After the celebration, Larry Krystkowiak was alone in his room at the Hotel Monaco in Salt Lake City.
Hours earlier, Krystkowiak had coached his alma mater to an 86-79 upset of Nevada in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. It was the Montana’s first NCAA Tournament victory since 1975, and the first by a Big Sky Conference team since 1999. The victory ranks 32nd on the list of the Big Sky Conference’s “50 Greatest Men’s Moments.’’
So, there was the 6-foot-11 former NBA star, about to literally soak in the events of the day. He’d just experienced something he never did as a player at Montana.
“It was really beyond words,’’ said Krystkowiak, now the head coach of the Utah Utes. “The whole mission of me going back was I wanted to get a taste of that. There was some frustration when I played. We had great teams, but we never got to experience the NCAA Tournament. I remember enjoying it with the fans and players, and then I went back to my room. There was this gigantic bottle of bubble bath. I poured it in, sat back and soaked it all up – no pun intended.’’
Krystkowiak took the head coaching job at Montana prior to the 2004-05 season, hoping to restore the glory after a disastrous two seasons under Pat Kennedy. The Grizzlies made a surprising run to the 2005 NCAA Tournament in Krystkowiak first season, falling as the No. 16 seed to No. 1 seed Washington.
In 2005-06, Montana finished 10-4 in conference and 22-6 during the regular season. UM entered the Big Sky tournament as the No. 2 seed, and upset host Northern Arizona 73-60 in the championship game.
The Grizzlies returned to Missoula and watched patiently for its name to appear on the selection show.
“We were one of the last groups on the list,’’ Krystkowiak remembered. “I’d already counted all of the 15, 16 and 14 seeds, and I thought, where in the world are we going to be? Based on the history of the Big Sky, I anticipated one of those lower seeds. Seeing us as a No. 12 seed was great. Over the years, the No. 12 seed had been one of those hot spots. That gave us some hope.’’
Plus, Montana’s opponent wasn’t one of the nation’s major programs. It was a former Big Sky member – Nevada. The Wolf Pack of the Western Athletic Conference made the Sweet 16 in 2004, and won a first-round game in 2005. Nevada entered the NCAA Tournament riding a 14-game winning streak and led by 6-foot-11 forward Nick Fazekas, the two-time WAC player of the year. Nevada featured two 7-footers, as well. Montana’s tallest player was 6-9.
“It wasn’t so much our history with Nevada, it was the fact it wasn’t Duke or it wasn’t Louisville or some of those people,’’ Krystkowiak said. “It was a task that we thought we could handle. Then we started doing our research and realized what a darn good team they were. They hadn’t lost in a long time.’’
The Grizzlies played strong basketball from start to finish. UM led 40-33 at the half. The Grizzlies shot 52 percent from the floor, and made 23-of-27 free-throws. In the second half, UM was 19-of-23 from the free-throw line.
Montana 6-8 forward Andrew Strait, of Yamika, Wash., was dominant down low against Fazekas. Strait made 9-of-14 shots from the field to finish with a team-high 22 points. He also had seven assists and five rebounds.
“Andrew had come a long way on his post skills,’’ Krystkowiak said. “He was a strong kid who worked his butt off. Andrew did a good job of sealing and using his angels. He didn’t let Nick’s length affect him. You needed to be physical against Nick, or he would take advantage of his length and reach. We found Andrew inside early, and he got some baskets to go. He got some confidence and fed off that.’’
Senior guard Kevin Criswell, from Colstrip, Mont., scored 18 points. Freshman forward Jordan Hasquet, from Missoula, hit four 3-pointers and scored 16 points. Point guard Virgil Mathews, a JC transfer, scored 20 points with five rebounds and three assists.
Matthews, from Federal Way., Wash., was an unsung hero on the team, often stuffing the box score with points, assists, rebounds, and steals, but was often overshadowed by Criswell and Strait.
“When I was recruiting Virgil, it was kind of an on-again, off-again type thing,’’ Krystkowiak said. “At one point, I’d made up my mind to move in another direction. But it was almost mysterious how his phone number and contact information kept popping up on my desk. I thought I had thrown it away.’’
Matthews hit a big 3-pointer and made threw free throws in a key second-half 9-0 run after Nevada had cut Montana’s lead to 63-60 with 6:13 remaining. Criswell capped the run with a 17-foot jumper to give his team a 72-60 lead.
For the first time in 31 years, Montana was moving on in the NCAA Tournament.
“It wasn’t so much about remembering the game,’’ Krystkowiak said. “It was going back to the hotel and seeing all kinds of people wearing Montana gear, and some of them were crying. It had an impact for the program. You realize also that you are not just representing your program, but the impact it has on the entire league.”
The next 24 hours were jammed with media interviews, as well as trying to prepare for the next game against Boston College.
“I remember at 6 a.m. the next morning going to do all of these national shows,’’ Krystkowiak said. “Getting the win as the underdog, well, it’s just a classic time of the year. I just wish we could have had some of that experience before. We put so much into trying to beat Nevada. If we had anticipated it, maybe we’d been a little more prepared for the next game. We were trying to jam everything in with all the media requests and getting ready for B.C.’’
Montana trailed Boston College 32-30 at the half, but the Grizzlies couldn’t stay with the athletic, big Eagles in the second half. UM shot 36 percent from the floor. Strait, Mathews and Criswell, who combined for 60 points against Nevada, combined for just 16 against Boston College, who won 69-56.
The Boston College game ended up being Krystkowiak final one as Montana’s head coach. He returned to the NBA as an assistant for the Milwaukee Bucks, where he played from 1987-92. Within a year, he was elevated to the head coach. He returned to the college ranks, taking over at Utah in 2011.
Each day he heads to work in the Huntsman Center, the same place where he earned his biggest win as Montana’s head coach.
“When I first got here, I think it was our first practice, I thought about that game,’’ he said. But I haven’t really thought about it since then. It was just a moment that was a lot bigger than the arena.”
