Memorial Gym was packed to near capacity on Saturday night, as 1,326 fans crammed into the small confines to watch the Vandal men’s basketball team play its season opener against the Western Illinois Leathernecks.
Tony Marcolina | Argonaut
Stephen Madison drives past defenders during Saturday’s game against Western Illinois in Memorial Gym. The Vandals finished with a 67-63 win against the Leathernecks.
“It was a great night tonight, it was packed. I couldn’t have asked for a better atmosphere for our home opener,” said senior Stephen Madison, who was the Vandals’ leading scorer and rebounder with 21 points and 14 rebounds.
The fans were treated to an exhilarating contest, as the game wasn’t decided until the final seconds. Thanks to a clutch 3-pointer by Connor Hill, and clutch free throws from Glen Dean and Madison, the Vandals were the team in the lead when the final buzzer sounded, winning the game 67-63.
“It’s a great start, last year we started out with a loss and that didn’t help the morale,” Madison said. “We made our foul shots, we grinded hard on defense and I think that was the key.”
Another key for the Vandals was Glen Dean; the transfer from Utah had 15 points and got going early making his first shot as a Vandal.
“It just felt great to get that monkey off my back,” Dean said. “To hit that first shot, it was nice because I could just settle into the game and just play.”
The Vandals were left with a huge void to fill this year without 2012-13 WAC Player of the Year Kyle Barone. When Barone graduated, not only did they lose their points leader, but they lost their post presence as well, and a big question was who would step up in his absence.
While they might not be able to replace him with just one guy, a group of players stepped up and played extremely well. Madison was the clear leader, but newcomers Bira Seck with eight points, and Paulin Mpawe with nine points and four rebounds, seem to have found their roles on the team.
“Even though he (Mpawe) did foul out, I thought he was a huge presence inside for us,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “I thought Stephen Madison stepped up in a big way. I mean 21 points, 14 rebounds — that’s about as big as it gets.”
Along with Seck and Mpawe, Verlin added eight other newcomers to the team this year.
“I’m impressed, with 12 new guys coming together and being able to play a game like that, it shows that we’re progressing in the right direction,” Dean said.
There was some question to which true freshman would play this season and this game only featured two of them — Perrion Callandret and Sekou Wiggs. Callandret was held scoreless and Wiggs had four points with two rebounds.
Verlin said he hasn’t made any final decisions on redshirts yet, but he does know that walk-on Chad Sherwood from Albany, Ore., will receive one.
Western Illinois was a tough first game for the Vandals. The Leathernecks were led by their star freshman, Garret Covington, who was the team’s scoring leader with 22 points.
The Leathernecks are also known for their tough defense. They were second in the nation in scoring defense last season only allowing 53.6 points per game. The Vandals scored 67.
“I thought they did a good job in taking away Connor (Hill), and closing our driving lanes,” Verlin said. “They’re a solid team, they’re very good defensively, and we’re usually more efficient offensively.”
The Vandals only shot 40.8 percent (20-49) from the floor, and 36.8 percent (7-19) from the three-point line.
Despite the shooting struggles, the young team still found a way to win and set a tone for the rest of the season.
“The thing I want for this group is for us to just play hard. I know that’s a cliché, but I think the thing that this team has to do is play hard every game, every possession, all night long and not get frustrated.” Verlin said. “To come out of here with a win is awesome for this young team.”
Men’s basketball plays again on Wednesday when they travel down to Norman, Okla., to take on the Oklahoma Sooners.
Korbin McDonald can be reached at [email protected]