Connor Hill shoots Idaho to win over Idaho State

Maybe Connor Hill should take vacations to Hawaii more often.

The Idaho senior shooting guard spent four days on the Hawaiian islands with his family during the team’s nine-day layoff between the game at Northern Kentucky and hosting Idaho State to open up Big Sky Conference play.

Hill, and the Vandals, returned to action triumphantly. Hill unleashed a storm of 3-pointers on Idaho State nailing eight treys and dropping a career-high 32 points on the Bengals to lead the Vandals to a 77-54 win Thursday night at the Cowan Spectrum in Idaho’s first Big Sky Conference game since 1996.

The first 3-pointer from the Post Falls product gave Idaho a 9-8 lead, a lead that Idaho wouldn’t relinquish because Hill kept shooting and shooting. Despite the Bengals closing out on Hill and contesting him, the Vandals held a 33-17 lead when Hill watched his fifth 3-pointer fall in.

“I knew I would have an opportunity to get a lot more looks with the zone they played,” Hill said. “It feels good when the shots went in.”

But even in losses, scoring hasn’t been a problem for the Vandals team that came in averaging 76.8 points per game. Idaho coach Don Verlin deflected credit for the win to the defensive end of the floor, where Idaho held the visitors from Pocatello to 34-percent shooting.

“I think our defense was as good as it’s been since the (Washington State) game,” Verlin said. “To be honest with you, we didn’t have our five best days of practice after the break. This is the longest break I think I’ve ever had a team have. I thought our guys did a good job of doing what they were coached to do.”

Idaho State’s leading scorer, Chris Hansen, was tamed by Idaho’s in-your-face, man-to-man defense on him. Sekou Wiggs and Hill both took turns defending him, holding him without a basket for the first 15 minutes of the game. He ended with only 14 points on 4-of-13 shooting.

The Vandals also dominated the boards, led by senior Bira Seck collecting 12 rebounds in a physical and relatively foul-free game.

“I love that (type of game),” Seck said. “That’s my nature.”

Winning its conference home-opener was important for Idaho considering the four Big Sky teams with the worst records will be left out of the conference tournament. Idaho will host the defending conference champion on Saturday when Weber State visits. The Vandals will then welcome in Eastern Washington on Jan. 10 before playing five of their next seven on the road.

“This will be a heck of a game. We’ll find out where we’re at on Saturday,” Verlin said.