Montana Grizzlies Give Badgers A Fight, But Couldn’t Pull Off Upset

It was a long shot for the #14 seeded Montana Grizzlies to pull off the upset of the Big 10 Tournament runners-up, but the Griz hung around Wisconsin before falling 85-66 in the Round of 64.

At halftime, Montana trailed by single figures after trailing by 11 early, but the Grizzlies hung around early in the second half, cutting it to 5 points on a couple of occasions and even 4 points with around 15 minutes left. Halftime adjustments were there for the Griz.

"We got the ball to move. They're not good when we spread them out and move the ball," said Travis DeCuire on the Grizzly Radio Network Postgame show.

But the Grizzlies' offense didn't provide enough Thursday afternoon.

"Shots didn't fall, I didn't think our selection or execution was great," explained DeCuire.

Joe Pridgen poured in an efficient afternoon, despite the 4 fouls that plagued him in the 2nd half. Pridgen finished with 12 points on 6-11 shooting and 5 rebounds.

Kai Johnson set a career high with 4 made 3s en route to 15 points.

Money Williams struggled, scoring 8 points on 2-8 shooting, but Williams did finish with 8 assists.

Despite the loss, Coach DeCuire will remember this team as one of the greats.

"I love this team, was proud of them regardless of the outcome... We worked hard to get to this and am really grateful to be here."

The Badgers were led by John Blackwell with 19 points and Steven Crowl with 18 points. Five different Badgers scored double figures.

The Grizzlies finished the year 25-10, and what a season it was for our guys from Missoula.

Congrats to Montana on an incredible ride, and congrats to the Wisconsin Badgers for moving on.