After eight long months, Vandal basketball is finally back. The Idaho men’s basketball team opened their season on the road with an 84-59 loss to Washington State on Nov. 6.
Size and effort proved to be a huge issue for the Vandals as they were outrebounded 45-26. Fifth year forward Isaac Jones, who played for Idaho last season, led the charge on the glass with four offensive and five defensive rebounds.
“When we talk about the possession battle, turnovers are one of them, another one is rebounding, and we got obliterated on the rebounds” junior guard Quinn Denker said during a press conference.
Head coach Alex Pribble followed him saying, “I wasn’t happy with our effort on the glass. Obviously, 45-26 on the glass, you’re not going to be able to get much done with that kind of differential.”
Jones also played a large part in the scoring effort for the Cougars. Ten of his 13 points came from inside while the other three came from the free-throw line. He also dished out four assists and snagged two steals.
The other big name for WSU was senior forward Andrej Jakimovski. He finished the night with 21 points, two blocks and four rebounds.
On the other side, Idaho struggled in the quest for points. Denker led the team with 12 points as he went 3/7 from the field and 5/6 from the line. He also grabbed four rebounds.
Behind Denker was junior forward Kyson Rose. He put up nine points and was one of just five Vandals to hit a three.
“I just need to shoot (the three) with confidence,” Rose said when asked about his six attempts. “I know I’m a great shooter, I’ve just got to keep shooting.”
Rose was also the main guy in the paint, and even though he’s 6 feet 9 inches tall, he struggled to grab boards as he only pulled down two. Washington State had seven players pull down four or more rebounds, Idaho had two.
The other player to have more than four rebounds was Juice Mims. He led the team with seven rebounds and three steals.
One of the biggest defensive players outside of Mims was sophomore guard Trevon Blassingame. He played 10 total minutes, but in his first minute off the bench, he had one block and one steal.
“He’s that guy, he’s that guy,” Pribble said. “He played at Farleigh Dickinson, which is a fantastic defensive team with a lot of pressure. He’s a great communicator out there, (and) he’s not afraid of physicality, that’s why we went to him so early.
While Idaho didn’t come out with a win, Head Coach Alex Pribble was able to learn a lot about what his team looks like. The Vandals had 11 players get actual playing time.
Freshman forward Takai Hardy played the least with five minutes, but he pulled down two rebounds. Of the 11, 10 had points and all 11 had numbers on the stats line.
“I thought we had some good presence from our younger guys,” Pribble said. “I was really happy with the mentality of Kristian Gonzalez (and) Takai Hardy. I thought both of them were aggressive. They didn’t back away from what was going on, they just went out there and tried to make plays.
The Vandals will look to rebound from the WSU loss as they take on California State University, Northridge at 6 p.m. on Thursday in ICCU Arena. Idaho beat CSUN 76-73 in Northridge last season.
James Taurman-Aldrich can be reached at [email protected] or on X @jamesaldrich25