MOSCOW, Idaho - Vandal basketball fans will remember fondly the last time that their men's squad played Northern Colorado in January. Specifically, they'll recall the last three seconds of the contest when Kolton Mitchell's moonshot from 25 feet away sunk through the hoop to hand the Bears their first conference loss of the season.
But that was then, and this is now, and it's time for round two. With just four games remaining in the regular season, Idaho is headed to Greeley, CO for the penultimate road contest of the year, a rematch with the Northern Colorado Bears.
LAST TIME OUT
It's hard to believe it's been a month since the Vandals handed the Bears their first loss of Big Sky in thrilling fashion. UI trailed 26-36 at the halftime break when they could only convert 1-7 from three-point range, but rallied with a 51 point second half and Mitchell's buzzer beater to upset UNC, 77-76, in the final seconds. With his final make of the contest, Mitchell became the first Idaho freshman since 2018 to make five threes in a single game.
Idaho took home the win in their first game of the week, riding an electric first half to hold off Northern Arizona's comeback efforts and pull out the win, 83-78.
The high-flying Northern Colorado offense had it's most productive outing of the conference season to date on Thursday, hosting Eastern Washington and shooting nearly 67% from the floor to race past the Eagles, 95-76.
SCOUTING THE BEARS
UNC can score, there's no doubt about that. The Bears' 81.3 points per game as a team leads the Big Sky by a mile and is top-30 in all of Division 1.This is bolstered by them making the second-most threes in the conference per game (8.5), trailing only the Vandals (9.4). The two-headed monster of Isaiah Hawthrone (17.3) and Langston Reynolds (16.5) continue to rank in the conference top-five in PPG. The duo gets their opportunities from Jaron Rillie, who holds the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the Big Sky with 2.8.
SERIES HISTORY VS. N. COLORADO
While the Vandals got the better of the Bears in their most recent matchup in Moscow, Northern Colorado has dominated the series in recent years, winning eleven straight from 2017-2023 and thirteen of the last fifteen. Idaho's last win in Greeley came in February of 2017, an 88-76 statement win for the Vandals' fourth-straight in the series.
The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and Vandal fans are encouraged to tap in to The Radio Network to hear the Voice of the Vandals, Dennis Patchin, calling the action.
