MISSOULA -- The Montana men's basketball team is currently 5-1 in Big Sky Conference play and is getting set for a home matchup with Idaho on Saturday.
The Grizzlies will look to stay hot against the visiting Vandals. Montana has won five of its past six games, the past two in convincing fashion, but a goal with this young team is to avoid complacency with two months of basketball left to be played and three road contests after the game with Idaho. Even though the Griz are on a roll, coach Travis DeCuire knows exactly how to keep his team humble ahead of Saturday's game.
"Film sessions, tough practices," DeCuire said. "Last week we went hard for three days leading into the Eastern Washington game. This week we started off with film today focusing on one or two areas that we could be a lot better in that only we can control. And then we'll focus on some things on both sides of the ball and hopefully we're a better team Saturday than we were Monday."
"We definitely have to close this one out at home and then just prepare and go really hard in practice because that's what did us a good job when we went into Eastern," freshman guard Josh Vasquez added. "We had a really good couple days of practice and that just prepared us a lot, so if we just do that again we'll be good on the road."
The Grizzlies (9-8 overall, 5-1 Big Sky) and Vandals (5-11, 1-4) tip off at 7 p.m. Saturday at Dahlberg Arena. It will be the last time the Grizzlies play at home until Feb. 1, when they host Montana State.
