At the hands of NAIA Division II opponents, the Idaho men’s basketball team flourished offensively Oct. 28 amidst an Evergreen State onslaught.
Saturday’s exhibition game against NCAA Division III opponent Willamette University may prove to be slightly more challenging.
Willamette opens the 2011-2012 season at Idaho. The Bearcats were 7-18 last season and won just two games on the road. Senior Taylor Mounts led the team in scoring last season with 20.2 points per game and was selected to the postseason all-Northwest Conference second team.
Idaho will likely employ a similar offensive scheme to Friday’s that saw them force the ball to their big bodies down low against a shorter Evergreen State team. As a result, the Geoducks made the most of unlimited space to shoot 3-pointers at will.
Willamette has the size advantage over Evergreen State, but not by much. On the Bearcats’ 22-man roster, only five players are 6 feet 5 inches or taller whereas Idaho’s 14-man roster consists of seven players who are at least 6 feet 5 inches.
Willamette’s leading three scorers from the 2010-2011 season return and attempted more than 350 3-point shots last year.
“We’ve got to do a better job of getting to the shooters, I mean we can’t give up 13 3-point shots, we’ve got to do a better job pressuring the ball,” coach Don Verlin said. “I haven’t seen a lot from Willamette but if they’re small we have
to do a better job getting out to the shooters, contesting the shooters and making an emphasis of that this week.”
Despite allowing 76 points on defense, the offense maintained stable and again, utilized its height to grab 26 offensive rebounds. Idaho grabbed 68 total boards Friday, almost twice as many as Willamette averaged per game last season.
Verlin said it will be important for the offense to “set up shop close to the basket” this season.
“We’ve got good size, we can start a pretty big lineup and we have a lot of different options to do it and we have some very good rebounders so we’ve got to dominate the boards inside,” he said.
With four exhibition games and scrimmages to judge stats and production prior to the regular season opener at Long Beach State, Verlin has worked different schemes and will use all 14 players in the second and final pre-season exhibition game.
Mansa Habeeb and Djim Bandoumel were the only players not
available last weekend but both should see action Saturday.
Though Idaho’s competition in the exhibitions will not compare to what the team will face in WAC play, senior guard Landon Tatum said the team’s competitive edge remains the same.
“Our coaches always put it in our minds, it’s a regular game you’re not trying to go out here just to impress people, you’re trying to go out there and get work done and get better each time,” Tatum said. “We go out there to try and make a statement, get a win.”