Whenever a coach takes over a new program, there is always a priority to develop a specific culture that defines the group. For the Idaho Vandals men’s basketball program, there have been significant improvements through two seasons under head coach Alex Pribble. For Idaho, the culture is about being a cohesive unit that is resilient and tightly knit.
“We want to compete together with joy and with purpose; that’s what our culture looks like,” Pribble said. “We want to be a really tight group that has fun out there on the court but is very purposeful and intentional every time they are taking the court.”
The Vandals went 14-19 with eight conference wins in the 2024-25 season, hitting multiple other marks that hadn’t been reached in seven years. The Vandals earned a first-round bye in the Big Sky Conference tournament in Boise and eliminated Portland State, 80-70, to advance to the conference semifinal. None of these numbers had been achieved since 2017.
“I like the line that coaching is a belief-building business,” Pribble said. “You take over a program like Idaho that had its struggles for a few years, you’ve got to build that belief that we have a roster and a program that can compete for championships.”
Prior to the regular season opener, Idaho traveled to the ExtraMile Arena for its first showdown with the Boise State Broncos since 2014. BSU won 89-83, but there were a lot of good takeaways for Pribble and his team coming out of that exhibition game against the Broncos.
After losing 90-67 last November against their cross-border rivals, Washington State, the Vandals opened their season against the Cougars for the second time in three seasons. However, for the first time since 2017, this time the Vandals came out on top, pulling off the 83-81 upset.
Idaho never trailed once in Pullman on Monday, and just like in the BSU exhibition, it used its physicality to take a significant lead in the first half. Physicality is what this team prides itself on, and despite the small sample size, early indications suggest that being physical may be more of a strong suit this year than last.
“Against WSU and BSU, you saw a different level of physicality on the glass and defensively,” Pribble said. “We can throw it down and finish in the post.”
The team is picked to finish fourth in the Big Sky Preseason Coaches Poll. Despite being happy with how his team played against WSU, Pribble has his eyes set on winning a conference championship and getting his program to the big dance for the first time since 1990.
“We can beat anybody in the conference. It’s just about showing up every day and being consistent,” Pribble said.
Pribble says the way for this team to succeed down the line in conference play is to be tough and physical on both ends of the court and generate quality shots.
“Our ability to protect the rim and rebound is going to be a big deal,” Pribble said. “We outrebounded WSU, and that was a big part of our success. We need to make sure we are doing that in the Big Sky at a high level.”
The Vandals are first in the Big Sky, returning 62.7% of their minutes from last season, and are 15th in the nation in returning production.
“Nine returners is a really big piece of what we’re doing,” Pribble said. “That retention is kind of unique and what’s going to hopefully make us successful this year. It feels like we’re just older, more experienced, a few steps ahead of where we were at this time last year.”
After breaking a program record for three pointers made in a season last year, Idaho returned its three main scorers in Kolton Mitchell, Jack Payne and Kristian Gonzalez. Mitchell was in the top 50 in the country in scoring for freshmen last year and was also in the top 15 in assists by freshmen.
He tallied the second-most threes and the third-most points by a freshman in school history. Pribble noted that Mitchell has put on some size and that he is much better on defense now.
Payne, who was selected to the preseason all-conference team, was an all-conference honorable mention a season ago with 10.8 and 5.1 rebounds per game. Payne attempted more threes than any player on either team in the opener, which is something that should be pretty common this season, according to Pribble.
Gonzalez was Idaho’s leading scorer last season. His 11.4 PPG is fifth best among returning Big Sky players. After nursing an injury this offseason, Gonzalez returned to the Idaho lineup for the WSU game and led both teams with 18 points despite playing only 18 minutes.
Those are just three of the nine returning players on Idaho’s roster, and they also made a splash in the transfer portal. Aside from injury issues, the team’s biggest inconsistency in 2024-25 was physical dominance from the front court. Pribble expects that to be much different this season, referring to his big men as “durable” and an important part of building a championship-caliber roster.
Brody Rowbury, a native of Meridian, started 31 games last season for Southeast Louisiana and averaged 8.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. He wanted to return to Idaho for his final season of eligibility.
“It means a lot. This is why I came back home,” Rowbury said in the postgame press conference after the WSU game. “This is why I came to Idaho. We have something special here, and I wanted to be a part of it. … I’m just super excited.”
Rowbury is one of four Idaho starters who are Gem State natives, along with Payne, Mitchell and the top freshman recruit in the state of Idaho and in the Big Sky Conference, Jackson Rasmussen.
Rasmussen was teammates with Payne at Owyhee during their 2022 state championship run. He won another ring with the Storm before playing a season at Utah Prep with the top national prospect, AJ Dybantsa. Rasmussen, who was selected by Mid Major Madness as the preseason Big Sky freshman of the year, is going to play a pivotal role in the forward position for the Vandals.
There is a total of five Idahoans on the roster, which hasn’t happened since the 1971-72 season. The Vandals will return to Idaho Central Arena in Boise to host the Holiday Hoops Classic tournament. IdahoState will also be at the tournament, with both Idaho schools facing off with Cal State Northridge and Sam Houston.
The team always tries to schedule a road game against a major program in nonconference play. This December, following a visit to South Dakota State for the Big Sky-Summit League competition, the Vandals are heading to South Bend to face off with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
“This group is super tight. There’s a lot of belief internally in our program,” Pribble said. “We think we can accomplish big things this year, but we know externally, we’re still the underdogs. Everywhere we go, we kind of need to prove to people what we’re capable of. … Our guys feel like they’re capable of going into a high-caliber opponent, and really anyone we play this year, our guys feel comfortable that they can go out there and compete.”
The Vandals’ next game is at home on Friday, Nov. 7, at 6 p.m. against Whitman College.
Liam Bradford can be reached at [email protected].