1982–83 Idaho Vandals men's basketball team
The 1982–83 Idaho Vandals men's basketball team represented the University of Idaho during the 1982–83 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The two-time defending champions of the Big Sky Conference, Vandals were led by fifth-year head coach Don Monson and played their home games on campus at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho.
| 1982–83 Idaho Vandals men's basketball | |
|---|---|
Far West Classic Champions | |
| Conference | Big Sky Conference |
| Record | 20–9 (9–5 Big Sky) |
| Head coach |
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| Assistant coaches |
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| Home arena | Kibbie Dome |
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nevada | 10 | – | 4 | .714 | 18 | – | 11 | .621 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weber State † | 10 | – | 4 | .714 | 23 | – | 8 | .742 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Montana | 9 | – | 5 | .643 | 21 | – | 8 | .724 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Idaho | 9 | – | 5 | .643 | 20 | – | 9 | .690 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Idaho State | 7 | – | 7 | .500 | 10 | – | 17 | .370 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Boise State | 5 | – | 9 | .357 | 10 | – | 17 | .370 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Montana State | 3 | – | 11 | .214 | 10 | – | 17 | .370 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northern Arizona | 3 | – | 11 | .214 | 10 | – | 16 | .385 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † Conference tournament winner | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
With expanded student seating, the Vandals set basketball attendance records at the Kibbie Dome with 11,000 against Washington State on December 4, and eight hundred more on February 12 against Montana for a conference record. The former was an overtime victory, the third straight over the Cougars in the Battle of the Palouse, on the same night that the resurgent Vandal football team narrowly lost a I-AA playoff game on the road, televised on cable by WTBS of Atlanta. The latter with Montana was a deflating nineteen-point defeat to snap the 43-game home winning streak, begun over three years earlier in 1980. Idaho won its final three home games, but attendance fell; the highest was 8,000 for the finale against Boise State, Monson's hundredth and final win at the helm. Consecutive road losses the week prior at Idaho State and Weber State had eliminated any chance of another regular season title and the opportunity to host the conference tourney.
The Vandals successfully defended their title in the Far West Classic at Portland in late December, and had a 12–1 record in mid-January, and appeared capable of a third consecutive conference title. Four road defeats in conference and the home loss to Montana resulted in a tie for third place in the regular season with the Grizzlies, who swept their two-game series. With an opportunity to three-peat, the Vandals were the low seed in the four-team Big Sky tourney in Reno. They lost by five points to host Nevada-Reno in the semifinals, and neither was selected for the 52-team NCAA tournament; Weber State won the final and advanced.
Idaho became the first Big Sky team to earn an invitation to the NIT, but lost in the first round at Oregon State; they led by three at the half at Gill Coliseum, but lost by eighteen. the Beavers had also ended UI's season the previous year, in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament. In both seasons, Idaho defeated OSU in the Far West Classic in late December, but lost the rematch in March.
Between semesters on December 20, the Vandals played a home game at Columbia High School in Richland, Washington, where senior guard Brian Kellerman had starred, and 4,100 packed the Art Dawald Gym for the homecoming. The popular Monson had coached at nearby Pasco High School for nine years (1967–76), and senior center Kelvin Smith was a PHS graduate. Idaho made a lengthy trip to South Carolina in January for a nationally televised game on CBS.