BIG SKY MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Vandals bow out in first round again

BOISE — It was the same old result for the Idaho Vandals on Saturday at the Big Sky Conference men’s basketball tournament.

But the Vandals viewed the season as a whole as the start of something new in Moscow.

“The reality is, I'm extremely proud of these guys,” first-year Idaho coach Alex Pribble said Saturday, after the ninth-seeded Vandals fell 72-64 to 10th-seeded Sacramento State in the first round of the Big Sky tourney at Idaho Central Arena. “When we started this journey, we wanted to build a strong culture in the locker room we could build on for years to come. Obviously we’ve disheartened with the outcome tonight; we felt we could have taken a big step forward in this tournament, but … I’m proud of the steps we took this year.”

Idaho finished 11-21 — the 11 wins the most for the Vandal men since the 2017-18 team finished 22-9. Since that year, Idaho won 5, 8, 1, 9 and 10 wins in the next five seasons.

Enter Pribble, the former associate head coach at Seattle U., and former Eastern Washington assistant, and 12 new players on a 15-person roster.

“It’s been an amazing year for a whole new group of guys,” said one of those new players, former North Idaho College standout Julius Mims, who totaled 20 points, seven rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals. “What we’ve been able to do is amazing, and I can't wait to see what we can do  next year. I feel like we can turn some heads next year.”

Akol Mawein scored 25 points for Sacramento State (9-23), which plays top-seeded Eastern Washington (21-10) today at 4:30 p.m. PST in the second round.

With the loss, Idaho has not won a game in the Big Sky tournament since 2017. The Vandals are 0-6 since the event moved to Boise in 2019. Idaho is now 2-10 in the conference tourney since rejoining the Big Sky in basketball in 2014-15.

Idaho trailed 32-29 at halftime, but Tyler Linhardt’s corner 3 gave the Vandals their first lead since the first bucket of the game at 38-37. The Hornets responded with a Zee Hamoda 3 and never seceded the lead again. 

“There were moments we got the momentum going, but we weren’t consistent enough,” Pribble said. “We really preach process over product. There’s a lot of pain in our stomachs right now. We really believed we could have got that first win for Idaho in Boise.

“I’m excited for the future; there’s going to be some big wins on the court for Idaho in the future.”

Quinn Denker added 14 points for Idaho, and D’Angelo Minnis, the Vandals’ lone senior, added nine points on three 3-pointers. 

“This whole year, we were focused on building our culture,” Minnis said. “Idaho hasn’t been that good the past few years. We really honed in on building a strong foundation for Idaho in the future.”

“I just want to make it known just how great of an impact he had on this program this year,” Pribble said of Minnis. “To have just one senior on the roster, and for that senior to work as hard as D’Angelo every day … commit to the process. We just want to thank D’Angelo.”

Mims totaled 48 blocks on the season, passing Djim Bandoumel (47, 2011-12) for the sixth most from a Vandal in a single season.

Now comes the offseason for the Vandals, as Pribble works on roster retention as he prepares for Year 2 at Idaho.

“I know we’ve built a strong, strong core here at Idaho, and I expect a vast majority of that core to return,” Pribble said.

Sacramento St. 72, Idaho 64

SACRAMENTO ST. (9-23)

Mawein 7-10 9-11 25, Beatty 1-5 2-2 4, Hamoda 2-7 3-3 8, Patterson 1-6 5-6 7, Skytta 1-5 0-0 3, Nunn 6-11 0-0 14, Holt 2-2 3-3 7, Kovatchev 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 22-50 22-25 72.

IDAHO (11-21)

Mims 9-11 2-2 20, Rose 3-6 0-0 8, Denker 5-16 2-2 14, Minnis 3-9 0-0 9, Neal 3-9 0-0 8, Frank 0-0 0-0 0, Linhardt 1-4 2-2 5, Blassingame 0-0 0-0 0, Gonzalez 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-56 6-6 64.

Halftime_Sacramento St. 32-29. 3-Point Goals_Sacramento St. 6-22 (Mawein 2-3, Nunn 2-6, Hamoda 1-2, Skytta 1-3, Beatty 0-2, Kovatchev 0-2, Patterson 0-4), Idaho 10-31 (Minnis 3-8, Denker 2-4, Rose 2-5, Neal 2-8, Linhardt 1-4, Gonzalez 0-1, Mims 0-1). Rebounds_Sacramento St. 29 (Beatty 8), Idaho 22 (Mims 7). Assists_Sacramento St. 11 (Hamoda, Patterson 3), Idaho 14 (Minnis 5). Total Fouls_Sacramento St. 11, Idaho 21.

    Photo by IDAHO ATHLETICS Quinn Denker (3) of Idaho puts up a 3-pointer against Sacramento State in the first round of the Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament Saturday at Idaho Central Arena in Boise.