The Idaho men’s basketball team opened its season with a dominating 74-54 victory over San Jose State Saturday night in San Jose, California, to begin regular season play.
The Vandals (1-0) stifled the Spartans offense and shot 46 percent from the field en route to a 20-point victory.
“I really liked the mindset of our guys tonight,” said Idaho coach Don Verlin. “I thought they were focused. I thought they played extremely hard.”
Junior guard Perrion Callandret led the way for the Vandals, scoring 18 points and adding six assists. Redshirt freshman power forward Nate Sherwood also contributed 15 points in the victory for the Vandals.
Idaho held San Jose State to six points in the first 14 minutes of play as the team jumped out to a commanding 25-6 lead midway through the first half.
After inconsistent play from both Idaho and San Jose State late in the first half, the Vandals emerged with a 34-18 lead at halftime.
San Jose State (0-1) shot 18.9 percent from the field in the first half, making only 7 of 37 shots. The Spartans were even worse from 3-point range, shooting just 2 of 19 from behind the arc.
The poor shooting performance by San Jose State allowed the Vandals to develop and maintain a 20-point lead, despite Idaho’s slow offensive start.
San Jose State came out in the second half with more energy on offense, which translated into 36 second-half points for the Spartans. Idaho responded with a 40-point outburst in the final 20 minutes of play to cement a victory.
Junior forward Ty Egbert provided a strong defensive presence for the Vandals late in the game with five blocks against the Spartans.
“I thought Ty Egbert maybe played his best game as a Vandal,” Verlin said. “I couldn’t be happier with the way Egbert played tonight.”
Sophomore guard Victor Sanders provided a spark in the second half for the Vandals, adding nine points and reeling in five defensive rebounds. Sanders finished the game with 13 points and 7 total rebounds.
“I have a lot of optimism for this team,” Verlin said. “We have a lot of new faces, but we returned a lot of guys that are ready to play.”
Idaho will travel to Bakersfield, California, to take on California State-Bakersfield at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Josh Grissom can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @GoshJrissom