RENO, Nev. This season was supposed to be the top of the mountain.

Or, at least, a building block toward a program turnaround.

Instead, it was neither. Not even close.

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Idaho States season ended Tuesday with a 91-76 loss to Sacramento State in the first round of the Big Sky Conference tournament in Reno, Nevada, giving the Bengals a 5-26 overall record and a seasons worth of sour taste.

Around the same time a year earlier, ISU was preparing to play in its first conference tournament in four years. The Bengals climbed from the conference cellar to fourth place thanks to a revamped offense and an East Coast basketball prodigy. ISU earned a first-round tournament bye, Coney Islands Ethan Telfair was a first-team all-conference selection and veteran head coach Bill Evans was tabbed Big Sky Coach of the Year for leading his team to its first winning season since 2002-03.

Present day, the Bengals are moving on from their two-year superstar and one-year upswing and picking up the pieces from a historically bad season nobody saw coming.

This team was a more talented team than last year, Evans said Tuesday after the loss to Sac State. Theres a lot of things that can get in the way of talent. Potential doesnt win games. Productivity wins games. We werent productive enough.

Idaho States 26 losses are the most in a season in program history. The Bengals 5-26 record gives them the second-worst winning percentage ever at .161. Only 1941-42s 3-20 mark is worse.

In five seasons under Evans, who is known for his problematic matchup zone defense, ISUs defense was never worse than this one. Bengals opponents averaged 80.2 points, shot 48.1 percent overall and 39.6 percent from 3-point range while outscoring ISU by 10.4 and outrebounding ISU by 7.5.

According to college basketball metrics analyst Ken Pomeroy, ISU gave up 116.1 points per 100 possessions this season, which is also the worst for ISU under Evans.

Very frustrating, ISU junior Geno Luzcando said Tuesday. We couldnt do almost anything. We couldnt rebound, we couldnt get together as a team, we didnt have a lot of chemistry.

Chemistry, the unmeasurable variable that effects teams unequally, may have been the underlying factor in ISUs demise. It was most evident in the teams final game, when facial expressions and lip-reading were enough to clarify a toxic level of tension.

When you have a lot of love for the game, sometimes tempers flare, ISU redshirt freshman Brandon Boyd said Tuesday. Our common goal was to win.

What about the relationship between coach and player? Most importantly, coach and star player? Evans and Telfair, who swore by a father-son like bond a year ago, were divided at times this season. Evans suspended Telfair for three games early in the season after Telfair was called for a technical foul in ISUs 85-51 loss at Utah State, a move that, while surprising, fit Evans mold of playing the game with respect, integrity and humility.

Its unclear whether the two ever reconciled. Telfairs social media posts wavered from frustration and regret to appreciation and nostalgia. He left Idaho State as one of the schools all-time greats, but also as a cryptic question mark, visibly checked out of some games and on the verge of tears after others.

Maybe Evans lost his way with his young superstar. Maybe there was a lack of senior leadership, a glue that perfectly completed the puzzle. Maybe the game is passing Evans by. Hes fresh off his worst record in 21 years as a Division I head coach.

Weve got to do some things a little differently within our program, Evans said. Weve got to get guys a little tougher, a little more determined, a little more disciplined, and theres only one person to blame for that and thats me. Thats my job.

Ive got to do a better job with a walk, talk, dress, work, communicate with one another, all those things. Those all seem like little things, but theyre important things. And maybe those things, to me this year, werent as important as they shouldve been. Those are the kind of things that we need to get changed a little bit.

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ISU MBB: Poor defense, chemistry lead to historically bad season for ISU - Idaho State Journal