The Badgers are kicking off their NCAA Tournament on Thursday.
The East Region’s No. 3 seed Wisconsin Badgers return to the NCAA tournament for the 28th time in school history. The Badgers will take on the No. 14 seed Montana Grizzlies at 12:30 p.m. central on TNT as a 17.5-point favorite at Ball Arena in Denver.
Last Sunday, in their fourth game in four days, the Badgers lost a close game to the Michigan Wolverines in the Big Ten tournament championship 59-53. With the loss, the Badgers entered the 2025 NCAA tournament with a 26-9 overall record and tied for fourth in the Big Ten. Not bad for a team the experts predicted would finish 12th in the conference.
What should Badger fans know about the Big Sky regular season co-champion and tournament champion, Montana Grizzlies?
Opponent Preview
Travis DeCuire, the Big Sky Coach of the Year and the winningest coach in Grizzlies history, finished his 11th regular season in Missoula and has guided Montana to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019.
The Grizzlies finished 25-9 and tied Northern Colorado with a 15-3 conference record, thanks partly to an offense that finished second in the Big Sky at 76.9 points per game. Montana also comes into their first-round matchup, having won 14 out of their last 15 games, including a 10-game winning streak from January 20th to February 27th.
Two players have started all 34 games for Montana. Joe Pridgen, a 6’ 5” transfer guard from Northeastern and “heart and soul” of the Grizzlies, averages 11.6 points per game and leads the team with 6.9 rebounds per game and 0.7 blocks per game. Pridgen was the only Montana player named to First-Team All-Big Sky this season.
Brandon Whitney has been in Montana for five years, has started 150 games, and owns a program record of 442 assists. After averaging 16.3 points per game in the Big Sky Tournament, including 18 points in the championship game, Whitney was named tournament MVP.
Pepperdine transfer guard Malik Moore is the second-leading scorer for the Grizzlies at 12.8 points per game. Moore is one of two Montana players who shoot over 40% from behind the three-point line.
The other is 6’ 8” forward Te’Jon Sawyer, who has connected on 20-of-48 three-pointers. Rounding out the starting lineup is Western Washington transfer guard Kai Johnson, Montana’s steals leader at 1.3 per game. Johnson led all scorers with 23 points in the Big Sky championship game.
The most talked-about player on the Grizzlies has been guard Money Williams. Williams, the Big Sky Top Reserve, is Montana’s leading scorer at 13.3 points per game and assists leader at 3.1 assists per game.
Against No. 1 Tennessee in Knoxville, Williams finished with 30 points. He also scored a career-high 36 points, the most by a Big Sky conference player since 2018, in an overtime loss at Portland State this year. If there is anyone on Montana’s roster who can become a March Madness legend, it’s Williams.
Score Prediction
Montana’s offense features four-out half-court sets that can stretch the floor and test the Badgers’ defense. Against Northern Colorado, Montana shot a blistering 65.2 percent from the field, including hitting 7-of-11 three-pointers, to secure their NCAA bid. Wisconsin cannot afford to let the Grizzlies get settled in on offense if they want to avoid a major upset in Denver.
Aside from their offense, the Grizzlies have weaknesses in rebounding the ball and on the defensive end. Montana is among the lowest rebounding teams in the Big Sky, and Wisconsin should exploit the Grizzlies’ size disadvantage.
The Grizzlies are ranked 251st in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency, no doubt influenced by non-conference blowout losses to Tennessee (92-57), Oregon (79-48), and Northern Iowa (104-76).
Montana will be motivated after a six-year absence from the Big Dance, but they do not have enough defense to keep up with Wisconsin.
Prediction: Wisconsin 84-68.