Of Idaho’s first four games, the last three have a common denominator – a sluggish finish in which the opponent has gone on huge runs.
Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
Vandal center Kyle Barone makes an unguarded dunk against Montana Nov. 17 in Memorial Gym. The Vandals lost 66-63 and Barone finished with 19 points and seven rebounds.
Idaho relinquished a 15-point second-half lead at home against Montana to lose its second game of the year, collecting its first win three days later, withstanding a late 15-4 run from Green Bay to close out the 72-62 victory.
The late game bug bit Idaho again Nov. 23 at New Mexico, when a 19-0 run from the Lobos early in the second half turned a 49-46 Idaho lead in to an eventual 73-58 loss to put the Vandals 1-3 on the season.
“We scored nine points in the last 14 minutes of the ball game,” coach Don Verlin said. “We just didn’t score at a high enough level and they just got rolling. We couldn’t get a stop on defense, and then couldn’t get a shot when we needed to.”
A languid 10-minute stretch played a part in Idaho’s season-opening loss to Wright State — it just happened to end the first half.
“When we beat Oregon and Oregon State the last two years, it was because we were able to execute and compete at a high level from start to finish,” Verlin said. “We’ve got to be able to sustain our intensity and our execution, and that’s going to come with time and experience, but that has to be what we work on this week.”
This week Idaho will travel across state lines for the border war against Washington State. Idaho had a close loss to the Cougars at the Cowan Spectrum last season.
The struggle to find consistency early isn’t incredibly surprising. Idaho is working in new starters in both of its guard positions and is finding out its rotation with its big men.
So far the struggles for Idaho have been perimeter defending — New Mexico shot 10-20 from three-point range — consistently rebounding and finding consistent production off the bench from players such as Mansa Habeeb, Matt Borton and Denzel Douglas.
Mike McChristian has stepped in to the role of the graduated Landum Tatum at point guard, having started the last four games. The converted forward had a career-high eight assists at New Mexico, turning the ball over once. Added to his solid defensive presence the performance may have locked up the job for him, battling off Denzel Douglas, who played near even minutes with him in the win over Green Bay.
Alongside McChristian has been new starting shooting guard Connor Hill, trying to replicate the production of the graduated Deremy Geiger. Hill slotted in a career-high 20 points at New Mexico, but struggled in the three home games prior to consistently get open looks and create off the dribble. The three-point specialist hit 6-12 from three-point range at New Mexico, but said he is working on developing his offensive game as a whole.
Senior forward Wendell Faines has seen an increase in minutes in 2012, starting three of Idaho’s four games. Faines saw 22 minutes, interchanging playing time with forward Marcus Bell, who spelled him for 12 minutes.
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]