Tough future without Madison — Life without senior Stephen Madison could be rough

The Idaho men’s basketball team went to the Key Arena in Seattle on Saturday looking to avenge a loss from earlier this season. Unfortunately, vengeance eluded the Vandals.  

After the first half saw the Vandals up by as many as nine points, the team gave up the lead early in the second half and never recovered.

That isn’t the first time this has happened to the Vandals this season.  What hasn’t been seen much before Saturday though was how the team could play and produce with senior Stephen Madison sitting on the bench.

From the outcome of the game, the team didn’t react well.

Madison, who is seen as a potential WAC Player of the Year, got into foul trouble early in the game and sat out for the last nine minutes of the first half.

The team was able to maintain a lead through the first half into the second, but that was only because Seattle U was not shooting well.

In those last nine minutes, the Redhawks only shot 33 percent from the field. The Vandals were able to shoot 57 percent from the field in that same amount of time, but they also turned the ball over six times and took 11 less shots than their opponents.

Much of the same happened in the second half. Madison picked up his third and fourth fouls fairly quickly and that put him back on the bench. This season, he averaged almost 35 minutes per game. On Saturday, Madison played only 21 minutes.

Turnovers and missed shots continued to plague the Vandals during the second half and caused them to lose the lead. By the time Madison came back in, it was too late. He was able to finish the game with 18 points and two rebounds, but his off night was not the story of the night.

When Madison wasn’t on the court, the Vandals seemed lost at times. Idaho took bad shots and turned over the ball several times. When Seattle U started to improve on shooting from the field, Idaho didn’t have a player — when Madison wasn’t in — that could respond with a basket of his own.

This is terrifying for the men’s basketball program. Idaho only has three more conference games on the schedule, which means Madison doesn’t have many games left in a Vandal uniform.

Reminiscent of last year with Kyle Barone graduating, the team is going to have to find a replacement for Madison. A person that not only can produce stat-wise, but a player that can be a leader for the Vandals.

The Vandals haven’t found that person yet.

Plenty of guys like Sekou Wiggs and Connor Hill have shown flashes of becoming stars in games, over the course of the season, but their performances have been spotty at best for Idaho.

Hopefully, the Vandals can find that player that can produce for them like Madison did this year and Barone did last year.

Guys like Hill and Wiggs need to continue to learn and develop other facets in their game. If they don’t develop and the Vandals go into next season without someone to provide that needed spark for crucial moments in the game, the Vandals will continue to be near the bottom of conference standings.

Rick Clark can be reached at [email protected]