THE GAME: The University of Montana Grizzlies (17-12) will play the Portland State Vikings (16-13) in the first round of the Big Sky Conference Basketball Championship, Thursday, March 13. Tip-off in Weber State’s Dee Events Center is a 7:05 p.m.
RADIO: The long-time “Voice of the Griz,” Mick Holien calls the play-by-play, while Greg Sundberg provides color commentary. Montana’s flagship station is KGVO 1290 AM/ & 101.5 FM, and the Grizzly Radio Network from Learfield Sports (on add 4).
STREAMING: Five of the Big Sky Conference games from the men’s tournament will be available for free on Big Sky TV. Weber State and the Big Sky Conference will give fans a true tournament experience through Watch Big Sky. Press conferences from all of the games will be available for fans. Steve Klauke and Lance Barton will call all of the action on Watch Big Sky starting with all three first-round games on Thursday. The two semifinal games will also be available on Watch Big Sky. Watch Big Sky can be accessed on your PC at www.watchbigsky.com. The free Watch Big Sky App can be downloaded through the Apple Store or Google Play
TV: Saturday’s championship game will be televised live on ESPNU starting at 6 p.m. Mountain. Roxy Bernstein and Corey Williams will call the action on ESPNU. The championship game will not be available on Watch Big Sky. The championship game is also on Watch ESPN.
STATS: Live Statistics will be available for all tournament games through www.statbroadcast.com.
NCAA SELECTION SHOW: The 2014 NCAA Selection Show will air live on CBS on Sunday, March 16 at 4 p.m. Mountain.
There is no television coverage of the first round and semi-final games.
UM’S 36TH TOURNEY BERTH: Montana will be competing in the Big Sky’s post-season tourney for the 36th time in its 40-year history. This is the first time Montana has played PSU in the league tourney. (UM’s tournament scores on add 9-9-9).
NEXT: The tourney semifinal games are Friday, March 14, with the highest remaining seed playing the second highest remaining seed at 4:40 p.m., and the host Wildcats play the lowest remaining seed at 7:00 p.m. The title game is Saturday, March 15 at 6:00 p.m.
EARLIER THIS SEASON: The Griz and Vikings split, with each team winning on its home court. Both games went into overtime. PSU won at home in a three-overtime contest, 81-78, as Gary Winston hit a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds left in the third OT. Montana had a n 82-76 overtime win home, and got 19 points each from Kareem Jamar and Keron DeShields. Kyle Richardson scored 25 points and 12 rebounds for PSU.
COACH TINKLE SECOND IN CAREER WINS AT MONTANA/SIXTH IN BSC HISTORY: Head Coach Wayne Tinkle’s 158 wins rank him second in school history, Tinkle’s 158 career wins rank him sixth in Big Sky history. (See add 2-2-2).
JAMAR FIFTH AT UM/14TH IN THE BIG SKY IN CAREER POINTS/ FOURTH AT UM/19TH IN THE BSC IN CAREER ASSISTS: Jamar’s 1,653 career points rank him fifth all-time at Montana, and he’s now 14th in scoring in Big Sky history. He needs just 11 points to pass Kevin Criswell (1,663, 2002-06) and move up to fourth at UM. Jamar’s 403 career assists rank him fourth at Montana, and 19th in league history.
JAMAR TABBED FIRST TEAM FOR THIRD STRAIGHT YEAR: Jamar, a 6-5 senior G/G from Venice, Calif., was named first team all-league for the third year in a row. Junior guards Jordan Gregory and Keron DeShields were honorable mention selections. (All-Big team and award winners listed on add 10)/
QUOTING HEAD COACH WAYNE TINKLE:
ON THE BIG SKY TOURNEY: “This is what it’s all about, and this is what we’ve worked so hard for over the entire season – to prepare and to peak at the right time. We have been playing some awfully good basketball the last month-and-half, but tripped up a little the other night. But we still have a lot of confidence and a lot of momentum heading into the tournament.
“This is the first time in awhile the league has been as jumbled as it is. Usually there’s one or two teams that separate themselves. Everybody’s basically beating everybody else. It’s going to be up for grabs. In this league, it’s about 50 percent of the time that somebody other than the host wins it. We won two in a row here (in Missoula), so maybe it’s time that the averages work out.”
ON JAMAR NAMED FIRST TEAM ALL-BIG SKY FOR THIRD TIME: “He’s really become a great leader for us this year. He’s stepped it more than just statistical categories with his leadership, and we’re going to need that down the stretch. I really thought he had an outstanding all-around season this year, and he was the MVP a year ago because he peaked at the right time, and we’re going to need him to do the same thing starting this Thursday.”