MOSCOW, Idaho ? Kashif Watson scored 19 points and the Vandal defense came alive as the University of Idaho men's basketball team earned its largest Western Athletic Conference victory with a 67-47 win over Hawai`i Thursday.
Idaho (8-8, 2-1) held the visiting Rainbow Warriors (9-6, 1-2) to just 30-percent shooting from the floor and outrebounded the WAC's second-best rebounding team 37-26.
“This was as good of a defensive effort as we have had all year,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “We were last in the league (in opponent shooting percentage) coming out of the preseason and we held them to 30-percent shooting and outrebound them by 11.”
Watson hit 6-of-9 shots from the floor and seven free throws for his 19 points. Mac Hopson scored 14 points and added seven assists and six rebounds and Brandon Wiley added nine points, seven rebounds, and three blocks.
As a team, the Vandals shot 24-of-45 (.533) from the floor and had six players score at least six points. Eight of nine Idaho players grabbed at least one rebound and the Vandals finished with 11 team rebounds.
“I challenged every one of our players to rebound and be physical tonight and the key stat in the game was we outrebounded one of the best rebounding teams in the conference by 11. Rebounding has to be an emphasis because of our size. It needs to be a team effort and we got that tonight,” Verlin said.
Although the final outcome looked lopsided, Idaho was not able to shake Hawai`i until a 12-0 run late in the second half.
Hawai`i gained the lead early, but a 9-0 run from Idaho gave the game its only lead change and put the Vandals ahead 13-8 at the 11:24 mark. Hawai`i fought back to tie the score at 15-15 and Idaho never led by more than four points when the Rainbow Warriors later tied the score at 22-22 with 3:46 remaining in the half. The Vandals scored the next five points and later earned their largest lead of the half at 30-24 when Watson hit a jumper at the buzzer.
Watson scored again to open the second half and put the Vandals ahead by eight and the margin later hit double digits on a 3-point play from Hopson that put Idaho up 44-32 with 13:49 remaining. Hawai`i hit four free throws after a personal and technical foul were called against Idaho to pull within eight points and the teams traded points to make the score 46-38 with 12:56 remaining. At that point, Idaho began to pull away as the Vandals scored the next 12 points to lead 58-38 at the 7:21 mark. Hawai`i missed four shots, two free throws, and turned the ball over four times during the run. The Rainbow Warriors would only get as close as 14 on two occasions and the Vandals pushed ahead by 21 on a Trevor Morris 3-pointer with 53 seconds remaining before Hawai`i hit a free throw in the final minute to make the final score 67-47.
Idaho scored 26 points on 16 Hawai`i turnovers and the Vandals scored 26 points in the paint compared to 14 for the Rainbow Warriors.
Idaho next hits the road for contests at New Mexico State Thursday (Jan. 15) and Louisiana Tech (Jan. 17).
NOTE:
- Idaho earned its eighth win of the season to tie for the most wins in a season since the 2003-04 season. It is the best start for an Idaho team since the 1998-99 team began the season 9-7.
