MOSCOW, Idaho - The Vandals open up the season at Big 12 opponent BYU at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah. It is the first game for Vandal coach
Arthur Moreira and it comes against a Cougar team who earned a WBIT invite in 2023-24. BYU was 3-0 against Big Sky schools in 2023-34, but the Idaho brings back just two players from last year's 15-16 squad. Despite being in bordering states, this is the first meeting of the two programs since 1998.
ABOUT IDAHO
The Vandals are an enigma. First-season head coach
Arthur Moreira has promised to bring an up-tempo style of play to the court. The roster returns just two players from a season ago, but there is a strong mix of veteran transfers and freshmen.
Sarah Brans started in 17 games for the Vandals in 2023-24 and scored 200 points.
Ashlyn Wallace added 177 points and played in all 31 games for Idaho.
Olivia Nelson,
Rosie Schweizer, and
Jennifer Aadland have all played at least 90 games in their careers, while Hope Hassman and
Kelbie Washington are Sophomores who earned conference All-Freshman team honors. In all, Idaho players have 651 games and 325 starts under their belts.
ABOUT BYU
BYU returns three starters and four lettermen off of last season's 16-17 squad, but also bring in nine newcomers. Five freshmen and four transfers. Head coach Amber Whiting enters her third season with a veteran squad that includes four Idahoans. BYU averaged 65.4 points per game in 23-24 while giving up 65.7. Amari Whiting, is the Cougars' leading returning scorer at 10.6 points per game. She also had a team-high 123 assists in 22-23.
GRADUATE TRANSFERS
Three Vandals;
Olivia Nelson,
Rosie Schweizer and
Jennifer Aadland bring extensive experience into the fray for Idaho.
Nelson has started in every game during her four year career at Central Missouri (117).
Jennifer Aadland has 98 starts in 99 career games for Augustana (S.D.) The two met early last season with Central Missouri coming out on top. Aadland scored 16 points while Nelson scored a career-high 29.
Schweizer has 93 games under her belt, including six starts for West Coast Conference team Pacific.
ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM TRANSFERS
Kelbie Washington and
Hope Hassmann both earned All-Freshman Team honors for their respective teams. Hassmann played and started all 31 games for Fullerton last season, scoring 302 points and dishing out 87 assists.
Washington was a All-Big 12 honoree at Oklahoma and earned National Freshman of the Week honors. She missed the last two seasons with an illness.
INTERNATIONAL IMPACT
Five players on this year's roster are international, including two from Brazil, home of head coach
Arthur Moreira and one from Portugal, who shares the Portuguese language with Brazil.
Vitória Carvalho and Ana Beatriz Passos hail from Brazil.
Ana Pinheiro is from Portugal.
Anja Bukvic from Belgrade Serbia and
Rosie Schweizer is from Australia.
ICCU ARENA
The Vandals enter the fourth season of play at the amazing ICCU Arena in Moscow. The $51 million arena sits just over 4,200 fans and includes the latest technology for fan and student-athlete experience. The Vandals are 18-18 in the first three seasons in the new Arena.
COACHING STAFF
First-Year Head Coach
Arthur Moreira compiled a coaching staff of former co-workers, opponents and trusted recruiters.
His first move was to retain and promote
Drew Muscatell. Muscatell was promoted to Associate Head Coach during the offseason. He enters his seventh season as an assistant for the Vandals and has worked for three different head coaches.
Moreira added former Montana Assistant Coach
Lindsey Foster to his staff. Foster was a coach at Montana for one season, before that, she was the head coach at DII Academy of Art in San Francisco.
Derek Saich served as the Director of Operations and Assistant Coach at Moreira's former school San Francisco. The two worked together for two seasons at USF.
The final assistant is
Denise Rosario, an experienced junior college coach from South Plains Junior College in Texas. She has extensive international recruiting connections, hailing from Minas Gerais, Brazil.
NET HISTORY
During the 2020-21 season, women's basketball introduced daily NET rankings for Division I. In that season, the Vandals reached their highest ranking of 126 on 3/11/21. They finished with an overall ranking of 133, improving 86 spots compared to their starting position of 219.
In the past two seasons, Idaho struggled in the rankings unable to surpass the 200 mark. The highest ranking in 2021-22 was 202 (2/5/22) and the highest in 2022-23 was 205 (3/5/23).
In 2023-24, Idaho had its highest start at 167 and kept climbing. On 1/10/24, the Vandals ranked at 125, breaking the program record.
STARTING WITH COUGS
Idaho opens the season with a pair of Cougars. The Vandals open the year with a game against BYU on Nov. 6, before traveling to Washington State on Nov. 10. Both teams participated in the inaugural WBIT. The two games are the first of five road games in the month of November for Idaho.
PRESEASON BIG SKY POLLS
The Vandals were picked eighth in the Big Sky Coaches Poll and seventh in the Big Sky Media Poll. No Idaho players were named to the Big Sky Preseason All-Conference Team. Northern Arizona was picked to win the league in both polls.
Idaho was picked in the same spot a season ago and finished sixth in the league.
IDAHO VS THE BIG 12
Idaho is 7-26 all-time against current Big 12 schools. BYU is the only school that Idaho has a winning record against (2-1). Idaho is 1-1 against Iowa State.
The Vandals have wins against Kansas State, Texas Tech and Utah.
The last game against a sitting Big 12 member was in the 2021-22 season when Idaho played at Texas.
EXHIBITION GAMES
The Vandals and Cougars both played exhibition games. The Vandals played against NAIA power Lewis-Clark State. Idaho rolled to a 79-49 win over the Warriors.
BYU played DII Westminster and topped the Griffins 105-37. BYU totaled ten three-pointers, 48 rebounds and 21 assists and held the Griffins to only three three-pointers and three assists. BYU shot 62.7 percent for the game and held the Griffins to 23.7 percent from the field.
