POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State Bengals men's basketball team will be back on the court for the first time of the 2024-25 season, traveling to Tempe, AZ for their season-opener against the Arizona State Sun Devils on Tuesday, November 5
th at 7 PM. This will be the third-ever meeting between Idaho State and Arizona State, ASU winning both previous matchups. In their second game of the season, the Bengals will travel to Los Angeles, CA to take on the USC Trojans on Thursday, November 7
th at 8 PM MT. The Bengals are 0-1 All-Time vs. USC, their lone matchup was a tight one, ending in a 53-59 loss for ISU in 2009.
Scott Gross will call the games on KISU while the Bengals game at Arizona State will be streamed on ESPN+ and the game at USC will be on BIG10+. Scott Gross will have the call for the Bengals game vs. USC on Thursday night on KISU.
The Sun Devils come into their season-opener vs. Idaho State after a 14-18 overall record in 2023-24 and a 8-12 record in conference play. The Sun Devils are fresh off of a scrimmage at Duke, tabbed the "Hurley Homecoming". ASU also received two votes in the opening AP Top 25 poll of the season.
Idaho State finished off last season with an 14-20 overall record and a record of 7-11 in Big Sky play, finishing 8
th in the regular season conference standings. The Bengals would make a run in the Big Sky Conference Tournament in March, defeating 7
th seeded Northern Arizona in the first-round, followed by a second-round upset of 2
nd seeded Northern Colorado. Marking the first Big Sky Tournament semi-final appearance for ISU since the 2009 season and the first multi-win postseason tournament since 1987.
The Bengals return 4 players and about 20% of their points, rebounds, and minutes played from last year's roster, redshirt-freshmen
Jaedyn Brown and
Evan Otten, as well as the only two players on this year's roster that saw action last season,
Isaiah Griffin and
AJ Burgin.
The Bengals bring in 12 new faces, one of only 27 schools and universities in all of NCAA Division 1 to do so. Headlined by Redshirt-Sophomore guard,
Dylan Darling, transferring in from Washington State University, and guard/forward combo
Jake O'Neil coming in from the College of Idaho. O'Neil led the 2022-23 Yotes team to their NAIA National Championship win. Forward,
Connor Hollenbeck, out of North Dakota State College of Science, and Center,
Blake Daberkow, from Central Community College, will also look to make an impact for Idaho State this season.
Of the 12 new faces on the team, there is 1 true freshman, 2 sophomores, 6 juniors, 1 senior, and 2 graduate students.
Tip vs. Arizona State be at 7 p.m. in Desert Financial Arena in Tempe, Arizona.
Arizona State (0-0)
Home (0-0), Away (0-0), Neutral (0-0)
ISU Recent Series vs. ASU
11/10/2017 A L 74 – 94
11/15/2013 A L 60 – 88
The Returning 4
4
Jaedyn Brown G R-Fr. 6-4 185 Pullman, WA
12
Isaiah Griffin F Sr. 6-6 210 Knightdale, NC
13
AJ Burgin G Sr. 6-3 205 San Diego, Calif.
30
Evan Otten C R-Fr. 6-11 235 Redmond, OR
Hello My Name Is
0
Joey Madimba G Jr. 6-5 205 Mansfield, TX
1
Dylan Darling G R-So. 6-1 180 Spokane, WA
2
Nick Ghetie G Fr. 5-11 175 Portland, OR
3
Quentin Meza G So. 6-0 180 West Valley City, UT
5
Cheikh Sow G Jr. 6-7 195 Theis, Senegal
8
Jake O'Neil G Gr. 6-4 210 Fruitland, ID
10
Connor Hollenbeck F Gr. 6-7 225 Rapid City, SD
11
Cam Slaymaker G Jr. 6-4 195 Coquitlam, BC, CA
14
Covy Kelly G Jr. 6-2 182 Garden Valley, ID
21
Jackson Greene F Jr. 6-7 215 Atlanta, GA
24
Justin Graham F Sr. 6-7 200 Colorado Springs, CO
32
Blake Daberkow C Jr. 6-10 235 Lincoln, NE
Bengal Bites
- Idaho State brings in 12 new players for the 2024-25 campaign (1 of only 27 schools in NCAA D1)
- The Bengals return just 4 players from last season, only 2 of the 4 saw playing time
- The Bengals return just 20% of their points, rebounds, and minutes played from last season
- Idaho State adds three notable players, 2 of which look to make a push into the Bengals starting rotation: Jake O'Neil, Dylan Darling, & Joey Madimba
- Jake O'Neil is a graduate student who earned his Bachelor's degree from the College of Idaho. While at COI, O'Neil led the Yotes to their second-ever National Championship during the 2022-23 season
- Dylan Darling is a Redshirt Sophomore who played at Washington State prior to coming to ISU
- Joey Madimba is an incoming Junior who played last at Howard College. While at Howard Madimba would get a NJCAA All-Star nod and compete in the NJCAA All-Star game in Las Vegas in the spring
