Kevin Bingaman/Argonaut
Three points was all that separated Idaho and Corban University in Saturday’s home opener as the Vandals took a hard fought 77-74 victory that raises some concerns about the rest of the season.
The Vandals could never build a lead as the Warriors came back time and time again. Idaho turned the ball over 17 times against the NAIA foe. Idaho coach Jon Newlee said he was not happy with the team’s performance.
“Pretty ugly game from our standpoint, but I’ve got to give Corban a lot of credit,” Newlee said. “They came in tonight and wanted to win. We didn’t come in focused and ready to play tonight.”
Idaho hit only 36 percent of their shots in the game and only 27.5 percent in the first half. Free-throw shooting was also mediocre for the Vandals. They hit just 15 of 23 from the line. Newlee said he didn’t see the focus in his team.
“That’s something we work on every day,” Newlee said. “Free-throw shooting takes focus and we didn’t have it tonight.”
On the bright side of things for Idaho, freshman Krissy Karr and Stacey Barr continued to impress. Barr lead the team with 20 points while Karr had 23. Karr made one of the key plays in the game late in the fourth quarter. Idaho was up by only one with 39 seconds to go. She intercepted a Corban inbound pass that resulted in a Jessica Graham layup to put Idaho up by three late, which held up in the end. Karr said she feels she needs to be aggressive to prove she belongs as a starter.
“I feel, honestly, that I need to prove myself to a lot of people right now,” Karr said. “Coach has definitely given me the confidence to know that I just need to play my game. It definitely helps knowing that he’s got my back.”
The Vandals will have to catch their focus real quick as they have powerhouse Gonzaga coming to Memorial Gym next Thursday.
Newlee said he wasn’t happy with his team’s performance, but hopes his players learn a lesson about focus.
“You’ve got to play everybody that comes in to the gym and you’ve got to respect your opponent,” Newlee said. “I don’t feel like my team respected those guys tonight and we almost got it handed to us and it was almost a very harsh lesson to learn. As it is, I think we can learn from it in a positive way and figure out what we need to do every night and play hard and play more focused.”