Griz upend Vikings, finally get that big win

Posted on January 30, 2009 by Colin O'Keefe

Photo credit: Jerek Wolcott for Montanagrizzlies.com

It's been a long time since the Griz won a game like this. Over the past two seasons, the Griz have slipped from one of the conference's best teams, then to just a contender and finally to a mediocre squad stuck to the middle of the pack. With last night's 72-65 win over Portland State, a team some thought would go undefeated in conference play, the Griz may once again be one of the conference's elite.

A team that often times lacks intensity and heart finally showed the characteristics a decent team should.

Here's what Vikings coach Ken Bone had to say about the game, from the grizzlyjournal:

“They (Montana) hit some big shots, hit some big threes and... the crowd got into it, and I thought they just did a nice job of executing plays down the stretch and making baskets and we didn’t,” said Portland State Coach Ken Bone.

“I thought our guys played hard, but Montana just deserved to win,” said Bone. 

It's odd hearing that quote coming from someone other than Wayne Tinkle. Rarely do we hit the big shots, make stops and end up being the team that deserved to win.

Here's Tinkle and AJ commenting on the team's character, which is no longer acidic and cancerous.  From The Missoulian:

“I just think it says a lot about our character,” said Montana coach Wayne Tinkle, whose Griz had been outscored by the Vikings 180-101 in their previous two meetings. “It was a team that had stepped on us the last couple of times we played them. We challenged our guys to respond and show a little bit of Grizzly pride.”

“It's chemistry,” Johnson said. “We talk about potential a lot of the time. That's been the knock on us, when is our potential going to be realized. I think we saw it today, what we can do when we're firing on all cylinders. The chemistry was at a high.”

In conclusion, this victory and what it means for this program is almost bitter sweet. On the positive side, this was a much-needed win, one that thrusts this team and program back into the conference race. But when did beating a conference opponent constitute a signature victory? These are teams we're supposed to, at the very least, split the season series with and now it feels like a legit upset. I hope the next time we beat PSU, preferably in the tournament, it doesn't have close to the same feel.

Photo credit: Jerek Wolcott for Montanagrizzlies.com

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Shades of 'The Zoo'

Posted on February 2, 2007 by Colin O'Keefe
Last night's game sucked but there were a couple positives, one of which was the improvement of the environment inside Dahlbergh Arena. The fans at the game were some of the best I've seen all year and the Montana Kaimin has an article containing a lot of good quotes about the raucous student section.

From PSU head coach Ken Bone:
“It’s hard to win on the road,” he said. “Let alone win on the road here at the University of Montana.”

“First and foremost, they’re good,” Bone said of the Grizzlies. “Second of all, usually there’s a really great crowd here. If the crowd really gets fired up it’s like the sixth man approach.”

“They’re fun,” he said. “There’s some nut up here that yells and screams and thinks he’s funny. They’re fun and they’re great, that’s what college basketball’s about. I wish we had crowds like this.”
From Anthony Washington:
“I like the crowd (in Missoula),” said Vikings senior center Anthony Washington. “No offense to our fans at Portland State, but I wish we had more of a presence.”

“I think for the opponents it can make some of them frustrated,” he added. “Especially the freshmen that have never heard anything like that before, but for the most part you block it out.”
From Juma Kamara:
“They’re just regular old fans,” he said. For Kamara it was the first time in his career that he had won in Missoula.

“It’s a nice environment for basketball,” Kamara said. “Especially in this conference, to me it’s like the best gym in the conference – nice crowd, nice everything.”
From Griz head coach Wayne Tinkle:
“Well it’s great,” he said. “Once we hit some shots and we started showing some hustle, they rewarded us by cheering and making some noise. That’s awesome, but we can’t wait for them to get us going. We need to get ourselves going.”

“Hopefully we can come out Saturday night and we’ll have even a bigger crowd.”
This team really thrives when Dahlberg is loud. The more students that come and make noise, the better this team will do.
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