Even this late in to the season it’s hard to put a finger on this Idaho men’s basketball team.
First the problems were turnovers and limiting the possessions of its opponents. Then Idaho shored up its turnover issue, but all of a sudden couldn’t rebound. Now the Vandals are dominant on the boards, not turning the ball over, and now can’t defend for the life of them.
Idaho allowed the UTSA Roadrunners to shoot 55-percent from the field in its 74-56 loss Thursday night.
The defining statistics in this one are simple though — The two teams shot the same amount of attempts, 55, but UTSA hit eight more shots. UTSA turned the ball over seven less times, attempted 11 less 3-point attempts (scoring far more in the paint) and got five more points at the free throw line.
The second half was even more skewed.
Idaho took its 16-of-30 first half and went 6-of-22 in the second half. Kyle Barone scored two points, with Mansa Habeeb leading the way for Idaho in the second half with six points. The Vandals allowed the Roadrunners to shoot 16-27 from the field in the second half, as the roadrunners took only a few minutes in to the second half to get control of the game.
A game Idaho led by two at halftime, none the less.
Here is our game story
Another night, another second half that saw Idaho watch another victory slip away. A 74-56 loss at Texas-San Antonio drops the Vandals to 5-11 in WAC play with only two games remaining before the conference tournament.
The frustration of Idaho coach Don Verlin showed in his post-game radio interview, stumbling through his words to assess his team’s performance.
“It’s becoming like a broken record, it’s really frustrating. You give them 60 percent from the field you’re not going to win,” he said. “We just couldn’t get them stopped, that’s exactly right.”
Idaho allowed UTSA to comfortably score and didn’t contest the Roadrunners’ shots on many occasions. The Vandals were only able to turn the Roadrunners over six times while allowing them to go 30-of-55 from the field.
Idaho was able to go back-and-forth with the Roadrunners in the first half, feeding Kyle Barone and making shots from 3-point range to go in to the half with a 40-38 lead.
The second half was a completely different story.