Perhaps losing in close heartbreaking fashion wore Idaho out, following the latest one-possession loss to New Mexico State last Thursday night.
Idaho spotted Denver a 7-0 lead in the first two-and-a-half minutes of the game and never looked forward, losing 74-58 to fall to 5-8 in conference play.
The return of the turnover bugaboo played a part in that, Idaho turned the ball over 12 times in the first half and lost the overall turnover battle, once again.
In contrast to how most of Idaho’s conference losses have played out, the Vandals were never within less than five points of the Pioneers and trailed by double-digits the entirety of the second half. If Denver wasn’t so methodical it probably would have felt like a more traditional blowout, as Idaho scratched its way back in to the game in the second half, turning a 30-point deficit to an 18-point loss.
Efficiency is the name of the game for Denver coach Joe Scott and his Princeton style offense. Despite missing 14 3-point attempts the Pioneers shot 56-percent from the field en route to dismantling the Vandals. Denver has now won 11 of its past 12 games and improves to 11-2 in conference play, so perhaps Idaho shouldn’t feel too bad about the result.
As for Idaho, the Vandals are reeling right now. Since starting 2-0 in WAC play the Vandals have lost 8 of the last 11 with their worst performances at home prior to the loss at Denver. It won’t get any easier, with UT-Arlington and La. Tech coming to Moscow next week.
Saturday night was the third consecutive game that Verlin started all of his seniors — Idaho is 1-2 in those games.
Stephen Madison did have 14 points off the bench. Verlin did not say whether or not Madison would be inserted back in to the starting line-up next Thursday night against UT-Arlington.
Watching the conference standings, Idaho is still comfortably in the No. 6 spot in the WAC, meaning Idaho would avoid the first round of the conference tournament.
Here are the comments from Don Verlin post-game on the Vandal radio network
On his team not competing
“No, that was the thing I was frustrated about. For whatever reason, and it’s hard to put a finger on it, we didn’t compete like we needed to. It’s frustrating that this part of the year we haven’t learned that.”
On a hangover from the New Mexico State loss
“Like I told them, it shows a lot about the kind of person you are, and it’s hard, it’s a game we felt we should have won. You have to flush it down the toilet, you have to regroup. And we didn’t compete like we needed to against a good Denver ball club.”
On UT-Arlington
“They’ll be prepared, they’ve got a little bit of an edge going about them. We have to get our swagger back and get to playing good basketball.”