VS

Seattle U (9-12) vs Idaho Vandals (9-10, 2-6 WAC)

Key Arena (Seattle, WA)

Saturday January 30, 2010 7:10 pm

RADIO: 710 ESPN Seattle   INTERNET AUDIO: seattleufan.com

Series- Seattle- 13-7

Last Meeting- November 26, 1993- @ Idaho 65-59

Saturday will be the first time Idaho has played SU in Seattle in 41 years. SU had a 12-game win streak between 1961 and 1968, but Idaho has taken the last three.

Scouting Idaho:

04-05- 8 wins

05-06- 4 wins

06-07- 4 wins

07-08- 8 wins

08-09- 17 wins

This Year- 9 wins

The trend is positive for Idaho with Coach Don Verlin in his second year. The long-time assistant at Utah State led the Vandals to their first winning season in over a decade while stacking up 17 wins for the first time since the mid-90’s. Idaho earned an invitation to the collegeinsider.com Postseason Tournament which was their first postseason appearance in 20 years. The Vandals were picked to finish 4^th in the WAC this season, but have stumbled badly after a fine non-conference run. Idaho picked off Utah to start the year, beat the 25^th ranked Portland and knocked off Hawaii to begin conference play. Idaho dropped six conference games in a row before recovering to beat Fresno State at home on Thursday night. Idaho has an outstanding backcourt, but they struggle with an inconsistent frontline.

The Ones to Watch:

Mac Hopson- 6’2 185 SR G- 15 ppg 5.2 rbd 4.5 assts

The transfer from Washington State leads Idaho in points and assists and is second in rebounds. He earned WAC first team honors last season after averaging 16 points per game. Hopson is the engine for the Vandals offense. In the win Thursday night Hopson exploded for 21 points 6 assits 4 rebounds (7-11) from the field and (3-4) from three. He is a tough matchup because of his size and he hurts his opponents in a number of ways. As a sophomore at Washington State he averaged 4 points and 2 assists a game and started 7 of the first 8 games that season.

Steffan Johnson- 6’1 180 SR G- 11 ppg  3 rbds 3 assts

Another point guard who transferred to the Vandals. Johnson spent three years in a Pacific uniform climbing the charts to 3^rd in school history in steals, 6^th in assist and 6^th in 3’s. He averaged 10 points a game in his career at Pacific. Johnson was chosen preseason Newcomer of the Year in the WAC. The Kent, WA product is strolling 3’s at a 44% rate and is second in the WAC at downtown hits. He buried 6 of 7 from beyond the arc in a game against Eastern this year. He teams with Hopson to form a dynamic backcourt. Both players can score and distribute.

Keys to the Game:

1-      Rebounding- Seattle is 9-4 when out rebounding their opponents and winless when out rebounded. Idaho’s weakness is in the frontcourt.

2-     Backcourt Defense- SU will have their hands full with the combo of Hopson and Johnson.

3-     Hit the 3- Seattle has struggled badly since shooting nearly 60% from 3 against Oregon State.

Seattle looks to bounce back tonight. Tune in 15 minutes before tip on 710 ESPN Seattle and the live blog will be cooking at seattleufan.com.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 30th, 2010 at 3:11 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.