EUGENE, Ore. - The University of Idaho men's basketball found itself in a second straight nail-biter Tuesday night at Oregon's McArthur Court, and this time the Vandals pulled through with a 69-65 victory over the Ducks in the final non-conference game at the historic venue.
The setting was eerily similar to last Saturday's last-second loss against Montana, but Idaho (6-5) showed no signs of a repeat performance and bounced back in a big way with its first win at Oregon (7-5) since Dec. 1, 1965.
Idaho led a majority of the contest, but the game remained a two-possession game for nearly the entire second half. While the Vandals didn't make the key plays late in the game on Saturday, they did so on Tuesday to get the win.
"Coach told us not to have a hangover from the last game," Vandal senior forward Brandon Wiley said about head coach Don Verlin's postgame talk on Saturday. "He said it came down to a couple possessions, and we would find a way next game to figure out those last minor details in order to come out with a win, and I think we did that tonight."
It was Wiley who provided the team an early boost, then helped the Vandals finish things off. In the first half alone, the senior forward had six points, four rebounds and four blocked shots, and finished the game with a team-high 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting, with six rebounds, two steals, one assist and a career-high five blocks.
"As a team, we thought we let a couple get away in Seattle U and Montana, but we got one back tonight," Idaho head coach Don Verlin said after the game. "I couldn't be happier to come here and beat a program like this at a storied venue. It was loud, and I thought our guys really held their composure."
Junior guard Landon Tatum came off the bench and provided a spark with 11 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. He hit three of his six field goal attempts and went 5-of-8 from the free throw line.
Idaho countered Oregon's pressure defense with unselfish offense throughout the game. The Vandals had just two scorers in double figures, but had five more who scored at least eight points. Nine of Idaho's 10 active players in the game dished at least one assist.
"I thought we executed very well, offensively and defensively," Verlin said. "We played unselfish basketball throughout the entire game, and when it came time to make stops and winning plays late in the game, we had a number of guys come up with them."
That balance became crucial at the 9:39 mark of the second half, when Oregon capped off an 8-2 run with a Jeremy Jacob jumper that put the Ducks up 55-54 and gave the home team all the momentum.
Wiley drew a foul and sank one freebie, then two minutes later, freshman Stephen Madison got himself to the line for two easy points, followed immediately by Tatum. Two possessions later, senior guard Shawn Henderson skipped a pass to an open Deremy Geiger, who buried an open triple to put the Vandals up seven, 62-55, with 5:12 left in the game.
This time around, there were no late-game heroics for an Idaho opponent - the defense made sure of that. The Vandals held Oregon to just two made field goals in 15 attempts in the final 9:38 of the game, and countered every time the Ducks threatened the lead.
The Vandals hit 48.9 percent of their attempts from the field and went 6-of-13 (.462) from 3-point range in the game. They also hit 17 of their 25 free throw attempts in the contest. Oregon went 23-of-68 (.338) from the field, but hit just seven of its 29 attempts from 3-point range for a 24.1 percentage.
Idaho out-rebounded Oregon 35-34 and outscored the Ducks, 30-26, in the paint. UO converted 16 Idaho turnovers into 18 points, while eight Duck turnovers became 10 Vandal points. For the fourth-straight game, the Idaho bench had an edge over the opponent, this time with a 27-15 scoring margin.
Idaho took a 40-35 lead into the break in a first half that started at a crawl. The two teams combined for just eight points in the first four minutes, as Oregon led 5-3 at 15:40. The Vandals started the game shooting just 1-5 from the field with a pair of turnovers.
Geiger kicked Idaho out of the slump with a three-ball at 15:21 of the first to put the Vandals up 6-5, and Idaho would go on to hit six straight buckets and 12 of their final 15 attempts in the half.
In addition to Wiley's strong start, Jeff Ledbetter, Madison and Geiger did damage from long range in the opening stanza as the trio combined to go 5-of-8 from beyond the arc.
When the ball found Idaho's shooters, the Vandals knocked them down. Unfortunately, Idaho also turned it over 10 times in the first half, which led to 10 Oregon points and helped keep the Ducks in the game.
With the bulk of Idaho's non-conference slate behind, the Vandals now shift their attention to the Western Athletic Conference. New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech will visit the Cowan Spectrum on Wednesday and Friday of next week, respectively, to open conference play.
Idaho is 2-0 in WAC openers under Verlin after taking down Nevada in 2008-09 and Hawai'i in 2009-10, both times on the road. This year marks the first time Idaho has opened WAC play with a home game.
