When you lose one game, you owe them one, Stephen Madison said of the first time Idaho men’s basketball team played Seattle U back on Feb. 1 in the Cowan Spectrum.
Idaho was controlling the game for the first 30 minutes and held a 16-point lead late in the contest. It was a game that just got away from them, Idaho coach Don Verlin said.
Seattle U went on a 23-2 run in the second half, which led them to beat the Vandals 68-67.
“I think we’ve grown a lot at the end of the year,” Madison said. “These one- and two-point losses, I think we’ve grown to where we’re ready to compete in games like that.”
Idaho will look for payback Saturday, when they travel to Seattle to take on Seattle U at the Key Arena.
The Vandals are 12-16, 5-8 in the WAC and are 4-2 in their last six games. A big part of that is Madison, who is leading the WAC in scoring, averaging 19.8 points per game. He has also won his fifth WAC Player of the Week award this season.
Madison attributed his success to the up-tempo play the Vandals run. He also said that his teammates have been able to find him in the right place, where he only has one man to beat to the rim, and that’s made it easy for him.
The Vandals currently sit at sixth place in the conference standings and must play well in the final three games of the season to get a better seed in the WAC Tournament. Five teams are within two games of each other in the middle of the WAC standings.
“The last two weeks are going to determined if we finish fourth or eighth,” Verlin said. “We need to make sure we’re playing our best basketball heading into the conference tournament. It’s important that we get as good as seed as we can possibly get.”
Since beating Idaho, Seattle U is 2-3, after losing its last two games. They are in eighth place in the WAC, but with a win they have the potential to move up two spots to sixth.
“They’re a hard playing, physical team who are very good on the boards,” Verlin said. “I know our guys will be ready to play. It’s a big game, as far as the conference standings are concerned.”
The Vandals recent success hasn’t been a one-man show with Madison. Coach Verlin pointed out freshman Sekou Wiggs has been playing extremely well over the last six or seven games, and has been their second leading scorer. Junior Connor Hill has had a number of big nights, Verlin said. Most notably versus Cal State-Northridge, where he hit eight 3-pointers, to fall one shy of the school record for 3’s in a game.
“We’re playing good basketball right now, no question about it,” Verlin said. “We played really well this last home stand and actually we’ve been playing a lot better the last three weeks. I’m happy with where we’re at.”
For many of the Idaho players, the game versus SU will be a homecoming of sorts, with four players from Seattle. Madison said he’s looking forward to having those players’ families in the stands and have some fans for an away game.
“It’s actually pretty cool for me,” Madison said. “I was actually born in Seattle and I use to go to old Sonics games. So it’s pretty cool to play in the Key Arena and get a chance to play in there.”
Korbin McDonald can be reached at [email protected]