# 2019–20 Montana Grizzlies basketball team

The 2019–20 Montana Grizzlies basketball team represented the University of Montana during the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Grizzlies, led by sixth-year head coach Travis DeCuire, played their home games at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula, Montana as members of the Big Sky Conference.

## Previous season

The Grizzlies finished the 2018–19 season 26–9 overall, 16–4 in Big Sky play, the Grizzlies won the Big Sky regular season championship. As the No. 1 seed in the Big Sky tournament, they defeated Sacramento State, Weber State, and Eastern Washington to win the tournament, and earned the Big Sky's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Given a No. 15 seed in the West Region of the NCAA Tournament, Montana was defeated by Michigan in the first round for the second consecutive year.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Donaven Dorsey | 2 | F | 6'7" | 214 | RS Senior | Lacey, WA | Graduated |
| Ben Carter | 13 | F | 6'10" | 275 | Freshman | Adelaide, Australia | Transferred to Cal State Monterey Bay |
| Ahmaad Rorie | 14 | G | 6'1" | 175 | RS Senior | Tacoma, WA | Graduated |
| Jamar Akoh | 15 | F | 6'8" | 253 | RS Senior | Rancho Cucamonga, CA | Graduated |
| Bobby Moorehead | 24 | G | 6'7" | 182 | Senior | Tacoma, WA | Graduated |
| Kelby Kramer | 33 | C | 6'10" | 220 | RS Freshman | Rock Springs, WY | Transferred to Minnesota State |
| Tony Miller | 34 | F | 6'6" | 210 | Junior | Woodinville, WA | Transferred to Washington State |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Naseem Gaskin | 5 | G | 6'3" | 175 | RS Freshman | Oakland, CA | Transferred from Utah. Under NCAA transfer rules, Gaskin will have to sit out for the 2019–20 season. Will have three years of remaining eligibility. |
| Yagizhan Selcuk | 22 | F | 6'7" | 235 | Sophomore | Istanbul, Turkey | Midseason transferred from Villanova in December during the 2018–19 season. Under NCAA transfer rules, Selcuk has to sit out until December and will be eligible to start in December during the 2019–20 season. Selcuk has two and a half years of remaining eligibility. |
| Michael Steadman | 31 | F | 6'10" | 210 | Senior | Union City, CA | Transferred from San Jose State. Under NCAA transfer rules, Steadman will have to sit out for the 2019–20 season. Will have one year of remaining eligibility. |
| Jared Samuelson | 33 | F | 6'7" | | RS Senior | Billings, MT | Junior college transferred from Rocky Mountain College. |

### 2019 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Josh Vazquez #70 PG | Torrance, CA | Bishop Montgomery High School | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Apr 12, 2018 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 59 ||||||
| Derrick Carter-Hollinger, Jr. SF | El Cajon, CA | Foothills Christian High School | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | Sep 2, 2018 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Kyle Owens SF | Encino, CA | Crespi High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Oct 6, 2018 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2019 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved January 9, 2019. ||||||

### 2020 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for 2020 recruits :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight |
| Brandon Whitney PG | Mission Hills, CA | Bishop Alemany High School | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 165 lb (75 kg) |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR |||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: |||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2020 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved January 9, 2019. |||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 6, 2019* 8:00 pm, P12N | | at Stanford | L 62–73 | 0–1 | Maples Pavilion (2,930) Stanford, CA |
| Nov 10, 2019* 2:00 pm | | Montana State–Northern | W 64–50 | 1–1 | Dahlberg Arena (2,927) Missoula, MT |
| Nov 16, 2019* 3:00 pm, SECN+ | | at Arkansas Collegiate Hoops Roadshow | L 46–64 | 1–2 | Bud Walton Arena (13,058) Fayetteville, AR |
| Nov 18, 2019* 7:00 pm, SWX MT | | Montana Tech Collegiate Hoops Roadshow | L 72–74 | 1–3 | Dahlberg Arena (2,857) Missoula, MT |
| Nov 22, 2019* 9:00 pm, P12N | | at No. 25 Washington | L 56–73 | 1–4 | Alaska Airlines Arena (8,370) Seattle, WA |
| Nov 25, 2019* 7:00 pm, SWX MT | | Texas Southern Collegiate Hoops Roadshow | W 74–62 | 2–4 | Dahlberg Arena (2,981) Missoula, MT |
| Nov 29, 2019* 7:00 pm | | Coppin State Collegiate Hoops Roadshow | W 69–62 | 3–4 | Dahlberg Arena (3,335) Missoula, MT |
| Dec 1, 2019* 1:00 pm, ATTSNRM | | at New Mexico | L 63–72 | 3–5 | Dreamstyle Arena (10,503) Albuquerque, NM |
| Dec 6, 2019* 7:00 pm | | North Dakota Big Sky/Summit Challenge | W 77–70 | 4–5 | Dahlberg Arena (3,698) Missoula, MT |
| Dec 18, 2019* 9:00 pm, P12N | | at No. 8 Oregon | L 48–81 | 4–6 | Matthew Knight Arena (5,803) Eugene, OR |
| Dec 21, 2019* 11:00 am | | at Omaha Big Sky/Summit Challenge | L 82–87 $^{OT}$ | 4–7 | Baxter Arena (2,278) Omaha, NE |
| Big Sky regular season ||||||
| Dec 28, 2019 7:00 pm | | Northern Arizona | W 79–72 | 5–7 (1–0) | Dahlberg Arena (4,017) Missoula, MT |
| Dec 30, 2019 7:00 pm | | Sacramento State | W 52–50 | 6–7 (2–0) | Dahlberg Arena (1,451) Missoula, MT |
| Jan 2, 2020 7:00 pm | | at Southern Utah | W 60–58 | 7–7 (3–0) | America First Event Center (2,059) Cedar City, UT |
| Jan 4, 2020 7:00 pm, Eleven | | at Northern Colorado | L 66–74 | 7–8 (3–1) | Bank of Colorado Arena (1,431) Greeley, CO |
| Jan 9, 2020 7:00 pm | | at Eastern Washington | W 90–63 | 8–8 (4–1) | Reese Court (1,837) Cheney, WA |
| Jan 13, 2020 7:00 pm, SWX MT | | Portland State | W 85–70 | 9–8 (5–1) | Dahlberg Arena (3,252) Missoula, MT |
| Jan 18, 2020 7:00 pm, SWX MT | | Idaho | W 67–63 | 10–8 (6–1) | Dahlberg Arena (4,279) Missoula, MT |
| Jan 23, 2020 7:00 pm, Eleven | | at Idaho State | W 77–74 | 11–8 (7–1) | Reed Gym (1,461) Pocatello, ID |
| Jan 25, 2020 7:00 pm | | at Weber State | L 85–87 $^{OT}$ | 11–9 (7–2) | Dee Events Center (6,034) Ogden, UT |
| Jan 30, 2020 8:00 pm, Eleven | | at Portland State | L 81–88 | 11–10 (7–3) | Viking Pavilion (1,704) Portland, OR |
| Feb 1, 2020 7:00 pm, SWX MT | | Montana State | W 78–64 | 12–10 (8–3) | Dahlberg Arena (7,040) Missoula, MT |
| Feb 6, 2020 7:00 pm, SWX MT | | Eastern Washington | W 92–82 | 13–10 (9–3) | Dahlberg Arena (3,879) Missoula, MT |
| Feb 8, 2020 6:30 pm | | at Idaho | W 82–71 | 14–10 (10–3) | Cowan Spectrum (1,804) Moscow, ID |
| Feb 13, 2020 7:00 pm, SWX MT | | Weber State | W 72–37 | 15–10 (11–3) | Dahlberg Arena (3,730) Missoula, MT |
| Feb 15, 2020 7:00 pm | | Idaho State | W 78–63 | 16–10 (12–3) | Dahlberg Arena (4,657) Missoula, MT |
| Feb 22, 2020 7:00 pm, SWX MT | | at Montana State | W 59–54 | 17–10 (13–3) | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (6,570) Bozeman, MT |
| Feb 27, 2020 7:00 pm | | at Northern Arizona | L 56–57 | 17–11 (13–4) | Walkup Skydome (918) Flagstaff, AZ |
| Feb 29, 2020 8:00 pm | | at Sacramento State | W 79–71 | 18–11 (14–4) | Hornets Nest (1,172) Sacramento, CA |
| Mar 5, 2020 7:00 pm, SWX MT | | Northern Colorado | W 71–64 | 18–12 (14–5) | Dahlberg Arena (4,822) Missoula, MT |
| Mar 7, 2020 7:00 pm | | Southern Utah | L 80–85 $^{OT}$ | 18–13 (14–6) | Dahlberg Arena Missoula, MT |
| Big Sky tournament ||||||
| Mar 12, 2020 8:00 pm, Pluto TV/Eleven Sports | (3) | vs. (11) Idaho State Quarterfinals | Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | CenturyLink Arena Boise, ID |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Mountain Time. ||||||