STANFORD, Calif. – Idaho men's basketball (6-5) couldn't recover from a slow first-half start, as the Vandals fell on the road to Stanford (5-4), 82-64 on Sunday afternoon at Maples Pavilion. 

Tyler Linhardt scored in double figures for the fourth straight game with a personal best 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting off the bench. The starting backcourt of Quinn Denker and D'Angelo Minnis followed with 13 and 12 points, respectively.   

Idaho struggled to find success shooting the basketball, as they were held to 39 percent (26-66) from the field and 24 percent (6-25) from three. Stanford was relentless on the glass, outrebounding the Vandals, 42-26.
 
The Vandals found themselves behind early on to open play, as Stanford went up 9-2 in the first four minutes. Shots started to fall for Idaho later in the period, as Trevon Blassingame knocked down a pair of buckets and Kristian Gonzalez hit a three from the wing to bring the score to 16-12 with just over 12 minutes to go. The Cardinal immediately followed with a 9-0 run to make it 25-12. Denker brought it back within single digits (29-20) but that's where the Vandals went cold. 

Idaho made one of its next 12 shots over the remaining 6 minutes and 36 seconds while the Cardinal went on a 12-2 run to carry a 41-22 lead into the half. 

Out of the break, Stanford went on to build their largest lead of the game (57-34) with just under 13 minutes to play. 

The Vandals wouldn't go away and clawed their way back to make it an 11-point game, surging on a 16-4 run to bring the score to 61-50. Denker highlighted the run with six points while Linhardt added five.

The deficit was deemed to be too large to pose a second-half Idaho comeback, as the Cardinal answered with timely baskets to put the game out of reach. 

Defensively, the Vandals were able to force Stanford into its second-most turnovers of the season with 14. Idaho posted 12 assists and turned the ball over just five times, tying for the fewest amount of turnovers against a Division l opponent in a single game since February 21, 2015 (vs. Southern Utah, 5).  

Up Next 
The Vandals compete in their final non-conference game of 2023 with a matchup at UC Riverside on Thursday, Dec. 21 at 5 p.m. Idaho returns to Moscow to begin conference play against Sacramento State on Dec. 28.

POSTGAME WITH ALEX PRIBBLE

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