Grizzlies bring the bite to Vandal men in Big Sky Tournament semifinals

Idaho led its Big Sky Conference Tournament semifinal game against Montana 2-0, 16 seconds into the game on a pair of Julius Mims free throws.

That would be its last lead of the matchup.

With a 78-55 loss against second-seeded Montana (24-9), sixth-seeded Idaho (14-19) was bounced out of the conference tournament in the semifinals.

Although the season is over, it still marks the Vandals’ best year since 2017, both in record and in the Big Sky’s men’s basketball tournament. In 2017, they finished with a 22-9 record and lost in the quarterfinal round of the tourney.

“Just got done in the locker room with the guys, and I told them the only thing on my mind right now is gratitude. I’m extremely grateful for this group. You think about those seniors,” Idaho coach Alex Pribble said in a radio interview. “They had to believe in something before it was there. We’re trying to paint this picture of what Idaho basketball can be, not what Idaho basketball is. And every single day they work for the vision of what Idaho basketball is becoming.”

Breaking down the semifinal

Turnovers were an issue early for the Vandals. They turned the ball over six times in the first nine minutes of the ballgame, including a run of three turnovers in less than one minute and 30 seconds. Idaho finished the game with a total of 11 turnovers, which led to 19 Montana points.

The Idaho two-three zone defense was not successful early as Montana was able to nail the 3s that it needed to. The Vandals switched to man-to-man defense, but could not change the Montana offensive output.

The Grizzlies went on two 20-point runs. First, a 20-4 run in the first half gave them an 18-point lead at 33-15. Then, they went on a 20-2 run in the second half to give them their largest lead of the game.

During the second half, Montana expanded its lead to 31 points with 5:14 left in the game, when it led 74-43.

The Vandals shot just 19.2% from beyond the arc as they made 5-of-26 attempts. They overall shot just 30.9% from the field. Meanwhile, the Grizzlies shot 45.9% from the field and 38.9% from 3.

Idaho never did get its offense going. The top two leading scorers on the team combined for 54.5% of all the Vandals points. Jack Payne led with 18 and Kolton Mitchell was second with a total of 12 points scored.

Scoring was a bit more spread out on the Montana offense with eight separate players reaching the scoreboard. Austin Patterson led all scorers in the game with 20 and Money Williams and Kai Johnson each had 13 to add to the Grizzlies scoring total.

Season summary and history

After four single-digit win seasons and four different head coaches, Idaho had a winning percentage above .300 for the first time in seven years.

Idaho now holds an 18-24 overall record in the Big Sky Tournament dating back to 1980-81. The Vandals are 3-11 in the Big Sky tourney games since rejoining the conference in 2014-15. But their first win since 2017 was Monday against Portland State.

Pribble said that he has hope for the future of the program after seeing significant growth this season. He said that the team trusted the process and came in and worked hard together every day and said Idaho basketball is on the upswing.

“There’s been some real positive things that have happened,” Pribble said. “I think about the home crowds that we were able to create and generate the excitement and the buzz that was starting to get there for Idaho basketball.”

IDAHO (14-19)

Mims 2-5 2-4 6, Mrus 0-4 0-0 0, Gonzalez 4-10 0-0 8, Mitchell 3-13 6-7 12, Payne 6-12 2-3 18, Yearout 2-5 2-2 7, Brickner 0-1 0-0 0, Linhardt 0-2 0-0 0, Rose 0-3 0-0 0, Klapper 0-0 4-4 4, Anderson 0-0 0-0 0, Hardy 0-0 0-0 0, Hatten 0-0 0-0 0, Steele 0-0 0-0 0, Stevens 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-55 16-20 55.

MONTANA (24-9)

Sawyer 3-5 1-2 9, Johnson 5-9 0-0 13, Moore 3-7 0-0 7, Pridgen 3-4 0-0 6, Whitney 3-7 0-0 7, Williams 4-12 4-4 13, Patterson 6-11 3-4 20, Bradtke 0-3 0-0 0, Dargan 1-3 0-0 3, Foy 0-0 0-0 0, Jedkins 0-0 0-0 0, Shoff 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-61 8-10 78.

Halftime — Montana 39-28. 3-Point Goals — Idaho 5-26 (Payne 4-9, Yearout 1-3, Brickner 0-1, Linhardt 0-2, Mitchell 0-2, Rose 0-2, Gonzalez 0-3, Mrus 0-4), Montana 14-36 (Patterson 5-10, Johnson 3-5, Sawyer 2-2, Dargan 1-3, Whitney 1-3, Moore 1-4, Williams 1-6, Bradtke 0-3). Fouled Out — Johnson. Rebounds — Idaho 35 (Mims 7), Montana 34 (Pridgen 7). Assists — Idaho 5 (Brickner 2), Montana 19 (Williams 5). Total Fouls — Idaho 10, Montana 16.

Junt can be reached at 208-848-2258, tjunt@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @TrevorJunt.