It’s been nearly 4 years since Boise State beat Nevada. Could drought end Saturday?
There is only one team in the Mountain West Conference that the Boise State men’s basketball team hasn’t beaten at least once over the course of the past two seasons.
That distinction belongs to the Nevada Wolf Pack, winners of seven straight games against the Broncos.
But the 2019-20 Wolf Pack will have a very different look when the teams square off at 4 p.m. Mountain time Saturday at Lawlor Events Center in Reno.
After leading Nevada to three consecutive Mountain West regular-season championships, coach Eric Musselman has moved on to Arkansas. Martin twins Caleb and Cody are now members of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets. And double-double king Jordan Caroline plays for the G League’s South Bay Lakers.
Former New Mexico and UCLA coach Steve Alford took over the Wolf Pack after Musselman’s departure, and for the first time in three years, a player not named Caleb Martin is leading the team in scoring.
“You’ve got to play an A game or B-plus game on the road to get any road win in this league,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “Our guys know that. We’ll be locked in, and we’ll go there to compete.
“I know they’re a good team, and I’ve got all the respect in the world for Coach Alford. I came into the Mountain West and he had that thing rolling at New Mexico, so he knows this league and he knows how to win in it.”
The last time Boise State (10-5, 2-1 MW) beat Nevada (9-5, 2-0), then-senior Anthony Drmic posted a double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds in a 76-57 victory in the final home game of his career, on March 2, 2016. The Broncos’ most recent win in Reno came earlier that same season, and current redshirt senior Robin Jorch is the only player left from that team.
Jorch knows what it’s like to win at Nevada, but Saturday’s game will be the final chance for fellow seniors Marcus Dickinson, Justinian Jessup, RJ Williams and Alex Hobbs to get an elusive victory in Reno.
“It’s going to be tough. Road games are always hard, especially in league, and obviously in Nevada,” Jessup said. “Even though they lost all those guys from last year, they’re going to be a solid team. It’s going to be a challenge for us. I’m excited to see how we do, and I’m excited to get out there and compete with those guys.”
Junior guard Jalen Harris leads the Wolf Pack in points (17.4) and rebounds (6.9) per game. Harris sat out last season after transferring from Louisiana Tech.
Senior guards Jazz Johnson (16.4 ppg) and Lindsey Drew (12.6 ppg) are also averaging double-digit scoring for the Wolf Pack, and both names should be familiar to Boise State fans. Johnson was the 2018-19 Mountain West Sixth Man of the Year, and Drew started 26 of 27 games in 2017-18 before suffering an Achilles injury during a game at Boise State on Feb. 14, 2018. That injury and a hip surgery forced Drew to sit out last season.
“When they’re clicking, they’ve had some really nice games,” Rice said. “What they did to Santa Clara, they handled them, and Santa Clara’s been playing good. They’re big, they’re physical and ... they can get rolling.”
Nevada beat Santa Clara by 31 points in early December. Alford’s team also lost by 33 a week after that at BYU. The Wolf Pack’s most recent game was a 67-61 win over Colorado State.
Note: Saturday’s game will be televised on CBS Sports Network, and a radio broadcast is available at 670 AM.
Women’s basketball: Broncos host Wolf Pack
Coach Gordy Presnell called out his team’s lack of “sustained effort” after Boise State’s 73-68 loss Wednesday night at Wyoming.
The Broncos (10-5, 2-1 MW) can redeem themselves Saturday when they host Nevada (7-6, 0-2) in a 2 p.m. Mountain West contest at ExtraMile Arena. The game will be streamed online by the Mountain West Network, which is available at BroncoSports.com/mwn, and a radio broadcast can be heard on 1350 AM.
Boise State leads the all-time series 42-17 and has won five straight against the Wolf Pack. But that provided little reassurance for Presnell.
“We’ve got to get up off the mat. We have a tough one Saturday,” Presnell said. “... We just have to be much better detail-oriented on Saturday, or we’re going to have a tough time.”
This story was originally published January 3, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
