Isaiah Brickner couldn’t miss. The senior guard, who had battled through two summer injuries and waited for his moment, erupted for a career high 26 points, 23 of those in the second half, to lead Idaho to a dominant 90-58 victory over North Dakota at and moves them to 5-3 on the season.
With nine minutes remaining and the game already out of reach, Brickner wasn’t done. Off a defensive rebound, redshirt sophomore guard Myles Clapper grabbed the ball and raced up the floor. In a quick two-man game with Brickner, they had UND on their heels. Clapper dribbled to his right and saw a cutting Brickner, who rose up and threw down an emphatic dunk, pumping himself and the crowd up in his 17 minutes off the bench.
“I was just trying to take the right shots, and they were just going in, so I kept shooting them,” Brickner said. “We haven’t really had a game this year where we put together a, you know, a full 40. That was my mentality going into that second half, making sure we [were] all locked in.”
Brickner has battled through injuries before the Vandals hit the floor to start the season. Having two different ones during the summer led to him missing a lot of time.
However, the time away didn’t diminish Brickner’s toughness. According to head coach Alex Pribble, before one of their most difficult conditioning workouts, without having time to prepare, Brickner tore off his shirt and ran the best time of all his teammates. All that hard work and rehab have led to Brickner’s growing role with Idaho this season.
“That level of toughness and unselfishness that this guy has, it’s only a matter of time for him to come in and perform the way he did,” Pribble said. “He’s playing the best basketball of his career right now. I’m proud of him and excited about the rest of this year.”
After a slow start, the Vandals picked up the pace, and behind six three pointers, including three from junior Seth Joba, Idaho started to pull away. Joba had a superb first half, finishing with 13 points and setting the tone for the Vandals.
Senior guard Trevon Blassingame capped off the half with a layup with under five seconds to go to give the Vandals the 41-27 lead at halftime.
Brickner at the half had a lone three pointer. However, the second half he was the star of the show. With the Fighting Hawks’ defensive focus on trapping the Vandals on ball screens and in the low post, the right decision and pass led to open space and shots on the perimeter.
Idaho thrived in that role as their ball movement led to wide open threes, and early in the second half, Brickner got going and knocked down two of Idaho’s eight threes in the second half.
Brickner was great shooting the basketball, finishing 7-10 and 4-5 from beyond the arc. But he was excellent off the ball, with movement inside and on the perimeter that created space for him and his teammates.
His constant movement and cutting towards the basket led to opportunities at the rim, including that thundering dunk to take the life out of the Fighting Hawks.
Idaho’s offense has been electric this season, averaging 81 points per game. The true identity has been on the glass and on the defensive end. Idaho has consistently won the rebounding battle this season and won it 35-20 over North Dakota.
Most of those rebounds have been due to great defense. Idaho has vastly improved in this category, only allowing 70 points per game and has strived to be a more tough and defensive minded team.
“We’re trying to change the identity of this team, to be a little tougher, a little more consistent defensively, be able to win games with our defense and with our rebounding,” Pribble said. “The rebounding differential is a great number for us. I feel like we put together a pretty complete defensive performance. It’s where we’re trying to go as a team.”
The Vandals have had multiple players step up throughout the season, and tonight was no different with 59 of their 90 points coming from their bench. Brickner’s career high, Joba’s 13 points and eight rebounds, and Blassingame’s 12 huge points and strong defensive performance all contributed to the dominant victory.
Idaho will travel to South Dakota this weekend and take on South Dakota State University Jackrabbits in the second game of the Big Sky Summit League challenge. The Vandals and Jackrabbits will tip off on Saturday, Dec. 6 at noon.