Not even a Grizzly can escape flu season

With the conclusion of the regular season looming, there’s something contagious around the University of Montana men’s basketball program, and it’s not just a sense of urgency.

It’s influenza.

Junior Jordan Hasquet sat out practices all last week with influenza A, he said, and saw limited time in the week’s two games.

Senior Andrew Strait missed Tuesday’s practice due to symptoms that coach Wayne Tinkle characterized as “very similar” to Hasquet’s. Tinkle and members of his staff have also been hit by some kind of bug.

In addition to illnesses, several Griz players are dealing with nagging injuries and freshman starting center Brian Qvale has missed two weeks with an injured left ankle.

“We’re scratching our heads here, because we do a game plan and we show up for practice and find out there’s a couple more guys down,” Tinkle said. “It’s that time of year. It just seems like we’ve been bitten maybe a little bit more than some other teams. But if we show some toughness, we’ll get through it.”

With four games remaining and the conference playoffs less than two weeks away, the Griz (12-13, 6-6 Big Sky Conference) currently sit in a tie for fifth place in the conference with Idaho State.

The Griz kick off the remainder of their schedule tonight in Ogden, Utah against Weber State (12-12, 7-5 BSC) and Sunday at Idaho State (9-16, 6-6 BSC) in Pocatello.

The last time the Griz saw the Wildcats and the Bengals was a month ago when they dropped consecutive home games to the teams. Idaho State escaped by just two points on Jan. 17, and Weber State by one three nights later.

“When you lose two at home in a row like that, it was tough,” Hasquet said. “Bouncing back on the road here, if we go down on the road here and get these two back, it would be huge.”

Guard Dezmon Harris, who posts 11.8 points per game, leads Weber State. The Wildcats’ Arturas Valeika leads the Big Sky in rebounding, 9.8 per contest, and had nine against the Griz in Missoula.

“Weber State’s tough,” Tinkle said. “They’re going to try to fight you and take you out of your offense. They attack the boards. Their guards are very good off the dribble.”

The Grizzlies’ first game against Weber State was the first in which they employed a larger lineup where Qvale – now Sharp – was inserted into the lineup. Hasquet said he thinks that lineup change will be a boon for Montana against Idaho State.

In January the Bengals out-rebounded the Griz 32-23 and a key component of that was rebounding by Idaho State’s guards.

“They have some big guards and we’ve kind of switched the lineup since then,” Hasquet said. “I think we’ll match up a little better. First time around I think guard rebounding kind of got us in trouble.”

Matt Stucki, a 6-foot-6 guard, averages 11.4 points to lead Idaho State.

The Griz are hesitant to get ahead of themselves when looking forward, but they know what’s at stake as the regular season winds to a close.

“It’s huge as far as seeding goes,” sophomore guard Ryan Staudacher said. “It’s tough to look ahead at all four games at once, you try to take it one game at a time. Each game’s going to be real influential to where everybody’s going to be lined up for postseason.”

The Griz could use some wins, too. They are coming off Saturday’s heartbreaking 80-76 loss to Northern Arizona in Missoula. However, Hasquet remained optimistic.

“We didn’t play great at all, we shot free throws bad, we got out-rebounded, I think, and gave up 60 percent from the field and then we only lose by four or five,” Hasquet said. “We try to take some positives out of it and accept where we’re at, at 6-and-6.”

Tonight at Weber State, the Griz will likely be without Qvale for the fourth straight game. Tinkle said before Tuesday’s practice that whether new addition Dan Beaudin would travel on the road trip would be dependent on Qvale’s health. Beaudin, a tight end for the football team, was brought in to fill the gap Qvale’s injury created.

On Wednesday afternoon, associate athletic director Dave Guffey said both Qvale and Beaudin made the trip to Ogden.

The Griz and Wildcats tip off at 7:05 p.m., while Sunday’s Idaho State game has a 2:05 p.m. start on the Altitude Sports television network.