After defeating Whitman College 94-49 on Friday night, the Vandals moved to their first 2-0 start in the past decade. Though they only went with an eight-man rotation against Washington State, Brickner and others exemplified the depth that this Idaho team has up its sleeve. The Vandal bench scored 39 points, and for the first time in six years, the team has had six double-digit scorers in consecutive games.
In the 2024-25 season, Isaiah Brickner averaged 4.1 points per game off the bench for the Idaho Vandals. In the home opener of the 2025-26 season, Brickner scored 13 points with five rebounds, four assists and two steals. On one of his steals, he blew the roof off the ICCU Arena with a transition alley-oop dunk off the pass from Aidan Sevilla.
“A lot of good performances up and down the roster. I think we showed our depth tonight, which is a big deal as well,” said head coach Alex Pribble in the postgame press conference. “Our superpower this year as a team is our togetherness. Our guys really care about each other. They’re extremely cohesive on and off the court.”
As this was the first day of Parent and Family Weekend at the University of Idaho, the Vandals drew their largest home-opener crowd since at least 2006 with 2,295 attendees.
“This crowd was incredible tonight,” Pribble said. “Really want to give a shoutout and a thank you to the Vandal Nation that came out. Brought good energy all night. …The student section was rocking. Just really thought that was a great environment.”
Idaho took a sizable lead early, but a barrage of three-point attempts from Whitman brought them back into the game. Eighteen of Whitman’s first 22 shot attempts were from beyond the arc. The Vandals took a 37-29 lead into the half, which was not as big of a margin as the team hoped for. However, in the second half, it was a completely different story, and Idaho outscored Whitman 57-20.
“This game was about consistency,” Pribble said. “We didn’t have a great first 20 minutes in terms of playing our principles and doing what we do. I thought we did a great job in the second half of responding correctly, making the right adjustments.”
Though it is a small sample size, Idaho currently holds a rebound margin of 33, its largest through two games in the last 10 years. The team dominated in the post, winning the rebound battle and scoring 28 more points in the paint than Whitman. The team’s ball movement in the second half was incredible.
“The inside-out threat is a big emphasis for us this year. Obviously, we had a size advantage against these guys,” Pribble said. “We needed to make sure that the ball was going inside, and I think they did a really good job being efficient down there. This is a good opportunity for us to prove that we can really score the ball inside, not just shoot the three like we did last year.”
In the second half, Idaho made it rain from beyond the arc. Jack Payne kicked off the second-half scoring with a three-pointer straight out of the break. Payne is going to be shooting a lot more threes this season since he switched from the four to the three.
“It was a little bit easier at times last year to create open threes because bigger, slower players were guarding him,” Pribble said. “Now he’s on the wing, and we’ve got to be a little more creative to make sure he can get his threes off. His ability to stretch the court for us is definitely a weapon.”
On Idaho’s next possession after Payne’s three, Kolton Mitchell hit a three and the long balls just kept flying for the Vandals. Miles Klapper came into the game and drilled four threes, finishing with 12 points off the bench.
After only scoring seven points against WSU, Kolton Mitchell was flying all over the court against Whitman, finishing with 17 points, six assists, two steals and five rebounds. With the absence of Kristian Gonzalez, several Vandal guards rose to the occasion against Whitman. The team shot 48% on three-pointers and went 16 for 18 at the charity stripe.
“We’re a good shooting team. When you’re at home, you got to shoot the ball well,” Pribble said. “We need to continue to be efficient and make the right decisions around the rim.”
It was another great game for Idaho’s front court, as Brody Rowbury did a great job of setting up good shots for his teammates. He had great touch in the paint, sinking a few floaters and finishing with 10 points and three rebounds. Seth Joba had a huge game off the bench, scoring 10 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Eight of his rebounds were offensive rebounds, and he finished with two assists.
True freshman Jackson Rasmussen had quite the home debut, displaying dominant paint presence and playing with the poise of a veteran. He finished with 19 points and four rebounds, shooting 80% from the field. Rasmussen is the highest recruit in the Big Sky, and he chose to go to Idaho since it was close to home and it “felt like home from the first moment we talked.”
“Recruiting is all about the right fit, and this is the right fit for Ras. He’s got great people around him. We trust him. We believe in him,” Pribble said. “We knew he’d be ready to make an impact right away, but the great thing about Ras is he’s nowhere near his ceiling. He’s got great basketball ahead of him. He’s physical, he’s tough, but to me, his best quality is his coachability. He can pick up things very quickly and make adjustments, and that’s a huge strength.”
Coming up, Idaho opens its two-game road trip by traveling to San Diego on Wednesday, Nov. 12, at the Jenny Craig Pavilion to take on the San Diego Toreros. The game will tip off at 6 p.m.
Liam Bradford can be reached at [email protected].