Riverside, CA—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team returns to the Inland Empire this weekend for just its second home game of the 2016-17 season. The Highlanders welcome the Montana Grizzlies to the SRC Arena, Saturday, December 17, for a 5 pm PT tip.
UCR is coming off of a 77-53 loss at Santa Clara Tuesday evening (
box score/
recap) which saw the Highlanders held below 40 percent shooting for the fifth time in six games this season. All five of those games were on the road, however, against the likes of UNLV, Utah and #11 UCLA.
The Highlanders are shooting 36.8 percent from the floor this season, and only two members of the team's regular rotation are shooting better than 40 percent—Alex Larsson (48.7) and Dikymbe Martin (46.9).
UC Riverside has been particular effective in 2016 with regards to taking care of the basketball, while causing problems for the opposition on the defensive end of the floor: The Highlanders rank first in the Big West in steals per game (7.3) and second in fewest turnovers (11.7).
UCR is also connecting on 71.6 percent of its free throws on the year, which is the second highest percentage in the conference.
Balance is the name of the game in the Highlanders' scoring column with six players averaging between 7.2 and 10.7 points per game. Chance Murray leads the team in scoring, while Larsson paces the squad in rebounding at 5.7 per game.
Like UCR, Montana is 0-5 on the road this season. The Grizzlies have also taken on some stiff competition with games against USC, NC State, Washington State and Oregon.
Statistically, the Grizz have played their opponents even except for in the free throw column. Although Montana is ranked 14th in the nation in free throw percentage (78.1), they send the opposition to the charity stripe more than 25 times per game, giving opponents a 60-point scoring advantage from the line on the year.
Ahmed Rorie leads three Montana players in double digit scoring averaging 14.2 points per game, while Fabijan Krslovic tops the Grizz grabbing 8.2 rebounds per game.
The Highlanders are 1-3 all-time against Montana, and lost the most recent meeting between the teams, dropping a 67-52 decision to the Grizzlies on December 19, 2009 (
box score/
recap).