As if playing in it wasn't bad enough, Montana men's basketball coach Wayne Tinkle gathered his troops in his office Saturday to review Friday night's 30-point, season-opening loss at Colorado State.
“I made them watch the first 25 minutes of the game,” Tinkle said of the 85-55 loss to the Rams. “It was a real disappointment, the first game of the season and wanting to set the tone. We were concerned with the amount of new guys we had, playing our first road game in a hostile environment.”
“We weren't focused and the sad thing was that from the guys we do have back who have some experience, we didn't get great performances,” Tinkle said. “It's hard when you have a lot of new guys to expect them to pick up the slack. The fog went from one guy to the next.”
The Griz will have an opportunity to shake off the fog when they host NAIA Montana-Western on Monday at 7:05 p.m. in Dahlberg Arena.
The Bulldogs are 4-2 after downing MidAmerica Nazarene 95-79 on Saturday in a tournament in Helena.
“I think they really like to play uptempo and force the pace,” Tinkle said of Western. “They have a lot of good shooters. If we didn't learn our lesson in transition defense (against CSU), we'll have to learn it again Monday. We need to have some guys step up and set the tone for us.”
Senior guard Chad Myers of Troy leads Western in scoring at about 17 points a game. Forwards Brandon Lawson and Garrett Fink aren't far behind.
“We just have to get back to establishing that we are going to be the aggressor on both ends of the floor, Tinkle said. “I thought we had done that. My concern, and maybe it was a self-fulfilling prophecy, is that now that it counts for real, we'll see if everyone continues to do that, and we didn't. There's no reason for that.”
Sophomore center Brian Qvale paced the Griz with 15 points and 10 rebounds against the Rams. Junior guard Ryan Staudacher added 14 points. But starting forwards Jordan Hasquet and Jack McGillis combined for just 12 points and five rebounds while shooting 5-for-18 from the floor.
“We don't know much about ourselves yet,” Tinkle said. “One thing we can control and have to control is how hard and smart we play. We have to establish that on Monday.”
Sports editor Bob Meseroll can be reached at 523-5265 or at sportsdesk@missoulian.com.
Montana-Western at Montana Griz
Monday, 7:05 p.m., Dahlberg Arena (7,320)
Tickets: All seats are $6, except for courtside, which are $20.
Radio: KXGZ 101.5 FM. TV: None.
Web: montanagrizzlies.com
Records: NAIA Montana-Western of the Frontier Conference is 4-2. Montana is 0-1.
Last outing: Western downed MidAmerica Nazarene 95-79 on Saturday in Helena. Montana fell 85-55 to Colorado State on Friday in Fort Collins.
Series: Montana leads 5-3.
Last meeting: Montana won 110-71 in 2005.
Up next: Montana hosts Mississippi Valley State on Thursday at 7:05 p.m.
Probable starters
Montana-Western
21-Brandon Lawson, 6-2, jr. 12.8 ppg
32-Garrett Fink, 6-5, jr. 10.3 ppg
40-JaRon Brown, 6-6, jr. 5.8 ppg
5-Chad Myers, 6-0, sr. 17.3 ppg
11-Eric Lipkin, 6-2, jr. 8.8 ppg
Montana
2-Jordan Hasquet, 6-9, sr. 7.0 ppg
44-Jack McGillis, 6-6, jr. 5.0 ppg
41-Brian Qvale, 6-11, so. 15.0 ppg
3-Ryan Staudacher, 6-4, jr. 14.0 ppg
5-Ceylon Elgin-Taylor, 6-2, sr. 0.0 ppg
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