MOSCOW, Idaho - Slowly but surely, the Vandal Hoops schedule is coming together.
On Wednesday, The Big Sky Conference released the lineup of games for the third annual Big Sky-Summit Challenge between the powerhouse mid-major conferences.
In the third annual rendition of the inter-conference skirmish, nine Big Sky teams, excluding Sacramento State, will participate in a home-and-home series with teams from the Summit League, with each earning a bid to host a game and traveling for another.
The two conferences will be playing for a combined trophy, awarded to the league whose teams (men's and women's) win the most combined games. The Summit League has taken home the hardware in the first two renditions of the challenge.
For Idaho Basketball, this challenge will consist of matchups with the Dakotas. On Wednesday, December 3, the North Dakota Fighting Hawks will head to Moscow for a showdown in the ICCU Arena. Following this, on Saturday, December 6, the Vandals will travel to Brookings, South Dakota, taking on the SDSU Jackrabbits inside First Bank and Trust Arena.
Due to an uneven number of members between the two conferences, Idaho played in just one contest in last year's edition. Led by double-digit efforts from Jack Payne (17), Kristian Gonzalez (16), and Tyler Linhardt (15), the Vandals out-paced the Kansas City Roos, 82-77 to claim a W for the Big Sky.
SCOUTING THE FOES
The first opponent for the black and gold, North Dakota, went 12-21 in the 2024-25 season. They would go on to dominate South Dakota State, 85-69 in the Summit League quarterfinals behind Treysen Eaglestaff's staggering 51 points. The Hawks' season ended the following day in the semis to the hands of St. Thomas. UND proved they can hang with any level of competition, as the green and white hosted an eventual elite eight competitor in Alabama, going wire-to-wire with the Crimson Tide in a narrow 90-97 defeat.
In last year's Big Sky-Summit Challenge, the Hawks went 1-1, falling to Eastern Washington in Cheney, 81-87, before holding on vs. Weber State in Grand Forks, 80-75.
Over in the other Dakota, the Jackrabbits recorded a 20-12 record in the 24-25 slate, which included an 11-5 mark over conference opponents, securing the #3 seed in the Summit League Tournament. Their season would end there, as previously mentioned, due to Treysen Eaglestaff's meteoric effort to put up 51 points by himself and lead North Dakota to the 85-69 win.
SDSU went 1-1 in last year's Big Sky-Summit Challenge, narrowly losing to Montana, 67-71, before soundly dominating Eastern Washington, 74-53, in Brookings
The Vandals' home match vs. North Dakota, alongside all of the Big Sky's home games across the challenge, will be broadcast on ESPN+. The away games, including vs. SDSU, will be shown on the Summit League Network.
Tip-off times will be announced at a later date.
