Whereas most of the Vandal student body spent their Thanksgiving week with family and friends, Vandal men’s basketball spent the week on the road. Idaho took a trip to San Juan Capistrano, California, to participate in the SoCal Challenge, followed by a trip to North Dakota to face the North Dakota State.
So-Cal
The Vandals faced two teams in the SoCal Challenge, with the first on the docket being Utah Valley University. The Vandals would not be able to walk away with the victory – losing 83-45. The Vandals followed that game with a much more competitive 67-63 loss against Cal Poly.
The main takeaways from the SoCal Challenge were new lineups and shooting woes. With the return of freshman forward Tanner Christensen to the lineup, it provided an opportunity for the Vandals to test a new lineup of: Christensen, senior guard Mikey Dixon, junior guard Trevante Anderson, junior guard Rashad Smith and senior guard Nolan Bertain.
The results may not have been what the Vandals were hoping for, but there were some good spots despite the losses.
The first was the consistency of Anderson. Anderson has scored in double digits five out of seven of Idaho’s games this season and has been the team’s leading scorer in four out of seven games. That includes the SoCal, in which Anderson led Idaho scoring double digits in both games.
The second takeaway from the Vandals is the return of Christensen back to the lineup to the Vandals. Christensen improved from the Utah Valley game to the Cal Poly game. Christensen recorded just four points against Utah Valley, going 1/4 from the field. Despite not having many points, he still made his presence known on the boards. Christensen recorded six rebounds, two of those being offensive rebounds.
Christensen improved the next game against Cal Poly – scoring seven points on 75% field goal percentage. Christensen added four rebounds, three assists, and a steal.
North Dakota State
The Vandals followed the SoCal Challenge with an away game against North Dakota State, losing 90-73 against the Bisons. Despite this being the fifth straight loss for Vandals, it consistent play from Anderson, continued improvement from Christensen and key contributions from Dixon and Smith.
Anderson had 21 points to go with nine rebounds, six assists and a steal. Christensen had 13 points and five rebounds on 60% shooting. Dixon had 11 points on 75% shooting, and Smith had nine points to go with eight rebounds.
Despite not recording a victory over the Thanksgiving break and falling to 1-6 on the season, this team is one that, even in defeat, has shown itself to be one of talent and capability. They finally have all their players available and have seen multiple different starting lineups and rotations.
The Vandals hope to figure out their best lineup against Southern Utah on Dec. 4 at 2 p.m. in the men’s Big Sky opener.
This story has been corrected to show Trevante Anderson scored 21 points in the game against North Dakota State
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Teren Kowatsch can be reached at [email protected]