FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (March 5, 2026) – Northern Arizona men's basketball opens Starch Madness on Saturday versus Idaho State at Idaho Central Arena in Boise, Idaho. The game at 5:30 p.m. MST is the opening game of the 2026 Big Sky Conference tournament on the men's bracket.
The game will be streamed on
ESPN+.
Mitch Strohman will be on the call on the Northern Arizona Healthcare NAU Lumberjack Radio Network beginning with the pregame show at 5 p.m. MST.
Should the Lumberjacks, who enter the conference tournament as the No. 10 seed, win on Saturday, NAU would face top-seeded and regular season champion Portland State on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. MST. The men's semifinals are on Tuesday, March 10 and the championship game is slated for Wednesday, March 11. The full Starch Madness bracket can be found
here.
NAU (10-21, 4-14 Big Sky) takes on ninth-seeded Idaho State (12-19, 5-13 Big Sky) in its tournament opener. It will be third time the two teams meet in the conference tournament since it moved to Boise. The Bengals won both of the previous matchups in 2020 and 2024. All-time, NAU is 2-4 versus Idaho State in the conference tournament.
The two teams split their regular season series with Idaho State claiming an 81-79 victory in Flagstaff on Jan. 10 and NAU returning the favor on the road with a 79-73 victory on Feb. 5. Of the last 17 head-to-head meetings, 15 of them have been decided by six points or fewer.
A number of Lumberjacks excelled in the two regular season meetings against Idaho State this season, led by
Karl Poom. Poom averaged 18.5 points and shot 73.7% from the field. In the first meeting in Flagstaff, Poom scored a career-high 22 points.
Ryan Abelman sparked NAU's win in Pocatello with a 21-point performance. In two games this season, Abelman averaged 13.5 points and 7.0 rebounds, while also shooting 64.3% from the field and 71.4% from long distance.
Brennan Peterson totaled a whopping 15 assists, against only four turnovers, in the two games against Idaho State. He posted his two-highest single-game assist totals versus the Bengals, including a season-high eight assists in the first meeting.
While the regular season did not go as the Lumberjacks had hoped, all they need to do is look back three years ago to what can happen once everyone converges to Boise. NAU advanced to the conference tournament championship game in 2023, the last time the 'Jacks began the tournament in the 9-10 game. That tournament run included upsets of top-seeded Eastern Washington and fourth-seed Montana.
Of course, Oakland Fort provided the signature moment in that tournament. As a true freshman, Fort hit a game-winning buzzer-beating 3-pointer to upset Eastern Washington. Fort takes a lot of momentum, himself, into his final conference tournament after pouring in a career-high 26 points against Montana State in the regular season finale on Monday.
Idaho State finished the regular season ninth in the Big Sky standings. Despite dropping their last two games of the regular season, the Bengals recently swept Montana and Montana State at the home two weeks ago. Those were the Bengals' only two victories though since Jan. 15 as they lost 11 of their last 13 games.
Connor Hollenbeck was a force against the Lumberjacks this season, averaging 19.5 points on 54.5% shooting. Hollenbeck is averaging 13.2 points per game on the season. Jamison Guerra averaged 16.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists versus NAU this season. Guerra averaged 10.2 points and 3.7 assists in conference play.
Stay up to date with Northern Arizona men's basketball by following the Lumberjacks on X and Instagram.
