The Idaho men’s basketball team won both of their exhibition games by overwhelming margins but will be the underdogs against Long Beach State Saturday.
The 49er team returns four 2010-2011 All-Big West honorees, all of whom were starters on last year’s squad. Long Beach State received Top 25 votes in the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches preseason polls.
Coach Don Verlin confirmed that Deremy Geiger, Stephen Madison, Kyle Barone and Landon Tatum will start Saturday. Verlin has yet to confirm who will fulfill the power forward position, which has been sophomore Joe Kammerer’s thus far.
The Vandals must take notice of 49er senior guard Casper Ware, who was named the Big West Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year last season. Long Beach State also returns senior forward T.J. Robinson, a 6-foot-8-inch forward who averaged 13.6 points per game last season and had 344 rebounds.
The teams met toward the conclusion of the 2009-2010 season for an ESPN BracketBusters match-up in Moscow. The 49ers came out on top 77-66 and the Vandal defense had no answer for then sophomore Robinson, who dropped 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Ware, also a sophomore at the time added 20 points.
Idaho junior center Kyle Barone dominated the rebounding scene against Evergreen State and Willamette but the 49ers averaged 37 rebounds per game last season, and this Vandal team has not had the opportunity to face a physically dominant opponent.
Idaho shot poorly from the perimeter in the 2010 match-up, converting only three baskets from behind the arc. The Vandals look promising from the three-point line after two games, having tallied 15 total threes.
Verlin may look to freshmen Connor Hill and Matt Borton to lead the three-point efforts, as the two have combined for nine threes and 33 points in the exhibition wins.
Barone, a preseason All-WAC second team honoree, is expected to lead the Vandals. The junior utilized his 6-foot-10-inch frame to grab 28 rebounds and 27 points against Evergreen and Willamette but will be challenged by Robinson who dominated a match-up with ex-Vandal center Marvin Jefferson two years ago.
In addition, Long Beach State is riding a nine-game winning streak at Walter Pyramid, its home arena, and won 11 of the final 13 games last season.
Idaho has the benefit of playing the 49ers in their regular season opener, which also serves as the 49ers’ Homecoming game, because of the school’s lack of a football program.
Tipoff is at 2:05 p.m. and can be seen online at BigWest.org/TV or heard on the Vandal Radio Network.