One trophy isn’t enough for Boise State. ‘We’re playing for a Mountain West championship’
Bracketology experts believe the Boise State men’s basketball team has already done enough to secure an NCAA Tournament bid, regardless of what happens at the Mountain West Tournament.
The Broncos (24-7) clinched the Mountain West regular-season title March 1 and are one win away from tying the program’s single-season record for wins.
With their NCAA Tournament fate likely already decided, the Broncos can focus on what’s directly ahead of them when they play Nevada (13-17) at 1 p.m. Mountain time Thursday in the quarterfinals at the Thomas & Mack Center. And for once, the Broncos don’t find themselves on the bubble.
“We’re playing to win the championship. I mean, that’s the goal we’ve had since we got together,” Boise State guard Emmanuel Akot said. “We don’t care about the NCAA Tournament right now, we care about the Mountain West Tournament. Just winning this tournament would mean a lot to our group, so every day we’re going to take the steps so we can accomplish the mission.”
Since the Mountain West Tournament began in 2000, there have been four instances in which the league’s outright regular-season champion went on to win the conference tournament. San Diego State has accomplished the feat twice, in 2006 and 2021, while New Mexico (2013) and Nevada (2017) have each done it once.
The 2021-22 Broncos have already established themselves as one of the best teams in program history, going a record 14 straight games without a loss in the months of December and January. The Broncos also notched the most conference wins in program history, at 15-3. Both accomplishments would have seemed overwhelming at the start of the season, but the Broncos have learned to focus on the moment at hand, coach Leon Rice said.
“We put ourselves in position to do really well this postseason,” Akot said. “But we are still trying to take it day by day. We don’t want to get too caught up on the championship game or the tournament. We’re just focused on Thursday.”
Boise State swept its meetings with Nevada this season, winning at Lawlor Events Center, 85-70, for the first time since 2016 and then clinching the regular-season title with a 73-67 victory over the Wolf Pack in Boise. Thursday will be the second matchup between the two teams in the past 10 days. Nevada is coming off a 79-72 win over No. 9 New Mexico in Wednesday’s first round.
“We just played ‘em, so I think everyone got to see how good they are and how talented that group of guards is and those bigs,” Rice said. “They’ve got all the pieces and a great coach. We’ll have to play an A-plus game to be there. And that’s what you’d expect, especially this year in the league.”
Three Broncos scored in double figures in both wins over the Wolf Pack, but it took a big effort from fifth-year senior Abu Kigab in the final minutes to shake off Nevada the second time around.
Kigab scored nine of Boise State’s final 13 points, including a three-point play with 3:55 to go after Nevada had pulled within one, at 66-65. He finished with a game-high 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting and added four rebounds, three assists and three steals. The Broncos had a season-high 10 steals by halftime and finished the game with 14.
“We have a great camaraderie and a great chemistry,” Boise State forward Tyson Degenhart said. “We really feed off of each other, and that goes a long way. We just play really well together, and we hope that takes us a long way in this tournament.”
Although the Broncos have been conditioned not to look ahead, the possibility of seeing Colorado State — the only Mountain West team to sweep the Broncos this season — again in the championship provides additional motivation.
“We’re playing for a Mountain West championship,” Degenhart said. “Knowing that Colorado State got us twice, it’s a chip on our shoulder, and we want to show why we’re the best team in the Mountain West.”
BOISE STATE VS. NEVADA
When: 1 p.m. Mountain time Thursday
Where: Thomas & Mack Center (18,776), Las Vegas
TV: CBS Sports Network (Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas, Evan Washburn). That’s DirecTV channel 221, DISH channel 158 and Sparklight channel 139.
Radio: KBOI 670 AM (Bob Behler, Abe Jackson)
Records: Boise State 24-7, 15-3 MW; Nevada 13-17, 6-12 MW
Series: Nevada 51-30
Last meeting: Boise State swept its regular-season meetings with Nevada by scores of 85-70 (Jan. 12) and 73-67 (March 1).
Vegas line: Boise State by 6.5
KenPom rating: Boise State 26, Nevada 114
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 a 76% chance of beating Nevada. His score prediction is a 73-65 BSU victory.
ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index: Boise State has a 82.8% chance of winning with a predicted point differential of 10.1.
This story was originally published March 9, 2022 at 3:10 PM.
