Small tweak leads to ‘big win’ for Boise State men’s basketball team against UNLV
All seemed right with the world Thursday night as the blue, orange and white copiers raced across the big screen at ExtraMile Arena.
The commercial plug for Boise Office Equipment has been a staple at Boise State basketball games for years, but it had been absent this season without fans in the stands.
The timeout entertainment — and the Broncos — finally returned Thursday to ExtraMile Arena, where about a dozen immediate family members of athletes and coaches cheered Boise State to a 78-66 victory over UNLV.
The Broncos (15-4, 11-3 MW) had lost three of their past four games after two weeks on the road, but the familiarity of home helped them get back on track as they chase a Mountain West regular-season title. Boise State is 8-0 at ExtraMile Arena this season.
“A bunch of the guys even said that: ‘It feels good to be back,’” coach Leon Rice said in a postgame Zoom interview. “The thing about it is, the last two weeks UNLV’s spent as much time in here as we have, because we didn’t even practice in here. So we both did shoot-arounds in here and that’s it. It was good to be back. Our guys love playing here.”
Rice said during pregame interviews on Wednesday that the Broncos might implement a few small changes against the Rebels (8-10, 5-6). The most noticeable was the decision to move redshirt junior Emmanuel Akot to point guard. The 6-foot-8 transfer from Arizona threw a wrench in UNLV’s expected defensive game plan, scoring a team-leading 16 points with five rebounds, three assists and two steals in 31 minutes off the bench.
“E-man did a great job of controlling the tempo and really finding guys and running the offense,” Boise State senior Abu Kigab said. “He also did a great job creating mismatches down there in the post. When ones are guarding him, it’s easy money for E-man down there.
“He’s such a great player and such a great passer. He makes the defense have a very hard time, cause you leave E-man by himself on an island, he goes off. Or you help and then he’s dishing to his teammates and they’re going off.”
Nine Broncos logged playing time against the Rebels, and all nine scored at least three points. Junior Lukas Milner hadn’t appeared in Boise State’s past four games, but he played 10 minutes against UNLV and totaled four points and three rebounds. Kigab contributed 14 points and six rebounds, and Mladen Armus added 13 points and a team-best eight boards.
“We needed it bad. We know we don’t have a lot of time, so there has to be a sense of urgency in order to win the league and do all the things we wanted to do before the season started,” Akot said. “We’re really happy with tonight.”
UNLV led by six points, 19-13, after a 3-pointer from David Jenkins Jr. with 11:29 on the clock in the first half. The Broncos responded with a 12-0 run to take a 25-19 lead, and that run expanded to 20-4 for a 10-point advantage, 33-23, approaching halftime.
“It was a big win tonight. February wins in league are hard to get,” Rice said. “You’ve gotta celebrate them, you’ve gotta enjoy them and then we’ve got to respond quickly.”
UNLV junior guard Bryce Hamilton could be a handful when the Broncos and Rebels play again at 8 p.m. Saturday (Fox Sports 1). Hamilton scored 24 of his 26 points in the second half, including making seven of UNLV’s final eight shots of the game. From the 10:41 mark until the final buzzer, Hamilton dropped in 20 points, including four 3-pointers.
“He can score, we know that. There’s no doubt about it,” Rice said. “He can score in bunches, too. When he gets it going, holy cow, he can make tough ones. He’s a good player, a really, really good player.”
Thursday’s win was the 213th of Rice’s career, tying the program record set by Bobby Dye. Rice can become the winningest coach in Boise State men’s basketball history with a sweep of the Rebels on Saturday.
Note: For those keeping track at home, the orange copier won the race.
WOMEN: UNLV 74, BOISE STATE 62
Mallory McGwire had a monster game with 19 points, 20 rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots. But as good as McGwire was, her Boise State women’s basketball team still lost by double digits to UNLV at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas.
A day after beating the Rebels by 26 points behind Jade Loville’s school-record 40 points, the Broncos (10-7, 7-7 MW) committed 22 turnovers and looked like a completely different team on Thursday afternoon.
“Right off the bat we made kind of some blunders defensively and didn’t counter on the offensive side,” Boise State coach Gordy Presnell told Chris Lewis in a postgame radio interview on 1350 AM. “We got caught behind the post numerous times down by the rim. You’ve got to fight over the top, and you’ve got to front when you’re down that low.
“So we made some young mistakes, and they’re a young team, too. It was a little harder today than it was yesterday.”
The Broncos trailed by only two after the first quarter, 11-9, and were down four at halftime, 31-27. The Rebels (11-8, 9-5) pulled away with a 28-point third quarter and led by as many as 19, 66-47, with 4:58 remaining in the game.
Any hope the Broncos had left disappeared with 7:49 to play when McGwire fouled out. McGwire’s career-high 20 rebounds ties for fifth on Boise State’s single-game list, and she surpassed 1,000 points for her career (1,002) between Boise State and Oregon.
“We’ve got to all bring it at the same time,” Presnell said. “I thought Mallory was tremendous today, kind of a mega-game with 19 points, three assists and 20 rebounds, and we didn’t capitalize on that very well. So we’ll go back to the drawing board and try and get better and see what happens.”
With McGwire and freshman starting forward Abby Muse both in foul trouble, freshman Elodie Lalotte scored 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting off the bench. Loville contributed 14 points and Alexis Mark had seven points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.
The Broncos will be on the road again next week for a two-game series against Utah State. The games are scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday and 2 p.m. Saturday at Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan, Utah. Both games will be streamed live at BroncoSports.com/mwn.
MEN: BOISE ST. 78, UNLV 66
UNLV (8-10, 5-6 MW)
Mbacke Diong 1-5 2-5 4, Wood 0-2 0-0 0, Blake 3-7 0-0 8, Grill 5-10 0-0 14, Hamilton 10-21 2-4 26, Jenkins 5-15 0-0 12, Tillis 1-1 0-0 2, Del Cadia 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-61 4-9 66.
BOISE ST. (15-4, 11-3 MW)
Armus 4-8 5-7 13, Kigab 4-10 4-4 14, Alston 2-6 5-6 9, Dennis 1-6 0-0 3, Shaver 3-3 0-0 8, Akot 7-10 1-2 16, Doutrive 3-5 1-1 8, Milner 1-3 2-2 4, Rice 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 26-52 18-22 78.
Halftime—Boise St. 42-30. 3-Point Goals—UNLV 12-28 (Grill 4-8, Hamilton 4-8, Blake 2-4, Jenkins 2-7, Wood 0-1), Boise St. 8-20 (Shaver 2-2, Kigab 2-6, Doutrive 1-1, Rice 1-1, Akot 1-3, Dennis 1-4, Alston 0-3). Fouled Out—Tillis. Rebounds—UNLV 26 (Wood 7), Boise St. 29 (Armus 8). Assists—UNLV 8 (Hamilton 2), Boise St. 10 (Alston, Akot 3). Total Fouls—UNLV 18, Boise St. 14.
WOMEN: UNLV 74, BOISE ST. 62
BOISE ST. (10-7, 7-7 MW)
Mallory McGwire 8-13 1-1 19; Jade Loville 4-14 6-6 14; Elodie Lalotte 5-5 0-1 10; Alexis Mark 3-10 1-6 7; Martina Machalova 1-1 2-2 4; Kimora Sykes 1-6 0-0 3; Anna Ostlie 1-6 0-1 2; Abby Muse 1-1 0-0 2; Mary Kay Naro 0-3 1-2 1; Cristina Gil 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-59 11-19 62.
UNLV (11-8, 9-5 MW)
Bailey Thomas 5-9 6-9 18; Delaynie Byrne 4-9 5-6 14; Desi-Rae Young 5-13 4-6 14; Nia Johnson 5-18 2-2 13; Anna Blount 2-3 4-5 8; Jade Thomas 3-12 0-2 7; Keyana Wilfred 0-1 0-0 0; Jacinta Buckley 0-1 0-0 0; Jasmine Singleton 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-67 21-30 74.
Boise St...................... 9 18 16 19 — 62
UNLV.......................... 11 20 28 15 — 74
3-point goals — Boise St. 3-15 (McGwire 2-3; Sykes 1-4; Ostlie 0-5; Naro 0-2; Loville 0-1), UNLV 5-22 (Thomas 2-5; Johnson 1-5; Thomas 1-6; Byrne 1-5; Buckley 0-1). Fouled out — Boise St.-McGwire, UNLV-Blount. Rebounds — Boise St. 48 (McGwire 20), UNLV 39 (Byrne 10; Young 10). Assists — Boise St. 18 (Mark 4; Naro 4), UNLV 13 (Byrne 4). Total fouls — Boise St. 24, UNLV 21. Technical fouls — Boise St.-TEAM, UNLV-None. A — 50.
This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 11:51 PM.
