2020–21 Montana Grizzlies basketball team

2020–21 Montana Grizzlies basketball
2020–21 Montana Grizzlies basketball
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Record	15–13 (7–9 Big Sky)
Head coach	Travis DeCuire (7th season);
Associate head coach	Chris Cobb
Assistant coaches	Jay Flores; Zach Payne;
Home arena	Dahlberg Arena
	Seasons ← 2019–20 2021–22 →

The 2020–21 Montana Grizzlies men's basketball team represented the University of Montana in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Grizzlies, led by seventh-year head coach Travis DeCuire, played their home games at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula, Montana as members of the Big Sky Conference. In a season limited due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Grizzlies finished the season 15–3, 7–9 in Big Sky play to finish in sixth place. They defeated Idaho and Weber State in the Big Sky tournament before losing to Eastern Washington in the semifinals.

2020–21 Big Sky men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Southern Utah	12	–	2	.857	20	–	4	.833
Weber State	12	–	3	.800	17	–	6	.739
Eastern Washington†	12	–	3	.800	16	–	8	.667
Montana State	8	–	6	.571	13	–	10	.565
Idaho State	8	–	6	.571	13	–	11	.542
Montana	7	–	9	.438	15	–	13	.536
Northern Colorado	6	–	8	.429	11	–	11	.500
Portland State	6	–	8	.429	9	–	13	.409
Sacramento State	5	–	9	.357	8	–	12	.400
Northern Arizona	4	–	10	.286	6	–	16	.273
Idaho	1	–	17	.056	1	–	21	.045

† Conference tournament winner

Previous season

The Grizzlies finished the 2019–20 season 18–13, 14–6 in Big Sky play to finish in third place. They were scheduled to play Idaho State in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky tournament, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, all postseason tournaments were canceled, including the remainder of the Big Sky tournament.^[1]

Offseason

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
Timmy Falls	1	G	6'2"	170	Junior	Dublin, California	Left team
Kendal Manuel	2	G	6'4"	190	RS Senior	Billings, Montana	Graduated
Sayeed Pridgett	4	G	6'5"	201	Senior	Oakland, California	Graduated
Naseem Gaskin	5	G	6'5"	185	RS Freshman	Oakland, California	Left team
Jett Briceno	13	G	6'4"	180	Freshman	Kent, Washington	Transferred to Bellevue College
Yagizhan Selcuk	22	F	6'8"	233	RS Sophomore	Istanbul, Turkey	Transferred to Missouri Southern
Peter Jones	32	F	6'8"	210	RS Sophomore	Seattle, Washington	Walk on; didn't return
Jared Samuelson	33	F	6'7"	215	RS Senior	Billings, Montana	Graduated

Incoming transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Cameron Parker	11	G	6'2"	170	Junior	Beaverton, Oregon	Transferred from Sacred Heart. Received an eligibility waiver from the NCAA to play immediately.

2020 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for 2020 recruits
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Brandon Whitney PG	Mission Hills, CA	Bishop Alemany High School	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	165 lb (75 kg)
Brandon Whitney PG	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2020 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved January 9, 2019.

Roster

2020–21 Montana Grizzlies men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	0	Kyle Owens	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	So	Crespi Carmelite High School	Calabasas, California
F	1	Michael Steadman	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	RS Sr	San Jose State	Union City, California
F	2	Darius Henderson	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Jr	UMass Lowell	Pasadena, California
G	3	Josh Vazquez	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	So	Bishop Montgomery High School	Torrance, California
G	5	Robby Beasley III	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Fr	Dublin High School	San Ramon, California
G	10	Eddy Egun	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	204 lb (93 kg)	RS So	El Camino Real High School	Woodland Hills, California
G	11	Cameron Parker	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Jr	Sacred Heart	Beaverton, Oregon
G	12	Brandon Whitney	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	178 lb (81 kg)	Fr	Bishop Alemany High School	Mission Hills, California
F	13	Josh Bannan	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Fr	UC Lake Ginninderra	Melbourne, Australia
F	23	Mack Anderson	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	208 lb (94 kg)	Jr	Bozeman High School	Bozeman, Montana
G	24	Freddy Brown III	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	178 lb (81 kg)	RS So	Nathan Hale High School	Seattle, Washington
F	35	Derrick Carter-Hollinger	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	212 lb (96 kg)	So	Foothills Christian High School	San Diego, California

Head coach

Travis DeCuire (Montana)

Assistant coach(es)

Chris Cobb (Menlo)
Jay Flores (Chico State)
Zach Payne (Whitworth)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: January 29, 2021

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
November 28, 2020* 7:00 pm, P12N		at USC	L 62–76	0–1	Galen Center Los Angeles, CA
December 3, 2020 7:00 pm, Pluto TV		at Southern Utah	L 63–64	0–2 (0–1)	America First Event Center Cedar City, UT
December 5, 2020 12:00 pm, Pluto TV		at Southern Utah	L 74–75	0–3 (0–2)	America First Event Center Cedar City, UT
December 8, 2020* 5:00 pm, SECN		at Georgia	L 50–63	0–4	Stegeman Coliseum (1,638) Athens, GA
December 12, 2020* 2:00 pm, Pluto TV		Yellowstone Christian College	W 102–42	1–4	Dahlberg Arena Missoula, MT
December 16, 2020* 9:00 pm, P12N		at Washington	W 66–58	2–4	Alaska Airlines Arena Seattle, WA
December 18, 2020* 4:00 pm, Pluto TV		Dickinson State	W 78–51	3–4	Dahlberg Arena Missoula, MT
December 22, 2020* 5:00 pm, P12N		at Arizona	L 64–70	3–5	McKale Center Tucson, AZ
January 2, 2021 5:00 pm, SWX MT		Northern Colorado	L 62–64	3–6 (0–3)	Dahlberg Arena Missoula, MT
January 4, 2021 9:00 am, SWX MT		Northern Colorado	W 56–54	4–6 (1–3)	Dahlberg Arena Missoula, MT
January 9, 2021* 2:00 pm, Pluto TV		Whitworth	W 84–67	5–6	Dahlberg Arena Missoula, MT
January 14, 2021 5:00 pm, SWX MT		Northern Arizona	W 67–56	6–6 (2–3)	Dahlberg Arena Missoula, MT
January 16, 2021 11:00 am, Pluto TV		Northern Arizona	L 58–62	6–7 (2–4)	Dahlberg Arena Missoula, MT
January 21, 2021 6:00 pm, Pluto TV		at Sacramento State	W 78–66	7–7 (3–4)	Hornets Nest Sacramento, CA
January 23, 2021 12:00 pm, Pluto TV		at Sacramento State	L 83–89 ^2OT	7–8 (3–5)	Hornets Nest Sacramento, CA
January 28, 2021 7:00 pm, SWX MT		Montana State	Canceled		Dahlberg Arena Missoula, MT
January 30, 2021 2:00 pm, SWX MT		at Montana State	Canceled		Brick Breeden Fieldhouse Bozeman, MT
February 4, 2021 8:00 pm, Pluto TV		at Portland State	W 70–64	8–8 (4–5)	Viking Pavilion Portland, OR
February 6, 2021 1:00 pm, Pluto TV		at Portland State	L 56–61	8–9 (4–6)	Viking Pavilion Portland, OR
February 11, 2021 5:00 pm, Pluto TV		Weber State	W 80-67	9-9 (5-6)	Dahlberg Arena Missoula, MT
February 13, 2021 12:00 pm, SWX MT		Weber State	L 82–91	9–10 (5–7)	Dahlberg Arena Missoula, MT
February 18, 2021 7:00 pm, SWX MT		at Eastern Washington	L 76–90	9–11 (5–8)	Reese Court Cheney, WA
February 20, 2021 12:00 pm, SWX MT		Eastern Washington	L 76–90	9–12 (5–9)	Dahlberg Arena Missoula, MT
February 25, 2021 7:00 pm, Pluto TV		at Idaho State	W 64–58	10–12 (6–9)	Reed Gym (40) Pocatello, ID
February 27, 2021 11:00 am, Pluto TV		at Idaho State	W 59–58	11–12 (7–9)	Reed Gym (50) Pocatello, ID
February 28, 2021* 7:30 pm, Pluto TV		Yellowstone Christian College	Canceled		Dahlberg Arena Missoula, MT
March 4, 2021 5:00 pm, SWX MT		Idaho	Canceled		Dahlberg Arena Missoula, MT
March 5, 2021* 5:00 pm, Pluto TV		Warner Pacific	W 92–61	12–12	Dahlberg Arena Missoula, MT
March 6, 2021 12:00 pm, Pluto TV		Idaho	Canceled		Dahlberg Arena Missoula, MT
March 6, 2021* 2:00 pm, Pluto TV		Warner Pacific	W 80–62	13–12	Dahlberg Arena Missoula, MT
Big Sky tournament
March 10, 2021 3:00 pm, Pluto TV	(6)	vs. (11) Idaho First round	W 69–64	14–12	Idaho Central Arena Boise, ID
March 11, 2021 8:00 pm, Pluto TV	(6)	vs. (3) Weber State Quarterfinals	W 80–75	15–12	Idaho Central Arena Boise, ID
March 12, 2021 8:00 pm, Pluto TV	(6)	vs. (2) Eastern Washington Semifinals	L 50–78	15–13	Idaho Central Arena Boise, ID
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Mountain.

Source^[2]

References

^ "BIG SKY CONFERENCE CANCELS REMAINDER OF 2020 BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS". Big Sky Conference. March 12, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
^ "2020-21 Men's Basketball Schedule". University of Montana Athletics. Retrieved January 29, 2021.

[1] "BIG SKY CONFERENCE CANCELS REMAINDER OF 2020 BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS". Big Sky Conference. March 12, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2021.

[2] "2020-21 Men's Basketball Schedule". University of Montana Athletics. Retrieved January 29, 2021.

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