Idaho (6-3) walked into a tough environment on Saturday, Dec. 6, and emerged with one of its most impressive wins of the young season, an 84-81 victory over South Dakota State (5-5) in the Big Sky-Summit League Challenge that helped secure the overall event for the Big Sky Conference. The conference won 11 of the 18 matchups, and Idaho played a major role in that outcome with two wins.
Head coach Alex Pribble has stressed crashing the glass, physical play and a growing trust in his team’s depth. All of those traits appeared again in Brookings. Idaho has now scored 74 or more points in seven of its nine games this season, and Saturday’s win once again showed the balanced scoring the staff has tried to cultivate. The Vandals finished with five players in double figures for the second time this season against a Division 1 opponent, and they won the rebounding battle for the eighth time this year.
Kolton Mitchell entered the game in a scoring slump with fewer than 10 points in each of his last three outings, including a scoreless night in Idaho’s blowout win over North Dakota. On Saturday, he responded with his best performance of the season. The redshirt sophomore guard led both teams with 22 points, recorded his fifth double figure scoring effort of the season, hit four threes and went eight for eight at the foul line for the second time this year.
Isaiah Brickner had another good night, finishing with 11 points and six rebounds just three days after dropping a career-high 26 against North Dakota. His effort gave him four straight double-figure games and five on the season. True freshman Jackson Rasmussen again showed why the staff trusts him so much, delivering 15 points, four assists and four rebounds while playing with poise in key stretches. Brody Rowbury added 11 points and eight rebounds, and Jack Payne had 14 points and five rebounds. Payne’s 13 points in the second half marked his highest scoring half of the year.
South Dakota State protected the ball all afternoon, committing only five turnovers, but Idaho kept pace by continuing its season-long trend of strong outside shooting. The Vandals hit 11 threes, compared to only five from the Jackrabbits, and extended their streak of at least five made threes to 55 games.
Idaho’s ability to contest shots over the final six minutes forced the Jackrabbits into difficult looks and allowed Idaho to finish the game on a 38-28 surge.
Idaho led 82-81 with less than ten seconds remaining when a technical foul on South Dakota State sent Mitchell to the line. He knocked down both free throws to secure the win.
Idaho now heads to South Bend for a road test against Notre Dame on Wednesday, Dec. 10, at 4 p.m.