They got how many steals? Boise State cruises to win in College Basketball Crown tourney
For about eight minutes Monday, it looked as if Boise State basketball would be taking a shocking exit in the first round of the new College Basketball Crown postseason tournament.
The Broncos scored just one field goal and trailed 9-3 to George Washington in Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena.
But over the rest of the game, the Broncos literally stole the momentum and the game from the Revolutionaries. Boise State tied a program record with 16 steals, seven of which ignited a first-half run. The Broncos forced the Atlantic 10’s George Washington into 10 first-half turnovers and scored 17 points off them to take a 32-26 lead into halftime.
The lead only grew in the second half for Boise State (25-10), which cruised to an 89-59 victory over the Revolutionaries (21-13). The Broncos will face Butler (15-19) in the second round on Wednesday at 5 p.m. Mountain time, after the Bulldogs beat Utah 86-84 on Monday to advance.
“We told them that (George Washington) was going to try to drive them to the hole,” Boise State assistant coach Mike Burns told KBOI after the game. “And credit to George Washington. They got a couple to the rim early, but our guys just stuck with it.”
Boise State opened the game shooting 1-for-11 from the field and 0-for-5 from 3-point range. The game had shades of the team’s loss in the Mountain West Tournament championship game to Colorado State, when a slow start led to a 25-9 hole and eventual loss that cost the Broncos a fourth straight NCAA Tournament bid.
This time, the defense kept the Broncos close enough that the comeback wasn’t so difficult once the offense started firing.
“We just had to get our legs underneath us, not playing for two weeks,” senior forward Tyson Degenhart said on Fox Sports 1’s postgame show.
Degenhart scored a game-high 19 points, moving him just 10 points shy of being the first Boise State player to hit 2,000 career points.
Boise State’s previous high for steals this season was 10 against both Corbin and New Mexico. The 16 matched the total the Broncos had in a game against Utah Valley State in November 2007.
“Our game plan was to be in the gaps heavy,” junior forward Javan Buchanan told KBOI. “Sort of (like) New Mexico, they like to drive and pitch a lot, and really get in the lane. So just keeping them out of the lane was a big focus, and then they turned into turnovers.”
Buchanan had one steal and 11 points, including a jumper at the first-half buzzer.
However, it was freshman forward Pearson Carmichael who led the defensive effort on Monday, racking up six steals in addition to his 15 points. He’s just the fifth Bronco to have six steals in a game and the first since Derrick Marks did so against Seattle in December 2012.
Boise State scored 27 points off turnovers to George Washington’s five. A much-improved shooting performance in the second half also opened the gap; Boise State finished 36-for-72 (50%) from the field and 9-for-25 (36%) from beyond the arc.
“The guys stuck with it and kept finding each other,” Burns said. “It always goes back to the quality of the shot. If you do a great job getting yourself and your teammates great looks ... the numbers are what they are, they’re going to go in, and they did in the second half.”
Boise State will get a day’s rest before facing Butler on Wednesday at the MGM Grand. Last season, the two teams met at the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando, Florida, with Butler emerging 70-56 winners after ending the game on a 17-4 run.
The Bulldogs struggled much of this season, going 6-14 to finish tied for eighth place in the Big East, which contributed to the program’s fourth losing season in the past five.
This story was originally published March 31, 2025 at 7:17 PM.
