Whatever it is ailing the Idaho Vandals late in games, it needs to be figured out quickly. The Vandals have only four more games before heading to Las Vegas for the Western Athletic Conference tournament, where a likely match-up against New Mexico State or Denver awaits.
Idaho coach Don Verlin put it bluntly, following Idaho’s 67-61 loss to Louisiana Tech Saturday night at the Cowan Spectrum.
“We gave them the game,” he said. “We don’t execute fundamentally, dribble it off our foot, hold it between our legs, dribble it too far in to the press. The bottom line is they got the ball to their best player and we didn’t to ours.”
The La. Tech player Verlin is referring to is Raheem Appleby, who went off for 23 second half points to erase Idaho’s six point halftime lead. Meanwhile, the duo of Stephen Madison and Kyle Barone had 14 second half points combined.
It was again another heartbreak for Idaho with the game within a possession late, La. Tech lead 59-57 with 2:25 remaining in the game. But that’s when turnovers and shot selection started to bite Idaho. Mansa Habeeb turned it over with two minutes remaining which La. Tech converted on the other end to go up six, and then Robert Harris took difficult shots down the floor with under 30 seconds remaining to put a bow on La. Tech’s 14th conference victory.
When asked if he was pleased with Harris’ shot selection down the stretch Verlin gave a short, and blunt, answer — “No.”
The Bulldogs outscored Idaho 11-0 in the second half on points off turnovers, where nine of Idaho’s 15 turnovers on the night occurred. La. Tech point guard Kenneth Smith added in eight second half assists, when as a team La. Tech only turned it over twice.
“They get nine more shots than us in the second half, that’s the game, simply put,” Verlin said. “You can’t give a good team like this life. They have good players, they’re going to make plays, you can’t let the game get to that situation and we did that tonight.”
What Idaho did do well is claw at the Bulldogs from the free throw line, going 12-17 in the second half from the charity stripe to La. Tech’s 5-9. Idaho’s lead through 30 minutes had a lot to do with its ability to get in to the paint for its typical high-percentage shots. Until La. Tech shot itself back in to the lead.
The Bulldogs are very backcourt oriented, and with its full-court press it lends opportunities to score in the paint. In addition to the free throw points, Idaho scored 34 points in the paint.
“We wanted to drive the ball or throw it inside and that was our game plan, we talked a lot about beating them from the free throw line. We felt like we had to be aggressive attacking the basket all night. For the most part except for, except for right at the end of the first half,” Verlin said.
Still, it goes down to execution in the final minutes, and when Appleby hit a mid-range jumper with 7:37 remaining in the game to give La. Tech the lead that was all she wrote for Idaho, which is now 5-10 in WAC play and has lost 10 of its last 13.
“It’s frustrating but we have to find a ways to get those wins, just a couple plays here or there we win those games,” Barone said.
It’s conceivable to think Idaho could, at the very least, be 8-7 in conference play and fighting for the No. 4 or No. 5 seeds in the conference tournament. Instead, Idaho is firmly entrenched in the No. 6 seed at the moment. Idaho holds a two game lead over San Jose State with the tie-breaker, and a two game lead over Texas State with a game at Texas State remaining. A Bobcat win in San Marcos may be cause for a little concern for Idaho should the Vandals lose out. Should Idaho finish 7th or lower it will play in a first round game in the conference tournament.
“I think we’ve done a good job of keeping a short memory, the losses hurt at the time, but in the grand scheme of things we know we can play with any team in the conference,” Idaho guard Mike McChristian said.
Next up for Idaho is its BracketBusters game in Pocatello against Idaho State. The game itself will have little bearing on anything, but will be a good opportunity for Idaho fans and alumna in southern Idaho to see the program.