'Starch Madness': Idaho men headed to Big Sky semifinals in Boise

The sixth-seeded Idaho Vandal men’s basketball team won its first game in the Big Sky Conference Tournament since 2017 when it upset the third-seeded Portland State Vikings 80-70 on Monday to move on to the semifinals.

Plenty of Idaho faithful packed into Idaho Central Arena in Boise to watch the Vandals win their first postseason game in eight years at the event dubbed “Starch Madness.”

Idaho (14-18) overcame Portland State (19-13) with unorthodox methods: It changed defenses to confuse the Vikings and had an unusual formation during timeouts, with chairs being set near the baseline and the whole team facing one way, towards the coaches.

With the win over the Vikings, the Vandals will face the second-seeded Montana Grizzlies today at 8:30 p.m. Pacific back at the Idaho Central Area in Boise.

Confusing the Vikings

Idaho opened the game in an unconventional two-three zone defense. It confused Portland State, which was not able to get much going offensively in the first three quarters of the game.

Idaho coach Alex Pribble gave credit to assistant coach Adam Ellis for the idea.

“It was coach Adam Ellis, one of our great assistant coaches who said, ‘Hey we haven’t run a two-three zone all year, but I think this sets up pretty well for us.’ And he was right,” Pribble said. “It really threw the rhythm off. Even in our man-to-man we did a really good job of being inside out, protecting the paint. The guys executed the game plan really well.”

In the wake of UI’s fresh defense, the Vikings shot just 37.5% from the field and 25.6% from beyond the arc. The Vikings attempted 43 total 3-pointers and scored on just 11 of those.

Jaylin Henderson is one of Portland State’s best 3-point shooters, averaging 34.9% on the season, but he scored just two of his 13 attempts on the day.

Idaho guard Jack Payne said making the Vikings shoot 3-pointers was a focus going into the game.

“We were trying to go inside out. Make them pound the ball and shoot the ball outside,” the sophomore said. “They shot the ball 20% tonight. They haven’t won if they shoot 20-or-more 3s — that was our stat. So make them shoot 3s.”

Top performers

UI sophomore guard Kristian Gonzalez led all scorers in the game with 24 points, scoring on 7-of-12 attempts. The Vandal guard made three 3-pointers and shot 7-of-8 from the free-throw line.

Payne was a pain for the Vikings, scoring 20 points on 6-of-11 from the field. He nailed four 3-pointers, shooting 50% from long range. The sharpshooter was also perfect from the free-throw line on four attempts.

Senior forward Julius Mims scored 10 points, nearly all on alley-oops. He also grabbed a crucial nine rebounds for the Vandals. Mims added two steals and a block to his statline.

Another player of note for the Vandals was Kolton Mitchell, who did not rest on the bench for the entirety of the game as the freshman guard played all 40 minutes. He passed for a game-high seven assists.

Portland State was led by Terri Miller Jr., who scored 17 points on 8-of-12 from the field. He also secured 13 rebounds, which led all rebounders, and stole two passes away from the Vandals.

Qiant Myers was second on the Vikings in scoring with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting. He shot 4-of-9 from 3 and led Portland State with six assists.

Up next

The semifinals showdown with the Grizzlies will be the third meeting between the two regional rivals this season.

Montana took both of the games in the regular season, although both were close: 73-71 in Moscow on Jan. 4 and 72-67 in Missoula on Jan. 20.

Payne said that if the team can keep the momentum from this game rolling into Tuesday, he is confident they can win. Pribble said that he has trust in his staff and team to reset and assess their next opponent.

“It’s quick, Montana is a tough team ... so we gotta get back to that film quickly,” Pribble said. “But again, our assistant coaches do a great job with the scouts. I know our guys will reset quickly and be fired up for the semifinal game.”

IDAHO (14-18)

Mims 4-4 2-5 10, Mrus 3-4 0-1 8, Gonzalez 7-12 7-8 24, Mitchell 2-11 1-2 5, Payne 6-11 4-4 20, Linhardt 3-6 2-4 9, Yearout 0-1 4-5 4, Brickner 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-51 20-29 80.

PORTLAND ST. (19-13)

Johnson 3-12 3-4 11, Miller 8-12 0-2 17, Minott 2-2 1-1 5, Henderson 4-18 0-0 10, Myers 5-10 0-0 14, Farrell 1-8 1-3 3, Curtiss 1-3 0-0 2, Nowell 1-2 0-0 3, Phipps 2-5 0-0 5, Brice 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-72 5-10 70.

Halftime — Idaho 34-20. 3-Point Goals — Idaho 10-29 (Payne 4-8, Gonzalez 3-8, Mrus 2-3, Linhardt 1-2, Brickner 0-1, Yearout 0-1, Mitchell 0-6), Portland St. 11-43 (Myers 4-9, Johnson 2-9, Henderson 2-13, Miller 1-2, Nowell 1-2, Phipps 1-3, Curtiss 0-2, Farrell 0-3). Fouled Out — Mims. Rebounds — Idaho 36 (Mims 9), Portland St. 29 (Miller 13). Assists — Idaho 14 (Mitchell 7), Portland St. 18 (Myers 6). Total Fouls — Idaho 14, Portland St. 22.

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