MISSOULA — Add another award to Joe Pridgen’s trophy case. The MVP of the Stew Morrill Classic was named Big Sky Conference player of the week on Tuesday.
Pridgen has been a revelation for Montana since arriving from Northeastern over the summer, and he put together his best week of basketball in leading Montana to a 3-0 record at their home tournament.
He earns his POTW honor for his performance in Wednesday night’s win over CSUN. Pridgen had 20 points and 13 rebounds in the game to become the first Grizzly in over two years with the stat line, and it led the Grizzlies to a good win over the 5-1 Matadors.
While the games didn’t count toward this week, Pridgen shined in all three games for Montana. He averaged 17.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, shooting 61.1 percent from the floor across the three games.
He stole the show with a highlight reel worthy of an entire season confined to just three games. Pridgen had eight dunks across the three games, including several poster-worthy jams. He shot better than 50% in all three games, and hit the 20-point mark twice.
Pridgen is averaging 13.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game this season. He’s 11th in the Big Sky in scoring and third in rebounding. He also leads the conference in field goal percentage this year, shooting 66.2% in Montana’s eight games.
The 6-foot-5 forward is also in the top 10 in the Big Sky in both blocked shots (seven) and steals (12). The countable stats are impressive, and his attitude and leadership have also been high level.
Pridgen the second Grizzly to earn the Big Sky player of the week this season. Money Williams was honored on Nov. 19. This is the first time Montana has had multiple players of the week in the same season since 2019-20.
