After dropping a 78-58 decision to No. 10 Duke on Sunday in front of 9,314 screaming fans at Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Griz travel to Orem to face Utah Valley State on Tuesday in what promises to be a more intimate gathering.
“It's a challenge because we're going from Cameron Indoor to Utah Valley, which was a community college just five or six years ago, and they won't have many folks in there,” said Montana assistant coach Nate DuChesne, who prepared the scouting report on the Wolverines. “It's about us and about how we prepare. Hopefully, we'll take the right approach. It's a Division I basketball game, and we need to be mature enough to take on that challenge.”
The Wolverines are 3-0 after a 71-41 win over Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday in Orem, their best start since moving up to Division I.
Utah Valley boasts one of the top scoring threats in the West in guard Ryan Toolson. The 6-foot-4 senior averages 26 points a game and dropped 41 on Montana-Western the night after the Bulldogs fell to the Griz. Toolson had 23 points in a 68-62 win over Northern Arizona on Nov. 14.
“He's a very, very good player,” DuChesne said. “He's 6-4, he can shoot the deep three and he can take it off the bounce and pull up.”
On top of that, Toolson is a record-setting free-throw shooter, hitting on better than 90 percent of his attempts for his career.
“He's the best free-throw shooter in history, so we don't want to put him at the line,” DuChesne said.
The Griz will probably throw some different defenders at Toolson, including Ryan Staudacher and Jack McGillis.
Toolson gets help from point guard Josh Olsen, a senior who led the team in scoring against Louisiana-Lafayette.
“(Coach) Dick Hunsaker does a great job with them, using screens to get shots for their shooters,” DuChesne said. “They will shoot it off the break, but their strength is their perimeter players.”
The Griz (2-2), on the other hand, will look inside to Jordan Hasquet and Brian Qvale.
“Offensively, we want to go inside first and against this team, we'll really have to focus on that,” DuChesne said.
And the McKay Center won't be an easy place to play, regardless of the fact that there will be about 6,000 fewer fans rooting against the Griz than there were Sunday.
“It's a very difficult play to play,” DuChesne said. “They have a great home winning percentage. We just have to go in there and stay together as a group and play hard, but we need to have a defensive focus because they're a very good offensive team.”
Montana Griz at Utah Valley State
Tuesday, 7 p.m. MST
McKay Events Center (8,500)
Radio: KXGZ 101.5 FM. TV: None.
Records: Montana is 2-2. Utah Valley State, an Independent, is 3-0.
Last outing: Montana lost to Duke 78-58 on Sunday in Durham, N.C. Utah Valley State beat Louisiana-Lafayette 71-41 on Saturday.
Series: Tied 1-1.
Up next: UM hosts Santa Clara on Sunday at 2:05 p.m.
Probable starters
Montana
2-Jordan Hasquet, 6-9 sr. 14.0 ppg
44-Jack McGillis, 6-6 jr. 7.0 ppg
41-Brian Qvale, 6-11 so. 8.8 ppg
3-Ryan Staudacher, 6-4 jr. 12.3 ppg
5-Ceylon Elgin-Taylor, 6-2 jr. 3.5 ppg
Utah Valley State
14-Jordan Swarbrick, 6-6 jr. 8.0 ppg
33-Solomon Jensen, 6-8 fr. 6.7 ppg
50-Brett Ravenberg, 6-8 sr. 4.0 ppg
10-Ryan Toolson, 6-4 sr. 26.0 ppg
11-Josh Olsen, 6-1 sr. 11.0 ppg
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