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Idaho (8-4, 0-0) vs. Cal State Bakersfield (5-8, 0-2)<\/p>\n
MOSCOW, Idaho \u2013 After snatching a road win from a scrappy Cal Poly squad on Sunday, Idaho Basketball closes out the non-conference slate in the Golden State, traveling to Bakersfield for a road matchup with Cal State Bakersfield.<\/p>\n
The Vandals outlasted the Mustangs by way of Kolton Mitchell’s<\/a> season-high 31 points in SLO, and are carrying the momentum of one of the best non-con seasons in recent history over to the Icardo Center for Tuesday’s contest. A win over the Roadrunners would mark the first time Idaho notched nine or more victories before starting conference play since before the program re-joined the Big Sky Conference. The last time this happened at all was 1993, when the Vandals marched out to 11-4 before playing a league game.\u00a0<\/p>\n CSUB has seen some familiar foes to UI so far this year, falling to CSUN, 66-87, in Northridge on 12\/4, and yielding another loss to the Big Sky’s Portland State, 80-93, in early November.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Roadrunners, led by interim head coach Mike Scott, feature an offense that forces opponents to pick their poison. Four players average at least 7.5 PPG and three of those are sitting at double figures. Of those who have played in at least eleven of their team’s thirteen games, five are shooting at least 46% from the floor.<\/p>\n IDAHO NOTES<\/p>\n
Idaho features five players on the roster that hail from the Gem State for the first time since the 1971-72 season<\/p>\n
Idaho’s February 19, 2026 game at Portland State was selected to air on ESPNU as part of the Big Sky’s distribution deal with the Worldwide Leader in Sports.<\/p>\n
Idaho has found points from its entire roster this season with four or more Vandals finishing in double-figures in eight of UI’s first 12 games.<\/p>\n
The Vandals have started 4-0 at home for the first time since the 2017-18 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
NUMBERS TO KNOW<\/p>\n
120: The 2025-26 season marks the 120th year of Idaho men’s basketball. In the first 119 seasons, the Vandals won five conference titles, made four NCAA tournament appearances, and had five All-American players<\/p>\n
100: All season long, Idaho Basketball is remembering the life and legacy of the legendary Vandal, Don Monson. Monson was a three-time basketball letterman as a student, but his biggest honor was as head basketball coach from 1978 to 1983, where he led the Vandals to a Sweet Sixteen appearance and earned 100 wins over five seasons<\/p>\n
5: Five Idaho natives are on this season’s roster, the most since the 1971-72 season<\/p>\n
58: Idaho has made five or more threes in 58 straight contests, a top-10 mark in the nation\u00a0<\/p>\n
137: Idaho was 137th in the Dec. 8 NET rankings, the highest mark in program history since the rankings debuted in time for the 2018-19 season.<\/p>\n
5: Following Kolton Mitchell’s<\/a> 14-point performance against Eastern Oregon, five Vandals now have crossed over the 500-point mark in their careers (Mitchell, Kristian Gonzalez<\/a>, Brody Rowbury<\/a>, Biko Johnson<\/a>, Isaiah Brickner<\/a>)<\/p>\n
4: Idaho’s preseason ranking in both Big Sky Preseason Polls, its highest since 2017<\/p>\n
62.7: The Vandals return the most minutes in the Big Sky, with three out of their five most common starters staying in Moscow for the 2025-26 season<\/p>\n
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