Vandals Deposit Gauchos 97-70 Idaho Riddles Ucsb Defense In Big West Opener
First, there was drive-thru banking, fast food and dry-cleaning. And now, there’s UC Santa Barbara’s drive-thru defense, which was open for 40 minutes on Thursday night.
Idaho thundered the visiting Gauchos 97-70 to open its Big West Conference men’s basketball season before 1,559 at the Kibbie Dome.
The Vandals shot 62.7 percent, which paled next to Avery Curry’s stat line: 10 of 11 field goals, 8 of 8 free throws, 28 points.
“Avery had to get bored,” UC Santa Barbara coach Jerry Pimm said, “because he was just out there by himself.”
Idaho banished suspense to the sidelines in the first few minutes. The score soared to ludicrous levels - 16-2, 28-8, 37-12 - before the Gauchos’ offense checked in.
The Vandals (7-4 overall) led 45-27 at half, despite losing forward Clifford Gray 3 minutes into the game due to a concussion. Curry had 14 by intermission.
“I got some easy shots early, which got me in the groove,” Curry said. The easy baskets kept coming in the second half as the Gauchos attempted full-court pressure. Idaho burned the trap, turning it into a 3-on-2 drill.
“I truly believed we’d have an opportunity to win this game, but yes, I am surprised it got lopsided,” Vandals coach David Farrar said.
“It got that way because they wanted to extend the court and defend to get back into it. The price for that was leaving the basket vacated.”
So the Vandals filled it up. Cameron Banks scored 17 points, Troy Thompson had 14 and Josh Toal added 12. Eleven Vandals scored as Idaho posted its highest point total since a 100-68 win over Rocky Mountain in 1995.
Strange thing is, Idaho had an indifferent week of practice. Pimm insisted his club had solid workouts.
“I just felt like we were a little flat in our game-day workout and I felt like we weren’t as hungry as we were a week ago,” Farrar said. “But it just kind of snowballed out there.”
“It’s really hard to explain,” Pimm said. “I thought we were more ready to play than we obviously were.”
That was evident early as Gray posted up UCSB defenders on the first two possessions. After his only miss of the night, Curry hit consecutive hoops to push Idaho on top 20-4.
The Vandals passed smartly throughout. Thompson took a gorgeous feed from Toal and converted a layup to make it 27-8.
Meanwhile, Banks blanketed UCSB scoring leader Raymond Tutt. And Tutt blanketed himself.
“The first 5 minutes he didn’t touch the ball and we ran two special plays just for him,” said Pimm, who has been encouraging Tutt to take more offensive initiative.
Tutt finished with 15 points, but showed his frustration when he drew an offensive foul for shoving Toal to the court with 9 minutes remaining.
Idaho punctuated the feel-good evening when walk-ons Adam Miller and Kirk Hessing scored in the final 2 minutes. Miller, from Moscow High, also contributed with a pair of assists in Idaho’s early outburst.
, DataTimes