The Idaho men’s basketball team is set to take on Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona on the road this week.
Idaho suffered losses to both teams at home earlier this season but look to get a couple wins against the aptly named “Northerns” this week.
Northern Colorado (16-10, 9-4) is up first at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 22. The Bears had no outside expectations coming into the season, placing ninth in the preseason polls. However, an MVP-level season from junior forward Saint Thomas has UNC sitting at second in the Big Sky.
“Saint Thomas is one of the best players in the league, but they have a lot of other guys who can hurt you as well,” Head Coach Alex Pribble said during a press conference. “So, for us, it’s about, defensively, locking in and finding ways to get stops.”
Thomas is second in the Big Sky in points per game (19.9), first in rebounds (10.1), second in free-throw percentage (85.7%), eighth in assists (3.5) and eighth in blocks (0.9). However, Pribble has a plan to try and slow him down this time around.
“There’s a couple of guys that I think are going to be defensive stoppers for us,” Pribble said “EJ Neal’s going to get a crack on him, he’s been showing signs of the lockdown defender that we expected. Terren Frank has been a good one-on-one defender for us with his size and versatility.” He also expects Trevon Blassingame to step up defensively.
Following the trip to Greeley, Colorado, the Vandals will head down to Flagstaff, Arizona. The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (12-5, 5-8) will welcome Idaho at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24.
NAU bounced Idaho from the Big Sky tournament before going on a historic run to the championship last year, so this would be a big momentum win for the Vandals. With how tough it’ll be to beat Northern Colorado;, this could also be the game that gives Idaho its best record since 2017-2018.
“It’s a little bit of a milestone, just because it’s an external marker that we are moving this program in the right direction,” Pribble said when asked about the importance of winning that 11th game. “Some of the Vandal fans that have been great all year, they can look at that and say ‘objectively, the program is getting better.’”
In order to try and pick up that 11th, or potentially 12th win, Idaho will have to stop Trent McLaughlin. The junior guard is top-three in the Big Sky in points per game, which is helped by his tied-for-second 2.3 threes per game. He finished with 25 points in NAU’s 75-60 victory earlier in the season.
There’s a lot on the line in terms of seeding in these two games. Idaho needs two wins, along with two Montana State losses, to move up to the coveted sixth spot in the conference tournament. With only five games remaining, getting two road wins this week would be huge for the Vandals.
James Taurman-Aldrich can be reached at [email protected] or on X @jamesaldrich25