Don Verlin heard the chatter. He heard the criticism. He heard what the fans needed him to do in Las Vegas.
Just win a conference tournament a game.
Well, how about winning two. Even better, how about playing for an NCAA Tournament berth?
That’s what the Idaho will be doing tomorrow night at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, with its 74-69 upset win over No. 1 seeded Utah Valley earning it a spot in the WAC Championship game.
Idaho will tipoff at 7 p.m. against the two-time defending conference tournament champion New Mexico State. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
“What a great win for our program tonight,” Don Verlin said. “Couldn’t be happier for the guy sitting to my right here (Stephen Madison).”
From the start, Idaho looked like it belonged on the same court as the Western Athletic Conference regular season champions in Utah Valley. Mike Scott hit a 3 less than a minute into the game. One minute later Stephen Madison joined the party from downtown, and 40 seconds later did it again. Idaho jumped out to a 9-4 lead and for the majority of the first half held the lead. More importantly, it headed to the locker room ahead 30-29.
The belief was building. All Idaho needed to do was close it out, an inability that has haunted Idaho in conference play over the last two seasons.
Stephen Madison made sure that happened. The senior spent so much time at the free throw line he may as well have rented out a timeshare there. His offensive play kept Idaho one step ahead in the second half. A jumper with 6:28 left extended the lead to five. His free throw with 5:51 pushed Idaho up by 4. He did it again at 4:24 left in the game to make it 65-62 Idaho. Then he assisted two made baskets to push Idaho up by six points.
Madison was huge, clutch, the x-factor, whatever cliche could be thought of to describe that kind of play. With ten seconds remaining and Idaho up 3, he clutched a rebound off a Mitch Bruneel miss. He calmly drained the two subsequent free throws, and Idaho was through.
Madison had another Madison game. He scored 25 on only 13 shot attempts. Five rebounds, three assists. He scored 18 of his points in the second half, asserting his dominance.
He said he’ll take some time to savor how good it feels to beat a team that swept them in the regular season to advance to the biggest game of his four-year career.
“You got to celebrate a little bit after the game but be happy and keep emotions high but get to win and come back to work tomorrow morning,” Madison said. “We’re coming great right at the end, that’s what coach has been telling us, we’re starting to play well as a unit and that’s what’s showing on the court.”
For Idaho, this game is an exorcism of, at least, two years of frustration. Pegged by many as a top 2 or 3 team in the WAC, it never came together for an Idaho team that was considered talented but early on faced problems acclimating to its nine new players.
Now, Verlin has the Vandals playing their best basketball of the season. They’ve won six of their last seven, a win tomorrow would put the Vandals at .500. Only a blemish at the Key Arena against Seattle U two weeks ago stands in the way of what would be an impressive winning streak for Idaho.
“Yeah no question, this was the best game we’ve played to this point of the season,” Verlin said. “When you play a team like Utah Valley, yeah we played well tonight. We’ve got one more game to play, we’ll go out and do our work tonight and those guys will listen.”
For the struggles Verlin has had, he has the program in a position it hasn’t been in in nearly two decades. The last time Idaho played in a conference championship game was a loss to Boise State in 1993 in the Big Sky title game. Its last NCAA Tournament appearance was in 1990, as Big Sky champions.
— Notes and quotes —
– With the win, Don Verlin has triggered an automatic one-year extension in his contract via the 15 D-I win clause. He is now under contract for three more years.
– Mike Scott has come into his own as the starting point guard. He went 6-9 from the field for 14 points and 2 assists.
“Be aggressive,” Scott said of what Verlin told him to do. “Considering the fact that this, could have been our last game I just took that in mind and went out and executed.”
More from Verlin on the win: “Couldn’t be happier, especially for all the Vandals who have waited so long for this, even though it’s bittersweet because we’re leaving the WAC,” Verlin said. “Couldn’t be more proud of what we accomplished the last few weeks of the season.”