Idaho men’s basketball has struck gold on the court by bringing in players from the Gem State

OKLAHOMA CITY — When Alex Pribble took over the Idaho men’s basketball program three years ago, he inherited a team that had won just 10 games the season before, but also had a glaring absence of local athletes on the roster.

In fact, during Pribble’s first season, Lapwai’s Titus Yearout was not only the lone player on the roster from North Idaho — he was the only player from the entire state.

Pribble and his staff decided that one of the keys forward for the program was to get the best players in the state to wear a Vandal uniform. 

“The way we wanted to do this thing was to build it, not buy it,” Pribble said. “And what I mean by that is we want young men in our program wearing the Vandal jersey who care about the brotherhood that we’re creating, care about the university, care about their education and are gonna build success over time.”

After just three seasons, that plan has come to fruition at Idaho. The No. 15-seeded Vandals are on the doorstep of their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 36 years, awaiting a showdown with second-seeded Houston on Thursday evening at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City (7:10 p.m. PST, TruTV).

A big reason for the quick turnaround? The buy-in from the five players now on the roster from the Gem State — Lake City High’s Kolton Mitchell, Meridian’s Brody Rowbury, Owyhee’s Jackson Rasmussen and Jack Payne, and Yearout. Those five make up the most from the state of Idaho on the men’s basketball roster since the 1971-72 season.

“Coach has done such a great job of keeping or bringing back the Idaho kids,” Rowbury said. “So to be able to come together with guys that this means so much too, being from this state and then different guys from all other places and backgrounds, just to come together as a brotherhood is awesome.”

Championship mentality

Former Lake City High School boys basketball coach Jim Winger knew it was time to hang up the whistle after his 2022-23 Timberwolves team capped a perfect season with a 6A state title victory over Meridian. That team was headlined not only by current Iowa State starter Blake Buchanan, but also Mitchell.

“I think that coming from Idaho, you don’t always get the respect as players from some of the bigger states,” Winger said. “But Idaho has always had some great basketball players even back to when I was playing in the 80s to now.”

That high level of success from programs like Lake City, Meridian and Owyhee also meant that the Vandal teammates have known of each other much longer than their time in Moscow.

All five players won state titles in high school, with Rasmussen and Payne’s title in 2022 — Rasmussen also won in 2024, Mitchell’s win in 2023, Rowbury’s victory in 2021 over Mitchell and Lake City, and Yearout’s back-to-back championships in 2021 and 2022.

“There was also a game against against Jackson (Rasmussen) here at North Idaho College where Kolton broke the school record with 39 points,” Winger said. “Just so many great battles a lot of those kids had and now they get to do it together which is a lot of fun to watch.”

Mitchell said having that comfort level going back to high-school showdowns with his now-teammates has made the time at Idaho so much more enjoyable.

“It’s just incredible and the brotherhood we have is super tight,” Mitchell said. “Being able to share similar experiences, we’ve all won state titles in Idaho and that’s something we can reminisce and talk about. We’ve played each other and beat up on each other and that’s fun to look back on too and sometimes talk a little trash.”

Finding their way home

Even after the group each had successful prep careers in the state, their journey to Moscow was not a straight path.

Yearout and Rasmussen were the only two to enroll at Idaho as freshman, while Mitchell, Rowbury and Payne took detours along the way.

Yearout redshirted his freshman year before appearing in 22 games in each of his redshirt freshman and redshirt sophomore years. He has been sidelined this year while recovering from an offseason surgery on his right hip labrum.

Rasmussen has taken full advantage of his freshman campaign, starting in all 34 of Idaho’s games. He is also the team’s leading scorer at 13.9 points per game and is second in rebounding with 4.7 per contest.

“My top goal since the first day I got here was winning a Big Sky championship,” Rasmussen said. “Being able to cross that off and achieve that goal is just something super special. It’s something I take a lot of pride in for the state of Idaho.”

After finishing his prep career at Lake City, Mitchell committed to Idaho State. The redshirt sophomore appeared in 10 games his freshman season before sustaining a finger injury that granted him a redshirt year. He then left Pocatello to join Pribble at Idaho.

Payne left Boise after high school to play at Colorado State, where the Rams reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament in his second season. Payne then joined Mitchell by transferring to Idaho before the 2024-25 season.

But it was Rowbury that most broke out of his comfort zone in chosing his collegiate path, going from Meridian to Hammond, Louisiana for three seasons at Southeastern Louisiana. The then-junior started 31 games for the Lions last season, averaging 8.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per game before transferring to Idaho for his senior season.

Pribble believes recruiting well in the state is not only key to the team’s current success, but to its future as well.

“From the moment I got here, this is where we wanted to be and who we wanted to be,” Pribble said. “We are the best version of ourselves and we are trying to represent this university, community and state the best way we can.”