The team had been cold from downtown all night, but with less than a minute to halftime, Jadrian Tracey and Nate Bittle fired up the crowd at Matthew Knight Arena with back-to-back 3-pointers. The Oregon Ducks (2-0) went into the break fired up after a dominating performance over the Montana Grizzlies (1-1) with a 24-point lead.
Both teams came into the game with Monday night wins. The Ducks beat the UC Riverside Highlanders 91-76 at home, while the Grizzlies defeated the Hawaii Hilo Vulcans 92-61 in Missoula, Montana. The Grizzlies also played a home exhibition game versus the Division II Saint Martin’s Saints 82-54 on Oct. 22.
After two clock-related disruptions, the Grizzlies drew first blood through a Money Williams 3-pointer. The first few minutes were even but the Ducks went on a 10-0 run to solidify a double-digit lead. Montana went cold and didn't score another point for almost nine minutes before Williams made two free throws.
"We got a lot of pieces, we have to figure out how they fit together, but it's good to have options," Oregon head coach Dana Altman said.
Both teams shot poorly from beyond the arc and the game became a physical battle in the paint, with the Ducks forcing the Grizzlies to use three of their timeouts before halftime. Montana had a particularly rough time, hovering around 25 percent in shooting from the field. Oregon's superior offense put the team in control as the teams headed to the locker room.
"I thought our activity was really good in the first half, we had 19 deflections and 14 points off turnovers," Altman said.
Just like in the first half, the Grizzlies scored first in the second period, but the Ducks quickly re-asserted their dominance. Oregon improved from beyond the arc and continued to smother Montana's paint attack, with the Grizzlies struggling to find any response to the strong inside presence of the Ducks. Oregon slowed down offensively at the end and the last five minutes were pedestrian as both teams had long possessions, using all 30 seconds of the shot clock. Almost all of the points by either team at the end were from free throws, but freshman guard Jamari Phillips gave the home crowd one last roar with a 3-pointer that was the first basket of his collegiate career and setting the final score at 79-48.
"I'm a little disappointed in our second half defensively," Altman said.
Senior center Nate Bittle led both teams in scoring and had high efficiency, with 17 points and 50 percent field goal shooting. He was also the Oregon player who spent the most time on the court with almost 26 minutes of playing time.
Speaking about Bittle, Altman said, "He is good and solid, almost another double-double. He got nine rebounds, so a lot of positives there no doubt."
Other standouts are TJ Bamba and Tracey, the only other Ducks to score double digits. The team leader for Montana in all categories was graduate guard Joe Pridgen. He had 14 points, 29 minutes on the floor and shot 6-for-7 from the field. No other Grizzly scored more than eight points.
Speaking after the game, Altman was pleased but stressed that the season just started and that the Ducks still have to make improvements for the schedule up ahead.
"A lot of things to learn about being a good basketball team and making teams work, but again it's Nov. 8 and we have a lot of good guys so we just have a lot of work to do," he said.
Up next for the Grizzlies is a return to Missoula to face the Northwest Indian College on Sunday. The next game of the Ducks is a visit by the Portland Pilots on Tuesday at 8 p.m.