Offensive craving

The Idaho Vandals can’t seem to get through a men’s basketball game without one, even though they’d love to. Sometimes they’re fairly short in duration. Sometimes they’re long. They always hurt Idaho’s chances.

The Vandals have endured scoring dry spells of all shapes and sizes this season. The shortest was 2 minutes, 33 seconds in the season opener against North Dakota State. The longest: 8:12 in the second meeting with South Dakota State, a game Idaho still managed to win.

“We just go through a little drought and get away from what we do best,” freshman forward David Jackson said. “They’re real damaging. It doesn’t matter how much you’re up by if you can’t make stops and put points on the board.”

The statistic that perhaps best demonstrates the effect of the Vandals’ scoring droughts: They’re 3-2 when scoring 70 points or more; 0-15 when scoring less than 70. This week the Vandals entertain opponents at opposite ends of the WAC defensive spectrum. San Jose State, tonight’s foe, is eighth in the conference in scoring defense (72.5). Fresno State, Saturday’s visitor, is first at 67.0.

Idaho’s most recent game, a 75-57 loss to Boise State, was a prime example. The Vandals hit six 3-pointers and shot 42.4 percent in rolling to a 37-29 halftime lead. In the second half, they had scoreless stretches of 3:25, 2:16, 4:58, 2:03 and 2:39. Twelve of their 20 points came at the free-throw line.

“We had some shots at it and didn’t make them and that created some frustration,” coach George Pfeifer said after the game. “We started looking for the quick fix, and when we do that we’re not good.”

The quick fix is generally taking perimeter shots early in the shot clock, failing to reverse the ball or relying on senior guard Keoni Watson to create, usually off the dribble. It’s hard to blame Watson for trying to do too much, particularly when teammates haven’t consistently stepped up to help him shoulder the scoring load.

“Earlier this week Keoni and I shut the door and sat in here and watched tape,” Pfeifer said. “As I watch it, there are some glaring plays that Keoni will make that you go, ‘Gosh, why did you do that?’ And as you really boil it down, it’s a little different when all of a sudden you see that he drove through this crack and threw the ball to this guy and created an opportunity for him, but since the opportunity doesn’t materialize he doesn’t get credit for it.”

Watson has attempted a team-high 290 shots. Darin Nagle, who has played in 11 of 20 games, is next at 120. In two of Idaho’s three wins, it had at least four players in double figures.

“Sometimes he (Watson) does over-dribble, but he’s such a warrior, a competitive come-at-you-all-the-time person, you don’t want to take away that aggressiveness,” Pfeifer said. “You want to temper it and get more of the positive. He’s literally trying to make plays to win the game. I certainly understand that.”

So does Jackson. “Sometimes I feel like with the shot clock (winding down) we’re watching him,” he said. “We have to put some pressure on ourselves to take some of the pressure off him.”

Offensive execution has been a practice theme this week.

“We are trying to find a way to get the ball next to the basket more so we’re not so dependent on the perimeter shot,” said Pfeifer, whose team has tried 426 3-pointers, second most in the WAC. “We’ve tried to go back and revisit more ball movement and an inside-outside blend in what we do.”