Tag: Montana Grizzlies

Oregon vs. Montana: Instant Reactions to Ducks’ easy win over the Grizzlies

Oregon locked down on the defensive end of the court and cruised past Montana 79-48 at Matthew Knight Arena.

It’s only two games into the season and the Oregon Ducks men’s basketball team has already shown it can win in multiple ways. In the season opener, the Ducks offense was rolling where they just outscored UC-Riverside 91-76.

But here in their most recent game against Montana, the Ducks locked down the Grizzlies on the defensive end to roll 79-48. The Grizzlies were held to just 34 percent shooting from the field and 3-of-19 from long range.

Thanks to the large margin of victory, head coach Dana Altman was able to see a number of new Ducks play and see how they fit in the system. True freshman Jamari Carter played for much of the second half where he contributed seven points including his first three-pointer.

Oregon vs. Montana Keys to the Game

  • After the game was delayed due to clock issues, the two teams finally got going. The game was knotted at seven apiece, the ducks went on a 15-0 run over the next eight minutes to blow the contest open.
  • The Ducks concentrated on the defensive end and shut down the Montana shooters. Money Williams, who opened his season with 27 points against Hawaii-Hilo, washed to just eight points for the game.
  • Nate Bittle showed his versatility in this game as he was difficult to guard on the inside and the outside. The big center hit on a trio of three-pointers.
  • Oregon was able to stay out of foul trouble and subbed in when the Ducks wanted to instead of being forced to take players out, giving Altman a chance to see a variety of lineups.

Oregon vs. Montana Players of the Game

  • Nate Bittle: 17 points, 9 rebounds
  • TJ Bamba: 14 points, 18 minutes
  • Jadrian Tracey: 12 points
  • Joe Pridgen (Montana): 14 points, 6-of-7 FG

Oregon vs. Montana Notable Stats

  • Oregon: 27-of-60 FG (45 percent), Montana 17-of-50 FG (34 percent)
  • Oregon: 9-of-25 (36 percent) on 3-pt FG, Montana: 3-of-19 (16 percent)
  • Turnovers: Oregon 8, Montana 14
  • Fast break points: Oregon 14, Montana 0

What’s Next for Oregon Ducks

  • Nov. 12 — vs. Portland Pilots
  • Nov.  17 — vs. Troy Trojans
  • Nov. 22 — at Oregon State Beavers
  • Nov. 26 — vs. Texas A&M Aggies (Las Vegas, Player’s Era Festival)
  • Nov. 27 — vs. San Diego State (Las Vegas, Player’s Era Festival)

Oregon doesn’t get much time off as the Ducks host Portland on Tuesday as they continue a tough non-conference schedule before entering Big Ten competition. We’ll learn a lot about Oregon when they go to Sin City and play Texas A&M and San Diego State.

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Oklahoma-Oklahoma State college football’s toughest ticket of Week 12

UCLA has come a long way from those photos we saw of their home games in September.

Rivalry Week ahead of Rivalry Week is probably the best way to describe Week 12 of this college football season.  It doesn’t feature the majority of the biggest rivalry games in college football but there are certainly more than just in-state bragging rights on the line in a few matchups.

Which college games are the hardest to get a ticket to this Saturday?  When we go over this list weekly it usually involves almost entirely blue blood programs.  Whether it’s because the SEC has a couple of their most prideful programs taking on much lesser out-of-conference competition or because of brutal weather across much of the midwest and northeast, the names on this list are quite a bit different this week.

Courtesy of the folks at Vivid Seats, here are the hottest college football tickets for Week 11.

(Notre Dame-Boston College checked in 12th overall)

Former Oregon Ducks walk-on QB commits to Montana Grizzlies

Former Oregon Ducks walk-on quarterback AJ Abbott announced on Twitter he is transferring and joining the Montana Grizzlies.

Exactly one month ago, Oregon Ducks walk-on quarterback AJ Abbott announced he was entering his name into the NCAA transfer portal, and on Thursday he took to Twitter to reveal he is headed to Montana to play for the Grizzlies. He will have four years of eligibility remaining.

“Thank you to all the coaches that have connected with me but I’m proud to announce I will be playing ball and continuing my studies at the University of Montana,” Abbott wrote.

Abbott was a star football player at Stratford High School in Houston, Texas before joining the Ducks ahead of the 2021 season.

However, he was unable to carve out any playing time whatsoever last season, and the competition at the quarterback position is as tough as ever with Bo Nix, Ty Thompson, and Jay Butterfield all competing for snaps in 2022.

Instead Abbott will head to the Big Sky Conference, where he’ll compete to play right away in one of the strongest FCS conferences in the country.

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Badger moments: Jordan Taylor dominates Montana in 2012

Jordan Taylor thrives

The 2012 Wisconsin Badgers did what the 2011 team also did: They made the Sweet 16. This marked the first time ever that Wisconsin reached the Sweet 16 in consecutive NCAA Tournaments, a definite forward movement for Bo Ryan’s program.

In order for Wisconsin to reach the Sweet 16 in 2012, it first had to get through the opening round against the Montana Grizzlies. This was an East Region game under the (then-) new pod system which had various teams playing in geographically proximate areas on the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Teams would then be funneled to the regionals in their proper geographic locations.

Therefore, even though this was an “East” Region game, it was played in Albuquerque at The Pit. Other teams from the Midwestern United States were higher up on the 1-68 seed list, which meant that Wisconsin had to be relegated to Albuquerque as the No. 4 seed. Vanderbilt was the No. 5 seed, so the Badgers — while not having home-court advantage — did not get placed in a site where the crowd would be heavily against them, either.

The complexity attached to this assignment, though, is that the Badgers played a first-round opponent which was, in fact, closer to the tournament site than UW. Montana had a shorter commute to New Mexico than Wisconsin. Given that Montana had won 14 straight games entering this contest, UW fans had reason to think this game could get tricky.

Jordan Taylor said, “Nope. I got this.”

Taylor was brilliant against Montana. Not only did he score 17 points, grab eight boards, and hand out six assists; as great as all those numbers were, he committed zero turnovers, perhaps his most eye-popping statistic.

Ryan Evans had 18 points and eight rebounds. Josh Gasser chipped in 12 points, and Rob Wilson added 10, but Taylor’s masterful control of the game at both ends of the floor was the main engine behind Wisconsin’s easy win. The Badgers led by 10 at the half and outscored Montana by 14 in the second half to cruise to the finish line.