Weber State basketball: Wildcats face a Grizzly task in Big Sky country

Weber State opened the toughest road trip in the Big Sky with a loss on Wednesday night, and the task gets even more difficult today.

The Wildcats play at Montana — the same team that cost them a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament last spring with a riveting 22-point comeback win in the Big Sky Conference title game — this afternoon.

The Grizzlies appear to be the class of the conference this season as they enter today's game with a 9-4 record. They beat UCLA — the same team that shellacked BYU a couple weeks ago — on the Bruins' home floor and have won nine of their last 11 games.

Montana is traditionally one of the Big Sky's toughest defensive teams, and this season is no different. The Grizzlies lead the conference in scoring defense and are second in field goal percentage defense. They lead the league in blocked shots, steals and turnover margin.

"What really impresses me is the way they are playing on the defensive end of the court," said Weber State coach Randy Rahe. "They just take you out of your comfort zone and make you take shots from bad areas of the floor."

It helps Montana defensively that it has a 6-foot-11 center in Brian Qvale and a 7-foot forward in Derek Selvig. Guard Will Cherry leads the Grizzlies in scoring at 16.8 points per game.

"Their front line looks like an NBA team and presents us with some really tough match-up problems," said Rahe. "I liked Will Cherry last year and I like him even more this season. He's smart, quick and has become their floor leader."

For the Wildcats, they'll have to take better care of the basketball in order to have a shot at beating the Grizzlies. Weber State committed 14 turnovers in a 75-72 loss at Montana State on Wednesday. The Bobcats had half as many turnovers.

"We played hard and fought through a lot, especially in the second half, but in the end our turnovers did us in," Rahe said.

The Wildcats could also use another productive effort from guard Lindsey Hughey, who recorded his first double-double with career highs of 21 points and 10 rebounds against Montana State. Kyle Bullinger just missed recording a second straight double-double as he had 13 points and nine boards in the loss to the Bobcats.

Wildcats on the air

Weber State (6-6, 0-1 Big Sky) at Montana (9-4, 1-0)

Today, 1 p.m.

Dahlberg Arena, Missoula, Mont.

TV: none

Radio: 1430 AM

e-mail: aaragon@desnews.com