Money Williams, a junior at Montana, has been unanimously named to the All-Big Sky Conference First Team by the league’s head coaches. The announcement was made Friday by the conference office.
Williams led the Big Sky Conference in scoring this season with an average of 19.6 points per game. He also averaged 5.0 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game, making him the only player in the country this season to average at least 19 points, five assists, and four rebounds per game.
Williams’ offensive statistics place him among the top performers in Montana program history. He now ranks sixth in both single-season scoring average (19.6) and total assists (155). Over his career, he has reached several milestones, including surpassing 1,000 career points and joining a select group of six players in program history with at least 1,000 points, 300 rebounds, and 300 assists.
Head coach Travis DeCuire commented on Williams’ achievement: “It is an incredible honor. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen this many unanimous first teamers,” DeCuire said. “For him to be a part of that says a lot because it was a very talented year, a lot of guys are 20-point scorers, double-double guys. There were a lot you could make a case for so for Money to be in a class like this one and be unanimous in votes says a lot about the work that he’s put in.”
Williams enters the Big Sky Tournament ranked nineteenth all-time at Montana with 1,230 points and sixteenth with 304 career assists. This season included five games where he scored at least thirty points—second most in program history for a single season—and he surpassed Hall of Famer Larry Krystkowiak for career thirty-point games.
Nationally, Williams is ranked twenty-seventh in scoring and forty-ninth in assists according to NCAA statistics. His performance helped lead Montana’s offense to its sixth highest scoring average ever recorded by the team.
“He’s thrived through adversity and you always hope that people respect it and it’s very obvious that the coaches in this conference do,” DeCuire said. “I’m very happy for Money.”
Te’Jon Sawyer also received recognition from the Big Sky Conference as one of four honorable mentions this year. The Grizzly forward averaged 12.7 points and 5.6 rebounds during conference play while leading all players with a field goal percentage of 58.9 percent.
“I’m happy for Te’Jon,” DeCuire said. “He has been through a lot physically to be in the best shape that he can be in with a late start to the season and parts of his season impacted last year. It’s been a hard two years for him to stay on the floor, and for him to play all 31 games this year says a lot about his commitment to his health and to this program.”
After offseason surgery delayed his preseason preparation, Sawyer returned just before opening night but played every game this season—starting each one—and posted career-best averages over thirty-one games.
Sawyer played his hundredth career game at Montana during Senior Night against Portland State on February 28th. He passed significant milestones including more than one thousand Division I points as well as fifteen hundred total collegiate points; he is now just twenty-two points away from reaching one thousand as a Grizzly.
His achievements include setting new personal records such as scoring thirty-one points against Sacramento State along with recording two double-doubles during the season.
“I think the most deserving guys when it comes to awards are the ones that are committed and put the work in and make tough decisions,” DeCuire said. “Te’Jon has done that over the last couple of years for us and I’m grateful to have him be part of our program and a Griz for life.”
Other major Big Sky men’s basketball honors included Terri Miller Jr., Quinn Denker, Jed Miller, Isaiah Moses—all unanimous first team selections alongside Williams—as well as individual awards such as Most Valuable Player going to Terri Miller Jr., Newcomer of the Year awarded to Isaiah Moses, Freshman of the Year given to Jackson Rasmussen, Defensive Player of the Year won by Tre-Vaughn Minott, Top Reserve awarded to Isaiah Brickner, and Coach of the Year given to Jase Coburn.
