# 2016–17 Idaho Vandals men's basketball team

The 2016–17 Idaho Vandals men's basketball team represented the University of Idaho during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Vandals, led by ninth-year head coach Don Verlin, played their home games at the Cowan Spectrum, with a few early season games at Memorial Gym, in Moscow, Idaho and were members of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the regular season 19–14, 12–6 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for third place. Big Sky tournament. They defeated Montana in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky tournament before losing in the semifinals to North Dakota. They were invited to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament where they defeated Stephen F. Austin before losing in the second round to Texas State.

## Previous season

The Vandals finished the 2015–16 season 21–13, 12–6 record in Big Sky play to finish in third place. They defeated Eastern Washington in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky tournament to advance to the semifinals where they lost to Montana. They were invited to the College Basketball Invitational where they lost in the first round to Seattle.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Chris Sarbaugh | 10 | G | 6'4" | 201 | Senior | Spokane, WA | Graduated |
| Paulin Mpawe | 15 | F | 6'10" | 227 | Senior | San Bernardino, CA | Graduated |
| George Nahshon | 24 | F | 6'9" | 200 | Senior | Kapolei, HI | Graduated |
| Skyler White | 33 | G | 6'6" | 238 | RS Sophomore | Bellevue, WA | Transferred to Point Loma Nazarene |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Brayon Blake | 4 | F | 6'7" | 200 | Junior | Seattle, WA | Junior college transferred from College of Southern Idaho. |

### 2016 incoming recruits

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Tre'von Allen SF | Clarkston, WA | Clarkston High School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 165 lb (75 kg) | Sep 15, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved August 22, 2016. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Chinese exhibition tour ||||||
| 6/14/2016* 6:00 am | | vs. Lithuania national team 2016 International Basketball Atlas Challenge, Group B | W 71–69 | | Dushu Lake Arena Suzhou, China |
| 6/15/2016* 6:00 am | | vs. Iran national team 2016 International Basketball Atlas Challenge, Group B | L 62–71 | | Dushu Lake Arena Suzhou, China |
| 6/16/2016* | | vs. Macedonia national team 2016 International Basketball Atlas Challenge, Group B | L 67–79 | | Dushu Lake Arena Suzhou, China |
| 6/18/2016* | | vs. Japan national team 2016 International Basketball Atlas Challenge, Losers' Bracket | W 74–64 | | Dushu Lake Arena Suzhou, China |
| 6/22/2016* | | vs. Macedonia national team 2016 International Basketball Atlas Challenge, 5th Place Match | L 79–85 | | Dushu Lake Arena Suzhou, China |
| 6/23/2016* | | vs. China national team | L 94–102 $^{OT}$ | | Dushu Lake Arena Suzhou, China |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 10/25/2016* 7:00 pm | | Carroll (MT) | W 80–62 | | Memorial Gym (745) Moscow, ID |
| 11/04/2016* 7:00 pm | | Lewis–Clark State | W 80–66 | | Memorial Gym (763) Moscow, ID |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/12/2016* 8:00 pm | | Corban | W 90–67 | 1–0 | Memorial Gym (628) Moscow, ID |
| 11/16/2016* 6:00 pm | | at Northern Illinois | L 49–63 | 1–1 | Convocation Center (1,430) DeKalb, IL |
| 11/18/2016* 4:30 pm | | at Little Rock | W 65–57 | 2–1 | Jack Stephens Center (2,630) Little Rock, AR |
| 11/21/2016* 7:00 pm | | South Dakota State | W 96–86 $^{OT}$ | 3–1 | Memorial Gym (474) Moscow, ID |
| 11/25/2016* 4:30 pm | | at Sam Houston State | L 62–69 | 3–2 | Bernard Johnson Coliseum (625) Huntsville, TX |
| 11/29/2016* 7:00 pm | | San Jose State | L 49–58 | 3–3 | Memorial Gym (674) Moscow, ID |
| 12/03/2016* 7:00 pm | | UC Davis | W 68–66 | 4–3 | Memorial Gym Moscow, ID |
| 12/07/2016* 7:00 pm, P12N | | at Washington State Battle of the Palouse | L 48–61 | 4–4 | Beasley Coliseum (3,178) Pullman, WA |
| 12/10/2016* 5:00 pm | | at South Dakota State | L 77–80 | 4–5 | Frost Arena (1,349) Brookings, SD |
| 12/17/2016* 5:00 pm | | Northwest Nazarene | W 87–61 | 5–5 | Cowan Spectrum (826) Moscow, ID |
| 12/22/2016* 7:30 pm, P12N | | at Stanford | L 80–86 | 5–6 | Maples Pavilion (3,287) Stanford, CA |
| Big Sky regular season ||||||
| 12/31/2016 7:00 pm | | Eastern Washington | L 62–69 | 5–7 (0–1) | Cowan Spectrum (1,107) Moscow, ID |
| 01/05/2017 7:00 pm | | Montana | L 57–70 | 5–8 (0–2) | Cowan Spectrum (813) Moscow, ID |
| 01/07/2017 7:00 pm | | Montana State | W 83–81 $^{OT}$ | 6–8 (1–2) | Cowan Spectrum (1,114) Moscow, ID |
| 01/12/2017 6:00 pm | | at Weber State | L 66–91 | 6–9 (1–3) | Dee Events Center (6,507) Ogden, UT |
| 01/14/2017 6:00 pm | | at Idaho State | W 77–62 | 7–9 (2–3) | Holt Arena (1,754) Pocatello, ID |
| 01/19/2017 7:00 pm | | Southern Utah | W 79–67 | 8–9 (3–3) | Cowan Spectrum (889) Moscow, ID |
| 01/21/2017 7:00 pm | | Northern Arizona | W 65–49 | 9–9 (4–3) | Cowan Spectrum (1,323) Moscow, ID |
| 01/26/2017 6:00 pm | | at Montana State | L 91–94 | 9–10 (4–4) | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (2,620) Bozeman, MT |
| 01/28/2017 6:00 pm | | at Montana | W 85–77 $^{OT}$ | 10–10 (5–4) | Dahlberg Arena (3,935) Missoula, MT |
| 02/02/2017 7:00 pm | | Portland State | W 89–72 | 11–10 (6–4) | Cowan Spectrum (1,014) Moscow, ID |
| 02/04/2017 7:00 pm | | Sacramento State | W 71–67 | 12–10 (7–4) | Cowan Spectrum (1,629) Moscow, ID |
| 02/09/2017 6:00 pm | | at Northern Colorado | W 88–76 | 13–10 (8–4) | Bank of Colorado Arena (1,059) Greeley, CO |
| 02/11/2017 2:00 pm | | at North Dakota | L 65–88 | 13–11 (8–5) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (2,345) Grand Forks, ND |
| 02/18/2017 6:00 pm | | at Eastern Washington | L 67–77 | 13–12 (8–6) | Reese Court (2,821) Cheney, WA |
| 02/23/2017 7:00 pm | | Idaho State | W 69–61 | 14–12 (9–6) | Cowan Spectrum Moscow, ID |
| 02/25/2017 7:00 pm | | Weber State | W 83–78 $^{OT}$ | 15–12 (10–6) | Cowan Spectrum (1,043) Moscow, ID |
| 03/02/2017 7:30 pm | | at Northern Arizona | W 77–75 | 16–12 (11–6) | Walkup Skydome (1,426) Flagstaff, AZ |
| 03/04/2017 3:00 pm | | at Southern Utah | W 84–75 | 17–12 (12–6) | Centrum Arena (2,010) Cedar City, UT |
| Big Sky tournament ||||||
| 03/09/2017 12:05 pm | (4) | at (5) Montana Quarterfinals | W 81–77 | 18–12 | Reno Events Center (1,762) Reno, NV |
| 03/10/2017 5:35 pm | (4) | at (1) North Dakota Semifinals | L 64–69 | 18–13 | Reno Events Center (2,003) Reno, NV |
| CIT ||||||
| 03/15/2017* 8:00 pm, Facebook Live | | Stephen F. Austin First Round | W 73–50 | 19–13 | Memorial Gym (1,109) Moscow, ID |
| 03/22/2017* 6:00 pm, Facebook Live | | at Texas State Second Round | L 55–64 | 19–14 | Strahan Coliseum (3,086) San Marcos, TX |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific Time. ||||||