Vandals Go Bump In The Night With Four Points In First 10 Minutes, Idaho Can’t Recover In Loss To Uci

The University of Idaho hit a giant pothole Saturday night when the Vandals dropped a 62-50 decision to UC Irvine in a Big West Conference men’s basketball game.

The Vandals were scoreless until Troy Thompson connected on two free throws with 11 minutes, 33 seconds left in the first half. It wasn’t until Thompson banked in a 10-footer with 10:12 left in the half that the Vandals made a field goal.

Nevertheless, Idaho wasn’t out of it. The Anteaters (6-8, 3-1 Big West), playing a deliberate tempo, had only eight points of their own.

The Vandals (9-5, 3-1) stayed within six points until the final minute when they fouled deliberately, trying to catch up.

“Often times you want to talk about how bad your team played,” said Idaho coach David Farrar. “That team played harder, more purposeful. We acted like we were surprised at how hard they played. We were just flat.”

Factoring into the low offensive output was a 37.3 percent effort from the floor (19 of 51), a season-low from 3-point range (one made) and 20 turnovers.

“You can’t win a 50-point game when you turn the ball over 20 times,” Farrar said. “I thought this afternoon we had a little bit of excitement. That obviously was not the case. The mental does lead to the physical.”

“This was a winnable game,” Farrar said. “This was a trip we needed to win two in a row.”

The Vandals continue on the road this week and face two of the conference’s toughest home teams, Nevada (7-6, 3-1) and Big West East Division leader Utah State (13-4, 4-0).

“It’ll be real interesting to see how we adjust to this,” Farrar said.

A scoring balance that had come to be a crucial element in the Vandals’ game left them Saturday night.

Only two players - Avery Curry and Clifford Gray - reached double figures and they had only 10 each.

Thompson had Idaho’s best rebounding effort of the season with his 10 that led to a 38-27 advantage on the boards.

The Anteaters won only one game all last season.

Reserves Adam Stetson had 12 points and five rebounds in 23 minutes; Matt Willard had 11 points and six rebounds in 17 minutes, and Lamarr Parker had 10 points in 19 minutes.

UC Irvine 62, Idaho 50

Idaho (9-5) - Gray 5-6 0-2 10, Banks 3-8 2-2 8, Tosi 2-6 0-1 4, Baumann 1-4 0-0 3, Curry 4-16 2-3 10, Toal 1-3 1-2 3, Thompson 1-4 6-6 8, Byrne 1-3 0-0 2, Hampton 1-1 0-2 2. Totals 19-51 11-18 50.

UC Irvine (6-8) - Jackson 3-5 1-3 7, Jones 3-5 3-4 9, Robinson 3-4 1-2 7, Flowers 0-5 4-4 4, Bond 0-4 2-2 2, Parker 3-10 4-5 10, Edmond 0-0 0-0 0, Delacruz 0-0 0-0 0, Stetson 3-5 6-7 12, Willard 4-5 3-4 11. Totals 19-43 24-31 62.

Halftime-UC Irvine 23, Idaho 20. 3-Point goals-Idaho 1-7 (Baumann 1-2, Banks 0-1, Curry 0-4), UC Irvine 0-6 (Jackson 0-1, Flowers 0-1, Bond 0-1, Stetson 0-1, Jones 0-2). Fouled out-Jackson. Rebounds-Idaho 38 (Thompson 10), UC Irvine 27 (Willard 6), Assists-Idaho 8 (Baumann, Curry, Toal 2), UC Irvine 8 (Bond 5). Total fouls-Idaho 24, UC Irvine 17. A-1,785.

, DataTimes MEMO: Cut in the Spokane edition