The Big Sky Conference announced its 2022-23 men’s basketball schedule on Thursday morning. The Grizzlies will play a home-and-home series against the other nine members of the league.
After two years of playing an early-December weekend, the 2022-23 conference schedule will open on Thursday, Dec. 29 against Eastern Washington. The Grizzlies will then host Idaho on Saturday, Dec. 31, for a New Year’s Eve matchup in Missoula.
January will be filled with home rivalry games. In addition to hosting the Eagles and Vandals, Montana is also slated to host Weber State on Thursday, Jan. 12, and Montana State on Saturday, Jan. 21. The Griz-Cat game will once again be a double-header, with the Lady Griz playing the Bobcats earlier that afternoon.
Montana’s other home games are vs. Idaho State (Saturday, Jan. 14), Northern Colorado (Thursday, Feb. 2), Northern Arizona (Saturday, Feb. 4), Portland State (Thursday, Feb. 23) and Sacramento State (Saturday, Feb. 25).
The Grizzlies’ longest stretch on the road will be three games, traveling to Idaho State, Weber State and Montana State in mid-February. Montana will also end the regular season on the road, facing Idaho on Feb. 27, for a rare Monday game.
With the league’s new Big Sky Championship format , each team will play its final regular-season game on Monday, before traveling to Boise, Idaho, with the conference tournament beginning on Saturday, March 4 and extending through Wednesday, March 8.
With Southern Utah no longer in the Big Sky, Montana will be able to fill two additional non-conference dates, to total 13. The Grizzlies’ non-conference schedule, which can begin as early as Nov. 7, is still in progress and will be announced later this summer.
Despite some offseason turnover, Montana returns four starters and five of its top-eight players from last year in terms of minutes played. The group includes all-conference forward Josh Bannan and defensive player-of-the-year candidate Brandon Whitney , in addition to senior Mack Anderson – who is returning for a fifth season – Lonnell Martin Jr. and Josh Vazquez .
Montana also brought in a bevy of new talent. The newcomers include five freshmen and four transfers: forward Caden Bateman (Missoula); guard Jonathan Brown (Central Methodist); guard Isaiah Kerr (Palo Alto, California); forward Jaxon Nap (Renton, Washington); guard Aanen Moody (Southern Utah); forward Laolu Oke (MSU Denver); forward Rhett Reynolds (Shelby, Montana); forward Dischon Thomas (Colorado State); and guard Dorell Thomas (Phoenix, Arizona).
2022-23 Schedule (Big Sky Conference only)
Thursday, Dec. 29 vs. Eastern Washington
Saturday, Dec. 31 – vs. Idaho
Thursday, Jan. 5 – at Northern Arizona
Saturday, Jan. 7 – at Northern Colorado
Thursday, Jan. 12 – vs. Weber State
Saturday, Jan. 14 – vs. Idaho State
Monday, Jan. 16 – at Eastern Washington
Saturday, Jan. 21 – vs. Montana State
Thursday, Jan. 26 – at Sacramento State
Saturday, Jan. 28 – at Portland State
Thursday, Feb. 2 – vs. Northern Colorado
Saturday, Feb. 4 – vs. Northern Arizona
Thursday, Feb. 9 – at Idaho State
Saturday, Feb. 11 – at Weber State
Saturday, Feb. 18 – at Montana State
Thursday, Feb. 23 – vs. Portland State
Saturday, Feb. 25 – vs. Sacramento State
Monday, Feb. 27 – at Idaho
