RUSTON, La. - In its previous five-game road win streak, the Idaho men's basketball team made the hustle plays, rebounded well and played efficient offensively - but that wasn't the case on Thursday at Louisiana Tech.
Idaho (12-8, 5-3 Western Athletic Conference) lost its second in a row after giving up 16 second-chance points and sending Louisiana Tech (10-12, 1-7 WAC) to the free throw line 24 times in a 71-56 loss at Thomas Assembly Center.
"For whatever reason, we weren't mentally on our game like we should have been," Idaho head coach Don Verlin said after the game. "I thought we got completely dominated in the post, and when you do that, you're going to lose by 15 on the road, and that's what happened to tonight."
The Vandals shot just 38.2 percent for the game, turned the ball over 15 times and shot a season-low 46.2 percent from the free-throw line. Senior guard Jeff Ledbetter went for a career-high-tying 20 points, mostly from a 6-of-10 effort from 3-point range, but no other Idaho player cracked double digits.
Aside from Ledbetter's 7-of-12 shooting performance, Idaho went just 14-of-43 (.326) from the floor. The Vandals also tied a season low with just six made free throws on 13 attempts.
Sophomore Kyle Barone, junior Luiz Toledo and senior Brandon Wiley, who entered the game averaging a combined 27.4 points on 56.2 percent shooting, made just eight of their 21 combined attempts for and only grabbed 11 rebounds.
"We got the ball down there a number of times, but we just weren't strong enough and physical enough to get it done and you've got to give them (LTU) credit," Verlin said about the post play. "They just imposed their will on us tonight, especially around the basket."
For Louisiana Tech, junior forward Olu Ashaolu put together a monster game, with 24 points and 18 rebounds on 8-of-16 shooting. While big games have been the norm for Ashaolu, freshman Kenyon McNeaill's career-high 21-point effort was a surprise that made up for the Vandals holding leading scorer DeAndre Brown to just six points. Brown entered the game third in the WAC at 16.0 per game, while McNeaill was averaging just 6.6 points this season.
The Vandals made the first field goal of the game at the 19:27 mark of the first half, but it would be the team's only lead of the day, as LTU answered with a 9-0 run, and after Barone converted a 3-point play to make it 9-5, LA Tech rattled off seven more unanswered.
Louisiana Tech extended its lead to as many as 13 points on two occasions in the first half, then two free throws by Ashaolu in the closing seconds of the period put the Bulldogs up by 14, 36-22, at the break.
Idaho appeared to have switched on the jets when they opened the second period with an 11-1 run that brought them within a 37-33 margin at the 17:46 mark. As quickly as it started, though, it slipped away.
Louisiana Tech outscored Idaho, 11-5, over the next four minutes, starting with an Ashaolu 3-point play, and Idaho never got back within six. Idaho missed five of its final six shots over the last 6:34 of the game as the Bulldogs extended their lead to the final margin of 15 - the largest of the game.
Idaho will next take the court on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. (PST) at Las Cruces, N.M., where they will face New Mexico State, which is 11-11 overall and 5-3 in the WAC after a 96-87 overtime win against Boise State on Thursday.
"We didn't play nearly to the level of basketball that we need to play, and we've got to pick ourselves up by the bootstraps and go get ready to play New Mexico State," Verlin said.
