With Darling, Otten, Bengals have dynamite guard-big tandem
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POCATELLO — Idaho State University has something rare and highly sought after in basketball: an effective and efficient guard-big one-two punch.
Sophomore Dylan Darling is among the Big Sky Conference’s leading scorers at the point, while freshman center Evan Otten is one of its top rebounders and paint defenders — having also shown the ability to finish when given the opportunity.
So many of the sport’s great teams have leaned on dominant guard-big duos — Shaq and Kobe, Duncan and Parker, Stockton and Malone.
At 6-8 overall — 1-2 in conference — the Bengals still have a lot to fight for this season, but the Darling-Otten duo offers promise well beyond this year.
Among the teams ISU is chasing at the top of the Big Sky standings is the conference-leading Northern Colorado Bears (12-5, 4-0). The two teams faced off in Greeley, Colo. last week, and both Darling and Otten shined in an overtime loss.
Darling finished with 22 points — including eight in overtime — and seven assists. Otten added six rebounds, three blocks and seven points — four of which coming in OT.
The duo was responsible for all of the Bengal’s overtime scoring and what was, albeit short-lived, a six-point advantage over the home favorite in extra time.
In the end though, a would-be game-winning 3-pointer from Darling was ruled to have been released after the final buzzer, and the Bears escaped the upset.
With his 22, Darling made it back-to-back games with 20 or more points, and he added another Saturday, posting a game-high 28 in ISU’s loss to rival Weber State at Reed Gym. Now averaging 15.8 points per game, the Spokane, Wash. product is the sixth-highest per-game scorer in the Big Sky — tied for 191 in the nation.
His running mate, Otten, averages 6.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, but makes his biggest contributions on the defensive end, where he leads all conference players and is tied for 11th in the nation with 2.79 blocks per game — no other Big Sky player blocks more than 1.7 per game and only one sends one shot away nightly.
Thus far, the duo’s dominance has not translated to consistent team success but there is still more than a month’s worth of games left on the regular season schedule, and potentially two more seasons worth of growth to find that translation.
The Bengals are at home two more times this week, hosting Montana State on Thursday and Montana on Saturday.