The Idaho men’s basketball team is currently looking at one of the best seasons they have under head coach Alex Pribble since the 2015-16 season, where They finished 21-13.
The Vandals are currently sitting at (15-13, 7-8), with a deep roster and a lot of potential leading up to the Big Sky Conference tournament, which the Vandals are currently seventh in the standings.
The Vandals have a huge weekend ahead as they look to close an up and down regular season with some momentum. Idaho has two more games inside the ICCU Arena. The first is on Thursday, Feb. 26, at 6 p.m. where they host the (10-18, 4-11) Northern Arizona Lumberjacks. They will then host senior night on Saturday, Feb. 28, versus the red hot (18-10, 8-7), Northern Colorado Bears at 1 p.m.
Northern Arizona
The last time the Vandals and Lumberjacks played in Flagstaff, Arizona, the Vandals won 79-62 and by
halftime the Vandals were up 47-23, absolutely dominating. Senior guard Isaiah Brickner dropped 31 points, along with three other players scoring in double digits.
Idaho will want to get Brickner involved as he has been the spark for the Vandals as a new entry into the starting lineup. He has brought life and energy into Idaho’s starting five.
Idaho will look to replicate their result in Flagstaff and play a full 40 minutes, which hasn’t shown up a lot this season, with incontinency being the Achilles heel of this team.
Northern Arizona, who is last place in the conference, is coming in with nothing to lose looking to come to the ICCU Arena and steal any momentum the Vandals have to move forward.
Northern Colorado
After the matchup last Thursday, the Vandals have a very tough game against Northern Colorado.
The Bears are doing really well this season and are on a seven-game win streak and have serious momentum walking into the ICCU Arena.
In Greeley, Colorado, the Bears pulled away at the end 91-83 and ignited this ferocious run they have been on. The game was close in the first half with the Vandals going into halftime with the lead. Idaho had the lead with 14 minutes left in the second half, before the Bears took control of the game and kept their lead after passing the Vandals early in the first half.
Key players for the Vandals in the previous game were freshman forward Jackson Rasmussen, who put up a total of 29 points, redshirt sophomore Kolton Mitchell and senior Brody Rowbury, who also had a strong showing, and they will have to show out in a big way against the Bears.
For the Bears, senior guard Quinn Denker, a former player for the Idaho Vandals, has been a key contributor this season. Denker averages 18.4 points a game and is the leader for Northern Colorado. Coming back to play against his original team with so much momentum, this will be a chance for the Vandals to showcase their ability to win.
Denker was almost unstoppable in the first matchup as he finished with 35 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists and was playing with that chip on his shoulder he always plays with.
Slowing Denker down both as a scorer and as a facilitator will be crucial for the Vandals to walk out of senior night with a victory.
These matchups are going to play a big role in the upcoming Big Sky Conference tournament. If Idaho can win these games and even win against Eastern Washington, their last regular season conference game, they will have a much better seed.
With such a huge turnaround under Pribble, there is a lot to look forward to as this season comes to an end. There have been recent player standouts that show a promising future such as senior guard Biko Johnson. Johnson has been averaging 12.7 points a game and recently has become one of the Vandals’ go-to players.
Idaho, looks to finish off the regular season with some confidence and go into the
Tournament playing their best basketball. The Vandals have the team to do it, and they have shown at times what this team can be but now is the chance to prove it with three huge matchups to prove that Idaho isn’t someone people want to play in Boise.