The Montana men's basketball coach hopes his players get a taste of what he enjoyed as a player when the Griz open the regular season Friday night against Colorado State.
The game is being promoted as “Turn back the clock” night. The student section will move back to the east bleachers for the first time since Dahlberg Arena was renovated in 1998-99. That's where the students sat when they were known as “The Zoo.”
Tinkle played for the Griz from 1985-89, the tail end of The Zoo era. Attendance peaked in the late '70s and early '80s, but still averaged about 6,500 for Tinkle's career. He has some fond memories of the raucous fans.
During his redshirt season, Nevada-Reno came to Missoula for its conference game along with guard Curtis High, who had apparently been in a recent altercation.
“Just about the whole student section had bandages on their head and boxing gloves,” Tinkle said. “To me, that's when it first sunk in that wow, this is something.”
Late in Tinkle's career, Weber State brought star player Rico Washington to Dahlberg Arena.
“He was a pretty darn good player,” Tinkle said. “He and one of our forwards, Ossie Young, were kind of getting into it. I went to separate them and we were right in front of The Zoo. (Washington) went to say something and I told him, ‘Listen, you've got to stop right now or I'm going to throw you into the second row. Those are two of my football buddies and I don't think you'll make it out of there alive.'
“He turned and looked and smiled and said, ‘You're right.' ”
That kind of atmosphere could do nothing but help the Griz against CSU. The Rams, who are picked to finish last in the Mountain West Conference, nevertheless have some good young players along with a pair of 7-footers to patrol the paint.
Senior 7-footer Stuart Creason averaged 22 points in the Rams' two exhibition wins. Ronny Aguilar, a sophomore 7-footer, backs him up.
“We can't give those guys anything easy,” Tinkle said, “and hope that over 40 minutes we can wear on them a little bit.”
Freshman Andre McFarland, a 6-6 forward, averaged 17 points in the exhibitions and freshman guard Josh Simmons averaged 18.5.
“McFarland's a nice player, we recruited him out of high school,” Tinkle said. “He's very athletic, strong; has a great body. We know both he and Simmons will be on the attack. They really like to try to get to the rim and draw contact.”
The Rams shot 84 free throws in their exhibitions.
“They really put you on your heels and attack,” Tinkle said.
Coming off of two impressive exhibition wins, Tinkle said he's still a little apprehensive entering the season opener.
“There is a little bit of that anxiety,” Tinkle said. “We certainly feel comfortable at a few spots, but we have some young guys, too.”
That's where a raucous crowd could help.
“I know it would be thrilling for them,” Tinkle said of his players. “Matt Martin pulled me aside when he was a freshman and said, ‘Coach, I've heard stories of how this was when you played. A goal of mine is to have this place filled by the time I leave.' I think it would really mean a lot to have that atmosphere we see at so many other colleges with the students on the sideline. I know it would set the tone.”
NOTES: Montana center Andrew Strait enters his senior season with 1,219 career points, 11th on the all-time list. He needs just five points to catch No. 10 Daren Engellant (1988-92) and 16 to catch No. 9 Lou Rocheleau (1945-49).
Sports editor Bob Meseroll can be reached at 523-5265 or at sportsdesk@missoulian.com.
Colorado State at Montana Griz
Friday, 7:05 p.m., Dahlberg Arena (7,500)
Tickets: $7 for general admission; $11-22 for reserved; children under 12 free in general admission.
Radio: KGVO 1290 AM. TV: None.
Records: It is the season opener for both teams.
Last outing: CSU beat Chadron State 107-76 last Saturday in an exhibition. Montana downed Whitman College 75-47 Sunday in an exhibition.
Last year: CSU was 17-13 overall, 6-10 in the Mountain West Conference. Montana was 17-15 overall, 10-6 in the Big Sky Conference.
Series: CSU leads 16-13.
Last meeting: Montana won 50-47 in Missoula in the 1989-90 season.
Up next: Montana travels to Spokane to face Gonzaga on Sunday at 2 p.m. MST.
Probable starters
Colorado State
13-Andre McFarland, 6-6, fr.
30-Stuart Creason, 7-0, sr.
4-Marcus Walker, 6-0, jr.
21-Josh Simmons, 6-4, fr.
43-Willis Gardner, 6-1, jr.
Montana
2-Jordan Hasquet, 6-9, jr.
3-Ryan Staudacher, 6-4, so.
34-Andrew Strait, 6-8, sr.
22-Matt Martin, 6-0, sr.
1-Cam Rundles, 6-1, so.
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