Despite NCAA Tournament drought, several members of the Idaho men’s basketball team have experience at the Big Dance
OKLAHOMA CITY – Trevon Blassingame knows what it takes to pull off a March miracle.
Before the redshirt junior guard became a key contributor off the bench for the Vandals, he had a front-row seat as a freshman to one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history when 16th-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson stunned Zach Eddy and top-seeded Purdue 63-58 in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
“I think the biggest thing I remember was just coming into the locker room after the game and seeing the smile on everyone’s face,” Blassingame said Wednesday. “Seeing the shock from understanding that we just did something so huge and so crazy. I think that honestly it’s a moment of a lifetime and it’s something I tell these guys that I’ll never forget.”
For Blassingame and 15th-seeded Idaho, the hope is that history repeats itself when the Vandals (21-14) take on second-seeded Houston (28-6) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 7:10 p.m. Thursday at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City (TruTV).
“I tell these guys that it is within reach, because it’s just basketball at the end of the day and it’s such a beautiful setting,” Blassingame said. “As long as we take our preparation seriously, like we have done for every game this season, then we have a chance to do something special.”
To pull the fourth 15 vs. 2 upset since 2021 though, the Vandals will have to do something they struggled with in Boise at the Big Sky tournament – shooting the ball well from 3-point range.
Kelvin Sampson’s Houston squad has been the second-best defense in Division I this season, allowing just 62.9 points per game, while also slowing down the pace of their opponents. Idaho senior guard Isaiah Brickner said Houston’s physicality presents a tough challenge, but it’s up to the Vandals to execute their game plan.
“I feel like what we’ve been working on these last couple of days is just making the right play every single time,” Brickner said. “Houston is a super aggressive, defensive team. So being able to make simple plays and find open shots, find our guys for open shots. … We have a skilled team, and everyone on this team can shoot. So just playing our brand of basketball is I feel like how we’re going to be successful in this game tomorrow.”
It also helps that Blassingame isn’t the only player on the Idaho roster with experience in the tournament.
Junior forward Seth Joba scored two points and played seven minutes as a freshman when 13th-seeded Vermont fell to fourth-seeded Duke in the 2024 tournament. Redshirt junior guard Jack Payne also got on the stat sheet during the 2024 tournament, scoring two points in Colorado State’s 25-point victory over Virginia in the First Four before the Rams fell to Texas in the first round.
“One main thing I told the guys was to make sure to take it all in, I mean the few of us that have been here are really lucky to do it twice,” Payne said. “Most teams, especially at our level don’t get the chance to do this multiple times. I’ve kinda told the guys to do things like take the nameplates, grab all the memorabilia, just take it all in.”
Payne is also one of five players on the roster from the state of Idaho, so this week has been special in the sense of breaking the program’s 36-year NCAA Tournament drought.
“At first I didn’t even know it was 36 years,” Payne said. “It’s so cool and special to be a part of this and being from Boise just makes me love this so much more. And I get to do it with my buddies.”
But it isn’t just a few players that have postseason experience. Idaho coach Alex Pribble made the NCAA Tournament in 2006 as a player when Cal lost to NC State, once as an assistant when Eastern Washington made the bracket in 2015 and then as a head coach he led Saint Martin’s to two-straight DII NCAA Tournaments, reaching the Sweet 16 in 2019.
“The one that I’ll actually rely on the most is when I was an assistant coach at Eastern Washington University,” Pribble said. “I learned that sometimes it takes a few minutes, maybe the first media timeout, maybe a couple of media timeouts, to settle in. And you just gotta coach the game possession by possession. You can’t worry about the outcome too much early in the game. It’s just next play, what adjustments do we need to make to try to be successful offensively or defensively those next four minutes.”
As far as Idaho’s ability to do what that FDU squad did to the Boilermakers three years ago, Blassingame sees a lot of similarities between the two squads.
“I see the same level of resilience that we had on that FDU team,” Blassingame said. “It was an up-and-down year, kinda like we had this year. We maybe finished .500 and didn’t even win the conference championship because we knew we were the automatic bid. But that resilience piece is something that guys on this team have. Just understanding that there’s always a next play and a next opportunity and it’s about how we respond in each given moment.”