Boise State’s tourney loss to Nevada likely deals final blow to Broncos’ NCAA hopes
What the Boise State men’s basketball team had hoped would be a sizzling finish to the 2020-21 season ended up being much more of a fizzle.
The Broncos lost their fourth straight game — and likely their NCAA Tournament chances — in an 89-82 setback against Nevada in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Tournament on Thursday afternoon at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The Broncos dropped to 5-10 all-time in the Mountain West Tournament, including six one-and-done efforts in 10 appearances. It also was their third loss to Nevada this season.
Heading into Thursday’s quarterfinal, both CBS bracketologist Jerry Palm and ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had the Broncos (18-8) as one of the last four teams projected to make the tournament. Boise State entered the day with a NET ranking of 43, second-best in the conference behind top-seeded San Diego State at No. 21. The loss could open the door for a team like league foe Utah State, with a NET ranking of 49 and two Quadrant 1 victories, to move into the NCAA Tournament field over the Broncos.
However, ESPN’s John Gasaway says the Broncos could still sneak in because fellow bubble teams Syracuse, Xavier, Drake and Saint Louis also suffered losses recently.
The NCAA Tournament Selection Show begins at 4 p.m. MT on Sunday and will be televised on CBS. The Broncos also could be chosen for the NIT, which begins March 17, with all games in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
“These guys wanted it bad. We had a great week of practice, and they left everything out there that they could,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “I don’t fault their effort or their being dialed in or anything like that. They came with everything. I just think we got beat by a good team, I know that. That team’s gonna cause a problem. Those guards, when they’re going like that, they can drive a hard bargain at anybody.”
Despite shooting 69.6% (16-for-23) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, the Broncos trailed Nevada 51-45 at halftime. The Wolf Pack amassed as much as a 12-point lead in the first half, 51-39, by knocking down 9-of-13 3-point attempts.
Junior guard Desmond Cambridge Jr. was 4-for-6 from deep for 16 points, and sophomore guard Grant Sherfield led three Nevada players in double figures by halftime with 17 points.
The Wolf Pack’s hot shooting wasn’t the Broncos’ only problem in the early going. They also gave up seven offensive rebounds that resulted in nine Nevada points.
“There’s a couple (3-pointers) that I don’t know if you could have defended better without fouling them,” Rice said. “But we gave a couple good looks, and with good players like that, you give them any good looks and it kind of can get them going, and both of them came dialed in. They were ready to go.”
Boise State was within a point quickly in the second half, at 51-50, and trailed just 71-66 with 5:24 remaining, but the Broncos could not make enough big plays in the final 4 minutes.
Cambridge totaled a season-high 31 points, while Sherfield had 26, and sophomore forward Warren Washington posted a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Nevada (16-9) will face San Diego State (21-4) at 7:30 p.m. MT on Friday at Thomas & Mack in the semifinals. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
The Broncos will spend the next few days waiting and wondering where they’ll land.
“We want to keep playing, and we want to end on a better note, and we can do that,” Rice said. “I know we can do that. We juggled the lineup a little bit, we’ll adjust to that even more and figure things out, and we’re gonna go down swinging. We want it to end better than what it has, no doubt about that.”
In his first start for the Broncos, junior guard Devonaire Doutrive collected a double-double, with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Redshirt senior guard Derrick Alston Jr. had 16 points, six rebounds and four assists, while redshirt junior guard Emmanuel Akot added 15 points and sophomore guard RayJ Dennis had 10 points.
“I didn’t think there was any less intensity,” Alston said. “I think guys went out there and played their butts off. We had a great week of prep coming down here and we were excited to play, excited to compete. We played a really good Nevada team.
“There’s a lot of good teams in this conference and this tournament. Cambridge, Washington and Sherfield had a great first half and we fought back to claw in it and just didn’t get enough stops, get enough buckets, and that’s just kind of basketball.”
Doutrive started in place of Dennis, and Akot was inserted into the starting lineup for senior forward Abu Kigab, who dislocated his right shoulder in Boise State’s final game of the regular season.
“We just turned it over and were looking at every different combination of things we could do,” Rice said. “You don’t want to keep doing the same thing when you’re struggling, or quote-unquote struggling. We were right there. We were just mixing things up a little bit, trying to get some better matchups.”
Boise State has made just three MW Tournament semifinal appearances (2014, 2015, 2020) in program history, and the Broncos have never advanced to the title game. They wanted to rectify that this season, but their March woes continued.
“It’s tough. It’s tough going through that. But I think that only just makes you stronger as a person, kind of going through adversity. I think who you are through adversity is kind of the test of a true man,” Alston said. “I’m just proud of the guys and how we just stuck together through all this. We didn’t break apart.”
NEVADA 89, BOISE ST. 82
NEVADA (16-9): Coleman 2-6 0-0 5, Washington 8-13 2-4 18, Cambridge 11-19 5-6 31, Foster 0-3 1-2 1, Sherfield 8-14 7-9 26, Milling 1-4 0-0 3, Hymes 1-2 3-4 5, Robinson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-61 18-25 89.
BOISE ST. (18-8): Armus 1-2 4-4 6, Akot 4-9 5-9 15, Alston 6-13 2-2 16, Doutrive 6-11 4-4 17, Shaver 1-4 5-6 7, Dennis 4-7 0-1 10, Milner 4-5 1-2 9, Rice 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 26-51 23-30 82.
Halftime—Nevada 51-45. 3-Point Goals—Nevada 9-18 (Cambridge 4-8, Sherfield 3-3, Milling 1-2, Coleman 1-4, Foster 0-1), Boise St. 7-19 (Akot 2-4, Alston 2-4, Dennis 2-4, Doutrive 1-5, Shaver 0-2). Fouled Out—Hymes. Rebounds—Nevada 34 (Washington 11), Boise St. 29 (Doutrive 10). Assists—Nevada 16 (Coleman 5), Boise St. 12 (Alston 4). Total Fouls—Nevada 21, Boise St. 21.
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 6:18 PM.
