Idaho men’s basketball optimistic depth and culture will breed success

Under second-year coach Alex Pribble, the Idaho Vandal men’s basketball team hopes to continue trending in the right direction.

The Vandals will start the next step in that journey when they host Northwest University of the NAIA at 6 p.m. Monday at the ICCU Arena to open the 2024-25 season.

After a rough 1-21 performance in the 2020-21 season, Idaho has improved in the win column every year. Unfortunately, it has not improved at the rate that many would hope.

In the final two Zac Claus-led seasons, the Vandals went 9-22 and 10-22. Pribble took the reins last year and Idaho improved another spot in the win column with an 11-21 season.

The 31st coach in program history hopes that the large group of returners in the 2024-25 season will allow for a new culture to be curated.

“We have a nice group of returners. It starts with the 10 players we bring back on the court from last year,” Pribble said. “The culture is set, guys are doing a good job of holding a high standard. We bring five new players into the fold who we are really excited about.”

A key returner for Idaho is senior Julius Mims, who was second on the Vandals with 11.1 points per game last season after transferring from North Idaho College.

The 6-foot-9 forward was named to the 2024 Big Sky All-Defensive team after he recorded 48 blocks, sixth-most in program history. Mims led the Vandals with 7.2 rebounds per game and shot 63.3% from the field in a strong all-around season. Pribble said that the senior has put a lot of work in the offseason and added around 12 pounds of muscle.

The only other senior on the Idaho roster is 6-9 forward Kyson Rose. The Kennewick, Wash., native started in 26 of the 32 Vandal games and averaged 6.6 points per game. For a big man, Rose was dangerous beyond the arc. The tall forward was third on the team with 27 converted 3-pointers.

One constant starter in 2023-24 that was expected to return was junior guard Trevon Blassingame. The guard will not play this season as he will take a medical redshirt after having successful hip surgery.

With two seniors inside and a lot of minutes open at the guard position, Pribble will need players to step up. That was where the Vandals focused their recruiting efforts and with it came four transfers who will see significant playing time at the guard spots.

Kolton Mitchell came to Idaho after a season at Idaho State following his prep career at Lake City High School in Coeur d’Alene. Isaiah Brickner averaged over seven points per game with Marist last year. Owyhee graduate Jack Payne played two seasons with Colorado State before he made the move to Moscow. Spokane-native Jojo Anderson played three seasons with Whitworth and was the Northwest Conference MVP before he transferred to the Vandals.

“I think our guard play has taken a step in the right direction as well. Our new players, they are still getting a feel for each other out there on the floor,” Pribble said. “Was really excited with the impact of guys like Kolton Mitchell, Isaiah Bricker, Jack Payne and Jojo Anderson. All new names to Vandal fans, but all people who they can get real excited about.”

The four newcomers will battle with returning sophomore Kristian Gonzalez who Pribble said was “thrown into the fire” when Idaho faced injury issues. Gonzalez averaged 16 minutes a game in his 29 game appearances.

“Kristian had such a great freshman year because you got to see him go through the growth that a typical freshman goes through. He came in kind of wide-eyed, didn’t know what he didn’t know yet,” Pribble said. “He is a very talented young man, he is a very hardworking young man and now he is going to use all of that experience from his freshman year and he is going to have a much better sophomore year.”

Lapwai standout Titus Yearout has also taken strides in the offseason. Pribble said that the sophomore guard has always been a physical presence defensively, but he believes that Yearout has become more comfortable with the ball offensively and could play a key role as well.

“I have a true belief that depth is a big strength of ours this year,” Pribble said. “We are battling it out in practice every day. We have some guys we know will be a big part of our rotation.”

After the season opener against the Eagles, Idaho has a difficult nonconference schedule that will test the team early and often.

The Vandals host UC Davis on Nov. 7 before traveling to Pullman to face Washington State on Nov. 11 and down to Utah to face BYU on Nov. 16.

“It gets started real quick and it comes at us full speed, so I am excited to see where we are at,” Pribble said. “We have very, very high expectations this year, it should be a lot of fun.”

Idaho will have three more home nonconference games against Evergreen State (Nov. 19), UC Riverside (Nov. 30) and UC San Diego (Dec. 15.).

The Vandals will open Big Sky action on Jan. 2 when they host the Bobcats of Montana State. UI was picked to finish seventh in the Big Sky by the coaches and eighth by the media in the preseason polls.

“Everyone is very excited to see somebody new,” Pribble said. “This offseason we have been playing really hard, competing really hard against each other and I think we are all excited to get out there and play new competition.”

Isbelle can be reached at 208-848-2268, risbelle@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyIsbelle.