For many on this Idaho men’s basketball team, the first taste of the Battle of the Palouse ended in a bitter loss the Vandals should learn from.
The Vandals came ready for war in the first half, battling back-and-forth with the Pac-12 squad, holding a lead for much of the first 18 minutes of the game. Unfortunately, the shooting fell flat in the second half for Idaho and the Cougars just started to heat up.
Washington State hit a speed boost after halftime to go on an early 11-0 run at the start and never looked back.
“You just can’t allow a team like Washington State, as well as they shoot it, to get going from behind the arc, and that’s what they did,” Verlin said.
The Cougars finished Wednesday’s game shooting 37 percent from behind the arc, compared to only 29 percent for the Vandals.
While there are many bright spots on this young Idaho team, the rebuilding process the Vandals are undergoing this season was blatantly apparent Wednesday night.
Chris Deremer
Idaho fans need to keep one word at the forefront of their minds to get through the 2018-2019 season — patience.
The Vandal squad made up of six freshmen, four sophomores and two juniors will have to figure out quickly how to gel together if there are any hopes of a Big Sky run this winter.
“We don’t make excuses in our program,” Verlin said. “These games are fun games rivalry games, and guys were a little nervous but it was a great experience.”
The Cougars brought the pressure in the second half, picking up the Vandals at half-court with a tricky zone trap to force Idaho into difficult situations. The Vandals dropped 12 turnovers against Washington State, leading to 17 points for the Cougars off of Idaho mistakes.
“The team that usually wins this rivalry plays defense well and rebounds well,” Verlin said. “When the momentum starts to change, we have to be tough. You have to lock them up and we didn’t do that in the second half.”
This young team is certainly in the middle of some growing pains, and freshman guard Cameron Tyson learned quickly baskets would be hard to come by against the Cougar defense.
“I think they did a good job on him (Tyson), they had a guy running at him all night long,” Verlin said. “Defense and rebounding is going to travel, but there will be some nights you make your shots and nights you don’t.”
Tyson, who has been averaging nearly 18 points a game, only put three points on the board while shooting 1-9 throughout Wednesday night’s affair.
Even though Idaho lost by 20, it was a head-scratcher as to how the Vandals got there.
After the early second half run for the Cougars, Idaho collapsed under the pressure.
Idaho couldn’t overcome the deficit and Washington State clicked as a unit at just the right time. With all of Beasley stadium on the Cougars side and momentum in their favor, it just was not the Vandals’ contest to win.
While it may not seem like it to Vandal faithful, the 90-70 blowout was not all bad. Idaho needs to recover and learn from the experience of playing against a Pac-12 team.
Seeing how young this squad is, next year’s Battle of the Palouse could be a different story. They know what the blowout feels like and won’t want to feel it again. The young and hungry squad will build over time, it just takes patience.
Chris Deremer can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Cderemer_VN