Buoyed by hopeful signs a year ago, Idaho men’s basketball looks to make a big leap in 2024-25

What Alex Pribble’s first season as men’s basketball coach at Idaho lacked in victories, his Vandals may have made up for in bright spots.

Idaho – which finished 11-21, with a 5-13 mark in the Big Sky – won half of its preseason games before coming up with some notable conference wins over Montana State, Sacramento State and Idaho State, even after key injuries bit into the lineup as the season progressed.

Heading into his second season, Pribble believes the Vandals laid the groundwork for a big jump forward.

“You have got to act like a champion before you are a champion,” he says.

With 10 returning players who understand those expectations, Pribble says Idaho is now well equipped to play the aggressive defensive scheme that he hopes will be the foundation for the Vandals’ culture. Key transfers should enable the Vandals to be more deadly on offense as perimeter snipers and fast-break assassins.

The newfound prowess “really shows on the defensive end,” Pribble said. “We are much better on defense than we were at this time last year. On offense, we want to change things up, play with a little more skill, more pace this year.”

He calls this Vandals’ team “coachable, but relatively young, with only two seniors.”

Leading the way will be Julius “Juice” Mims. The 6-foot-10 senior, a transfer from North Idaho College, is an elite leaper, as evidenced by his selection to the 2023-24 All Big Sky defensive team. Mims finished with 48 blocked shots, and he averaged 11.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.

The most important addition may be the return of redshirt sophomore Tyler Mrus. Before a leg injury sidelined him last season, Mrus was the kind of player at both ends of the court that Pribble envisioned leading a relentlessly aggressive Idaho team. The 6-7 forward scored seven points against Washington State and 14 against Cal State Northridge before going down.

Incoming transfers Kolton Mitchell, a redshirt freshman guard from Coeur d’Alene who played at Idaho State last year, 6-4 junior guard Isaiah Brickner, who arrived from Marist College, Jojo Anderson, a junior guard from Mount Spokane High School and Whitworth, and Jack Payne, a 6-6 redshirt sophomore guard who played last season at Colorado State, will add speed and length to Idaho’s backcourt, Pribble says. They will team with 6-3 sophomore Kristian Gonzalez, who flashed talent as a freshman while playing 29 games, averaging 4.3 points, just under one assist, three blocks and three steals per game.

In the frontcourt, anchored by Mims, Pribble expects 6-7 junior Tyler Linhardt and 6-9 senior Kyson Rose to build on last season’s campaign. Linhardt averaged just over eight points and three rebounds per game, and Rose 2.8 rebounds and 6.6 points. Rose also recorded 11 blocks and 10 steals. At 245 pounds, Rose – a junior college transfer from Walla Walla College – is now well acquainted with the physical nature of Division I basketball, Pribble said, and will give Idaho a more dominant presence in the paint.

The Big Sky Conference should be wide open this season, Pribble predicted, with Montana and Montana State, Weber State and Northern Colorado likely to finish in the top half of the league. Pribble expects the Vandals to be in the mix, too.

“We can take a big step forward in conference play,” he said. “On defense, that is where you can feel our culture is going to stand out.”