Griz On A Roll

Press Release:

The University of Montana Grizzly basketball team has moved up to 12th-ranked in the CollegeInsider.com’s Mid-Major Top 25 Poll, which was announced by that organization late this afternoon (Feb. 11). Montana moved up two spots from the Feb. 4 poll.

The Grizzlies are currently 18-4 overall and in first place in the Big Sky Conference with an unblemished 14-0 league record.  Montana earned 397 points this week, up from the 333 that they received a week ago. 

 Montana had two home wins last week, beating Northern Colorado (73-63) and North Dakota  (78-58) in a pair of conference games. The Grizzlies have now won 25 Big Sky regular-season games in a row –  a new league record. Montana also set a league standard for consecutive regular-season home victories with 24. 

 Montana’s 14 straight wins ties them with Memphis for the second-longest active streak in the nation. Akron (ranked seventh in the recent Mid-Major Poll) has won 15 straight games.

 The leader in the Mid-Major poll continues to be the West Coast Conference power Gonzaga Bulldogs (23-2), who received 30 (of 31) first place votes, while fellow WCC stalwart Saint Mary’s (21-4) move up to second (from fourth), and received one first place vote. Middle Tennessee State, at 22-4, moved up to third (from sixth), while Creighton (20-5) dropped one notch to fourth, and Belmont (20-5) is now fifth. Two teams that defeated the Griz earlier in the season, BYU (18-8), and South Dakota State (19-7), remain ranked in the poll at 14^th and 21st, respectively. 

 The Big Sky’s Weber State Wildcats (16-5), who were ranked 22^nd in the poll three weeks ago, are in the “others receiving votes” category and earned 11 points.  The Grizzlies and Wildcats square off this Thursday, Feb. 14, in Ogden, in a crucial league game in WSU’s Dee Events Center

 MID-MAJOR TOP 25 (Feb. 11, 2013)

Rank-School                           Rec.      Points

1. Gonzaga (30)                      23-2      774

2. St. Mary’s (1)                     21-4      719

3. Middle Tennessee               22-4      681

4. Creighton                            20-5      643

5. Belmont                              20-5      627

6. Wichita St.                          20-5      603

7. Akron                                  19-4      578

8. Bucknell                             20-4      570

9. Louisiana Tech                   21-3      543

10. S.F. Austin                        20-2      474

11. Valparaiso                        19-6      427

12. Montana                           18-4      397

13. Lehigh                               17-5      359

14. BYU                                  18-8      358

15. Murray State                    18-5      348

16. Ohio                                  17-6      326

17. Davidson                          17-7      257

18. Indiana State                    16-8      209

19. W. Illinois                         18-5      197

20. N. Dakota St.                    19-6      192

21. S. Dakota St.                    19-7      186

22. Bryant                              16-6      103

23. Northeastern                     16-8      100

24. Vermont                            16-7      63

25. New Mexico State             17-8      50

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Denver 46, Eastern Kentucky 29, Harvard 26, Northwestern State 24, College of Charleston 20, Elon 16, Stony Brook 16, Robert Morris 15, Santa Clara 14, Utah State 13, Weber State 11, Detroit 10, Florida Gulf Coast 10, Western Michigan 10, North Carolina Central 8, Norfolk State 5, Wright State 5, Jacksonville State 3, Long Beach State 3, Niagara 2, Albany 1, Hartford 1, Northern Iowa 1, Oakland 1, Southern 1.