Boise State men’s basketball vs. Charlotte: How to watch, prediction and odds
With a bevy of potential on his bench, Leon Rice is still working to determine the ideal time for substitutions.
It’s a difficult balance for the Boise State men’s basketball coach, who wants to develop his younger players without disrupting the flow on the court.
Rice will have more opportunities to experiment when the Broncos compete in the Myrtle Beach Invitational this week in Conway, South Carolina. The Broncos begin tournament play at 5 p.m. Mountain time Thursday against Charlotte at the HTC Center, and the game will be broadcast on ESPNews.
“I’ve got a lot of ability down the bench. The key to our season is developing those guys,” Rice said. “Figuring out where they fit in a game without disrupting us when we have to accomplish the mission, I just didn’t get an opportunity to get a good flow (against Washington State), but I think you see a team starting to shape, and it’s gonna be a work in progress that way.”
Substitutions became particularly precarious down the stretch of Boise State’s 71-61 win over Washington State when two of the Broncos’ starters fouled out. Rice needed to sub, but the majority of the players on his bench had not faced a zone defense at the college level. That left only Pavle Kuzmanovic, who was playing in his first game since injuring his ankle.
“I didn’t want to throw them into the fire and have them have to learn out in the game,” Rice said.
Rice said he already has a substitution rhythm with his top six players — starters Marcus Shaver Jr., Lukas Milner, Max Rice, Chibuzo Agbo and Tyson Degenhart, plus sixth-man Naje Smith — but finding the right time to rely on more depth remains a challenge.
In the Broncos’ opener against South Dakota State, Rice played 10 different Broncos, but only eight got on the court against Washington State.
Perhaps the biggest development priority is freshman Sadraque NgaNga, the highest-ranked player to ever commit to the Broncos out of high school. The 6-foot-10, 220-pounder has a wing span of more than 7 feet and his athleticism is off the charts. He arrives in a similar mold to former Broncos like Chandler Hutchison, James Webb and Derrick Alston Jr.
But Boise State’s more challenging nonconference schedule has made it harder for Rice to find an ideal time to throw players like NgaNga into the fire. NgaNga played 4 minutes against the Jackrabbits and just 2 against the Cougars.
“That is a high price to pay, so that one keeps me up at night, because I have to develop them,” Rice said. “Our season really hinges on how we develop guys and how many guys we can develop. ... So it does make it difficult if they’re not getting a lot of time.”
BOISE STATE VS. CHARLOTTE
When: 5 p.m. Thursday
Where: HTC Center (3,212), Conway, South Carolina
TV: ESPNews
Radio: KBOI 93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Abe Jackson)
Records: Boise State 1-1, Charlotte 2-0
Series: First meeting
Vegas line: Boise State by 5.5
KenPom rating: Boise State 83, Charlotte 151
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 69% chance of beating Charlotte. His score prediction is a 70-64 BSU victory.
ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index: Boise State has a 59.6% chance of winning with a predicted point differential of 2.3.
Women’s basketball: BSU set for first road game
The Boise State women’s basketball (2-1) team plays its first road game of its nonconference schedule at 3 p.m. MT Thursday at UC Davis (1-1).
It will be the lone road game that Boise State will play during its nonconference schedule, as the Broncos play four games at neutral sites — North Dakota State (Nov. 25) and Milwaukee (Nov. 27) in Reno, Nevada; and UTRGV (Dec. 19) and Texas A&M Commerce (Dec. 20) in South Padre Island, Texas.
Thursday’s game will be streamed live on ESPN+, or listen on the radio on KBOI 670 AM.
This story was originally published November 16, 2022 at 3:20 PM.
