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The University of Idaho Men’s Basketball team (5-17, 2-9), handed the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs 27 turnovers, and their first conference win (74-62) Saturday in Ruston, La. Idaho came within one point several times, but never pulled ahead in the game.
“The key of the game was the 14 turnovers, and the fact that we were 7-15 from the free-throw line in the first half. That is like having more turnovers, when you have guys come to the free-throw line and literally go 0-2,” said Idaho coach George Pfeifer.
The 27 turnovers, a season low for Idaho, resulted in 21 points for the Bulldogs. This gives Idaho a total sacrifice of 45 points from 48 turnovers on this two game road trip, which included a 39 point loss to New Mexico State on Wednesday.
The Vandals are now 0-11 on the road this season, 1-40 in the past three.
Louisiana Tech remains the lowest ranked team in the WAC with a record of 4-18, 1-9.
Terrence Simmons offered Idaho a bright spot, shooting 100 percent from the floor as he racked up 12 points. Simmons’ free-throw percentage was the polar opposite as he missed on every attempt. Also scoring in the double digits were Michael Crowell with 13 points, and Mike Hall with 11. As a whole, the Vandals shot .426 on field goals, .429 on three pointers.
“There are a lot of really good teams (nationally), that are having marginal performances and are winning those games. We have a marginal performance, and it’s a bad experience,” Pfeifer said. “We don’t have that luxury. We have to put our best foot forward all the time.”
Idaho is back in Moscow preparing for its final pair of home games this season, and according to Pfeifer, moving on from last week.
“I don’t know if you can talk about momentum right now, you have to talk about the next game, about getting better,” Pfeifer said. “We are going to try to simplify what we do. We are going to polish up our zone defense and polish up our man to man defense.”
The coaching staff also plans to meet with individual players to discuss their course of action toward improvement.
“We will also be meeting with people individually and talking about what they, not what they can do for the team, but what they can do individually to perform better and at a higher level,” Pfeifer said.
The coach also mentioned that performing better individually doesn’t mean competing as an individual, just upping the level of a player’s personal performance.
“I’m not meeting with them to talk about how the team can get better, but how can (they) be a better player so we can be a better team,” said Pfeifer.
Idaho sees its next action at home against Fresno State (11-13, 4-6). The game begins at 7:05 p.m. on Thursday, in Cowan Spectrum.
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