Fresno State at Boise State men’s basketball series: How to watch, prediction and odds
Boise State has seven men’s basketball players who are averaging nine or more points per game this season.
No other team in the Mountain West has more than four.
But the Broncos have only played one game when all seven of those players have been available at the same time. That could change this week.
Redshirt junior guard Emmanuel Akot has missed the last three games with a sore Achilles. In a Zoom call Tuesday afternoon, Boise State coach Leon Rice said Akot’s return is imminent. The Broncos (12-1, 8-0 MW) host Fresno State (5-5, 3-5) on Wednesday and Friday at ExtraMile Arena. Both games are scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m.
“I’m hopeful. I’m really, really hopeful,” Rice said. “When you have things like that, you’re always just kind of day to day, and I want to err on the side of caution with him. Also, I want him to be confident. He’s had some good practices, and he’s on his way. I don’t know if he’s 100%, but he’s getting there.
“He’s getting closer and closer. I would anticipate that, if all things go well, knock on wood, that we could have him.”
Boise State’s entire roster has only been available once this season — a 78-59 win against Air Force on Jan. 6. That game marked the BSU debut for Arizona transfer Devonaire Doutrive. Akot also missed the Broncos’ first two games of the season while in COVID-19 protocol, and redshirt junior Marcus Shaver Jr. sat out three games with a foot injury.
Redshirt senior guard Derrick Alston Jr. leads the Broncos in scoring at 16.5 points per game. The other Broncos chipping in nine points or more per game are Abu Kigab (13.7), Shaver (13.1), Doutrive (12.5), RayJ Dennis (11.6), Max Rice (9.3) and Akot (9).
NOTABLES
▪ Boise State was only the fifth team in Mountain West history to start conference play 8-0, and Utah State joined the Broncos with a sweep of San Diego State last week. Last season’s San Diego State team owns the record for best conference start at 15-0. The Broncos have pushed their school-record winning streak to 12 games, the sixth-longest active win streak in the nation.
▪ The Broncos have already matched a single-season program record with five league wins of 20 or more points. Boise State’s average margin of victory against conference opponents is 23.4 points per game.
▪ Alston currently ranks No. 13 in program history with 1,216 career points. Leon Rice has coached four of the top 10 scorers in program history: No. 2 Anthony Drmic (1,942 points; 2011-16), No. 4 Derrick Marks (1,912 points; 2011-15), No. 8 Justinian Jessup (1,583 points; 2016-20) and No. 10 Chandler Hutchison (1,478 points; 2014-18).
▪ Boise State continues to gain ground in the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches Top 25 polls. The Broncos received 15 points in the latest AP poll (technically, No. 34) and 28 points in the coaches poll (No. 32). The Broncos have only cracked the Top 25 once in program history, when they were ranked No. 25 on March 9, 2015, ahead of the Mountain West Tournament. They have never appeared in the coaches poll.
“I think they’re deserving of it this time of year when you start to rattle off the number of wins we have,” Rice said. “But it doesn’t really seem that important to them. We like those milestones, and I never want to not celebrate accomplishments and I want them to have a lot of joy in that. But that’s just the outside world’s opinion. It doesn’t really matter that much to us, to be quite honest.”
▪ BSU has moved up to a tie for No. 5 in the nation in scoring margin at 20 points per game.
▪ Fresno State’s Orlando Robinson, a 7-foot sophomore forward, is tied for No. 10 in the nation with six double-doubles this season. Robinson is averaging 9.9 rebounds per game, the No. 26 mark in the country. Boise State was among the teams that recruited Robinson out of high school.
“We were right there recruiting him, and he’s become a great player and … one of the best players in the league, no doubt about it,” Rice said.
FRESNO STATE AT BOISE STATE
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday and Friday
Where: ExtraMile Arena
TV: Fox Sports 1 (Wednesday); CBS Sports Network (Friday)
Radio: KBOI 670 AM (Bob Behler, Abe Jackson)
Records: Boise State 12-1, 8-0 MW; Fresno State 5-5, 3-5 MW
Series: Boise State leads 23-21
Last meeting: Boise State won 87-53 on Jan. 25, 2020, in Fresno, California
Vegas line: Boise State by 14
KenPom rating: Boise State 56; Fresno State 176
KenPom & ESPN predictions
Ken Pomeroy, who created the popular college basketball statistical website KenPom.com, ranks every Division I team using an adjusted efficiency margin, which Pomeroy defines as the difference between a team’s offensive and defensive efficiency.
According to Pomeroy’s detailed statistical analysis, Boise State has an 87% chance of beating Fresno State. His score prediction is a 76-63 BSU victory.
ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index: Boise State has a 93.2% chance of winning with a predicted point differential of 16.7.
Note: All rankings and stats through Monday’s games.
Women’s basketball: BSU preps for title rematch
The Boise State women’s basketball team defeated Fresno State 80-76 in overtime to claim its fourth consecutive Mountain West Tournament title last season.
The Broncos (8-1, 5-1 MW) and Bulldogs meet for the first time since that contest in a two-game series this week in Fresno, California. The games are scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday and 3 p.m. Saturday at Save Mart Center. Both games will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network, which is available at BroncoSports.com/mwn.
Fresno State (6-5, 4-2) returns all five starters from last season, although the Bulldogs have not had their full roster available for every game this season. Reigning Mountain West Player of the Year Maddi Utti has only played in eight of the Bulldogs’ 11 games. Twins Haley and Hanna Cavinder, who are sophomore guards, are the top two scorers in the Mountain West, averaging 20.2 and 18.1 points per game, respectively.
The league’s No. 3 scorer is Boise State junior Jade Loville (17.9 ppg).
