Gameday: Montana

The Rainbow Warrior basketball team goes for its third straight victory tonight against the Montana Grizzlies.

It will be decidedly tougher than their last two wins, blowouts of Division II Hawaii Hilo and one of the worst D-I teams in the country in New Orleans. UM (1-3) lost some key personnel from last year but has a champion’s pedigree; it represented the Big Sky Conference in the NCAA Tournament three of the last four years.

Watch out for Grizzlies senior guard Kareem Jamar, who went for a triple-double in the teams’ last meeting two years ago, which kicked off a nightmare road trip which helped derail the ‘Bows season to a 16-16 finish. Jamar is still around and leads the team in points, rebounds, assists, 3-pointers made, free-throws made, etc.

Something to keep an eye on tonight will be the health of starting forward Isaac Fotu (finger) and backup point guard Quincy Smith (back). Both played against the UNO Privateers on Wednesday but were held out as a precaution from the team walkthrough on Thanksgiving Day.

The ‘Bows follow the Rainbow Wahine basketball team against Colorado State. They’re currently in a dogfight of a low-scoring game, with 13 minutes to play as of this writing.