The University of Idaho men’s basketball team went through significant changes this season with several roster changes, a new head coach and an unpredictable outcome for how the season would play out.

The Vandals finished the year with an 8-24 record, an improvement from their 5-27 record in the 2018-19 campaign.

After the Vandals parted ways with former head coach Don Verlin, assistant coach Zac Claus was named the interim head coach going into the 2019-20 season. Claus had new challenges with a new team.

“First, it was making sure we had a full roster. It was a matter of trying to put together the best possible roster that we could and then trying to get that group as a whole to work together and keep competing on a daily basis,” Claus said.

Claus became Idaho men’s basketball’s 30th head coach on February 25 and picked up his first official win as a head coach against Idaho State on Senior Day.

Idaho opened the season with a win against Evergreen State College and finished 2019 with a 4-9 overall record. The Vandals earned their first BSC win after defeating Portland State 72-61 to open the new year undefeated.

Over the course of the season, the Vandals had 10 games decided by five points or less and they won three of those contests. Against Idaho State, the Vandals won their 12th straight senior day game to close out the regular season.

The Vandal’s leading scorer, senior guard Trevon Allen, finished the season with 647 points and averaged 21.6 points per game. Allen had three 30-point outings in his last three games as a Vandal.

He was added to the All-Big Sky Conference Second Team and is No.8 in the Vandals’ All-Time Scoring List with 1395 total points.

The Vandals fell in the first round of the 2020 Big Sky Men’s Basketball Championships to the Southern Utah Thunderbirds 75-69. Allen led all scorers with 35 points as the Vandals capped off their season.

“I was excited and pleased with our guys to compete the way that they did,” Claus said. “They brought a level of physicality that was necessary to be able to compete with a team like Southern Utah. They fought to the very end, and it was a testament in a small window of a 40-minute game to demonstrate a collective fight and toughness that our guys had throughout the year.”

The remainder of the Big Sky Men’s Basketball Championships were canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. Players and coaches are now only able to connect virtually for meetings and practices are unable to be held at this time.

“We continue to have regular meetings with our academic advisor, Krista Gray, who does an unbelievable job with our guys, and we’re making sure that we are continuing to have regular communication with our team on a regular basis.”

The Vandals finished off the 2019-20 season, and Claus and his coaching staff look forward to the team they will have for next season.

“Continue to be very excited moving forward with the nucleus we have coming back. We have a great group of guys, and we’re looking forward to next season as we continue to get better and better,” Claus said.

Armin Mesinovic can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @arminmesinovic