength at the PF positions with 6 players at 6'8 and taller.

TY Johnson came to life in the second half of the Aggies win over Pepperdine and, along with Eli Pepper, the guard duo combined for 52 points. We need Kane Milling to begin scoring more consistently so teams don't just focus on locking down on TY and Eli. Montana will have a definite size and strength advantage so we'll need to be boxing out well to prevent the Griz from getting a lot of second chances. This game will be a tough challenge for the Aggies and we'll need to show improvement over our first two wins in order to get win #3.

Go Ags!

BlueGoldAg

Slow start for the Aggies as they trail 10-4 in the first 4 minutes with 4 TO's already. 8 of Montana's points have been layups.

BlueGoldAg

18-16 Montana with 10:28 to go in the first half. Pepper has 14 of our 16 points. Montana's size is really hurting us plus no offensive help at all for Pepper. He can't beat the Griz single handed...

BlueGoldAg

The Aggies are killing themselves with TO's....9 already with 6 minutes to go in the half...

abridge

32-20 with 6:02 - terrible so far with 16 Griz points off turnovers.

agalum

No Bora again. We’re really limited on our big guys.

BlueGoldAg

42-32 Griz at the half.

Just like the first 2 games, the Ags have dug themselves a big hole with a poorly played first half. 11 TO's already. TY with 0 points and 3 TO's.

Toke69

The Grizzlies big man, Dischon Thomas is 6 for 7 and 15 points. Montana is hitting 54.5% of their shots. They've gotten a lot of layups and our turnovers aren't helping. On the other hand, their height advantage is not a factor so far as we're outrebounding them 17-15. I hope they cool off in the second half, but they're not going to go all Pepperdine for us.

BlueGoldAg

↪agalum

No Jac Mani either. Montana was simply shooting over the top of our small line up early in the game. It's going to be very tough for us when we have 6'4 guarding 6'9. Small ball can only take us so far...

Toke69

Looks like things are turning around! I think Coach Les has the Ags in a matchup zone and it's giving the Grizzlies problems.

Toke69

I didn't catch the name of the broadcaster, but he has to be one of the more biased ones I've ever heard. His enthusiasm for good plays by Montana is more than annoying. I also wonder about his knowledge of the game when he keeps suggesting that the Ags foul when down by double digits.

Toke69

In addition to 19 turnovers and 7 for 11 shooting from the foul line, the Ags didn't give Pepper any help. Only DeBruhl had double figures with 11 and he was the only other Aggie to hit a 3.

BlueGoldAg

Some thoughts:

1) We will not win many games turning the ball over like we have so far this year. We are averaging 18 TO's per game. Montana scored 24 points off our TO's.
2) We will not win many games when Pepper is our only consistent scoring threat.
3) We've had miserable first halves in all three games so far this year. TY took over against Pepperdine and pulled us back into the game. He never got untracked tonight: 8 points and 4 TO's.
4) We need Borra and Mani healthy and able to play. We can't win on small ball alone against teams who have talented size.
5) TY is an emotional player. When the ball is dropping for him, he can get on a burner but, when it isn't, he's prone to making mistakes and forcing up difficult shots.

A couple of good takeaways:

1) As poorly as we played in the first half, we came out and made a couple of good runs that prevented the game from being a blowout.
2) Leo DeBruhl played well and it looks like he is playing with more confidence.
3) Pepper was his reliable, talented self as usual.

movielover

↪BlueGoldAg

Good observations. We shot 30% from 3, they shot 50%. Sam Manu added 4 rebounds.

abridge

The mysterious delay of the 2nd half start shifted us to listening to the Aggie broadcast for the 2nd half. Sometimes the ESPN+ feed does . . . odd things?

Turnovers: many were really unforced. Yes, the defense was reasonable, but the Ags just made far too many bad passes and poor ball handling. That just has to improve. We're suppose to make a living shooting 3's to open up the lane but that didn't happen during the first half.

I'll be interested to see how Les coaches the team to improve.

BlueGoldAg

↪abridge

We know that Les builds guard oriented teams and we've certainly had some great guards here over the years. Pepper and Johnson are a dynamic duo for sure but, if either of them are off their game or in foul trouble, we struggle to score.

We have to have very good 3 point shooting to offset the advantage that other teams with talented size have against us. Montana got 38 points from their big men last night: 6'9 Dischon Thomas with 23 and 6'8 Laolu Oke with 15 but we only shot 30% from 3.

Toke69

I know I heard that this game was part of the Mike Montgomery Tournament and we're playing North Dakota State tomorrow as part of it, but I think I heard that Montana then plays NDSU on Thursday. I never heard of a three team tournament before, so I checked and sure enough, the MM "Classic" (I love how they call almost every team a classic; hyperbole is not dead) has only three times with games spread out over 5 days. I guess that helps the economy up there in Missoula.

MBB: Aggies (2-0) @ Montana (1-1) 6 pm Sunday 11/12

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