The Vandals still have the look of a bunch of strangers on the court, as they dropped their first game in the Coaches vs. Cancer classic, to the host school Portland Pilots 88-74.
With 10 newcomers on the team this season, it has taken some time to develop chemistry and the growing pains look like they may continue to hamper the Vandals.
Sloppy play was the story of the first half as they turned the ball over nine times, leading to a 17-0 run for the Pilots.
“I thought they were the more aggressive team. A couple things happened, and we made some errors,” coach Don Verlin said.
The Vandals would clean things up at the end of the first half, and go on a 21-4 run themselves, to go into the locker room only trailing by 10.
Idaho would hang tough for the start of the second half and come as close as nine points, but Portland proved to be the better team on this night, leading by 20 for much of the game.
Stephen Madison had a good night and is continuing his hot start to the season as he led the team with 19 points, going 5-of-11 from the field, 1-of-2 from three, and 8-of-9 from the free throw line.
With the 19 points Madison scored on Thursday night, he became the 14th player in Idaho history with 1,000 points scored in his career.
“We knew when we got Stephen, he was a marquee recruit,” Verlin said. “He’s been a very good player in this program for four years. He’s a multi-position guy. We can play him at the four we can play him at the three. He’s very smart. It’s nice to see Stephen play well in front of his home fans.”
Despite Madison’s record setting night, the aspect of the game that continues to plague the Vandals was the turnover margin. Only nine assist to 11 turnovers is not a winning combination and a big part of that is attributed to all the newcomers.
Two newcomers that have caught Verlin’s eye would be freshman guards Sekou Wiggs and Perrion Callandret.
“Wiggs and Callendret are both going to be good players. I’m not sure if they played great but they gave some energy off the bench,” Verlin said. “What we got to do is keep grinding. It’s going to be a growing process with this team because of our youth.”
The Vandals will be back in action on Friday, when they take on the Mean Green of North Texas.
“We have to play better tomorrow night than we did tonight,” Verlin said. “We’ve done a lot of practicing so it’s time to play some games. It’s time for me to figure out who can play when the lights are on. In less than 24 hours, we’re back on this court versus a good North Texas team.”
Korbin McDonald can be reached at [email protected]