Second-half woes plague Idaho men in 89-68 loss to Northern Colorado

MOSCOW, Idaho – Getting a young team to believe in its capabilities has been perhaps the top priority for Idaho coach Alex Pribble as the Vandals have been regularly left in the dust in the second half by opponents during a losing streak that has reached seven games.

For nearly 30 of their 40 minutes against Northern Colorado on Saturday, however, the Vandals seemed thoroughly convinced of their abilities. They used a 15-2 scoring run to cut the Bears’ lead to 40-39 in the first half. They also came out of halftime still playing well, trailing just 57-55 with 12:18 to play.

From there, however, Idaho’s second-half shortcomings played out again as the Bears pulled away to a convincing 89-68 victory.

UNC improved to 12-8 overall and 5-2 in the Big Sky Conference. Idaho fell to 7-13, 1-6.

“I am proud of coming back from being down 14 (in the first half),” Pribble said.

“When they play their best basketball, they are capable of playing with this caliber of opponents.”

By far the greatest discrepancy between the teams was the Bears’ ability to score inside. The 3-point shooting was nearly even, 11 of 27 for UNC and 11 for 25 for Idaho, and the Vandals shot a respectable 26 for 56 (46.4%). But UNC outscored Idaho 40-26 in the paint. The Bears had 10 offensive rebounds to Idaho’s four, and won the overall rebounding 38-21.

“Getting punished in the paint comes down to physicality,” Pribble said. “As a young team, we have got to get better at that.

“Credit to Northern Colorado. They are a talented offensive team. Every time you make a mistake, they make you pay.”

Julius Mims, who had been averaging 11.5 points and 6.9 rebounds as Idaho’s most potent threat near the basket, finished with four points and three rebounds against the Bears and played slightly less than 22 minutes. Pribble attributed it solely to fatigue.

“We have relied on ‘Juice’ a lot this year,” Pribble said.

Pribble added he expects Mims will be back to full strength when the Vandals play at Montana and Montana State this week.

Terren Frank came off the bench and was Idaho’s second-leading scorer with 13 points, behind Quinn Denker’s 14. Pribble praised Frank’s consistent play and intelligence on the court.

During Idaho’s first-half comeback, Frank scored 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. He scooped up a loose ball and went coast-to-coast for another basket.

Tyler Linhardt, with 10 points, also scored in double figures for the Vandals.

UNC’s Saint Thomas scored a game-high 20 points on 8-for-17 shooting from the field. He added game highs of 13 rebounds and eight assists.

Pribble said he has seen encouraging play from his team, but mostly on an individual basis. He said he still wants his team to operate as a complete unit.

“To make this thing click, we have got to get five guys playing together at the same time,” Pribble said.