Boise State basketball coach slams team after ‘soft and selfish’ blowout loss
Boise State coach Leon Rice doesn’t often give much away when talking about his team in public, keeping his harshest thoughts to himself and for the locker room.
When he is visibly frustrated, it typically shows in curt answers and a cautious optimism about getting better for the future.
But those guards fell crashing down on Wednesday night in a brutally honest assessment of a team that needs to turn around its season again pretty quickly. Boise State (9-6, 1-3 Mountain West) lost 75-58 to Grand Canyon (9-5, 2-1) at ExtraMile Arena.
The 58 points scored were a season low, while the 17-point margin of defeat was the second-largest at home in Rice’s 16 years at Boise State.
“They beat us in every facet of the game,” Rice said. “They were aggressive, they were tougher. They took the punch to us all night long.”
The first signs of trouble came in the opening minutes, too.
For the first time since making changes from the first to second games of the season — way back in early November — Rice changed his starting five: Freshman guard Aginaldo Neto replaced redshirt senior guard RJ Keene, while sixth-year forward Dom Parolin came in for junior forward Drew Fielder.
Rice said Parolin started in an attempt to counter Grand Canyon’s 7-foot-1 freshman center Efe Demirel, and also because they are trying to get Fielder’s overall game “better” — the Georgetown transfer is Boise State’s leading scorer at 13.6 points per game.
However, Demirel opened the game scoring eight points to give the visiting Antelopes an 8-0 lead. Rice quickly replaced Parolin with Fielder, and senior guard Dylan Andrews with sophomore forward Pearson Carmichael.
“That team that started was the team that was out there for the majority of that run down in the last game, and they were playing great,” Rice said, referencing Boise State’s frantic 24-point comeback against San Diego State over the weekend, before eventually losing in triple overtime.
“They sure didn’t (play well) tonight,” Rice continued.
The changes saw Fielder do a much better job of containing Demirel, allowing the Broncos to fight back.
But as has happened several times this season, the Broncos’ offensive woes crept back to the forefront.
Leading 23-22 with 4:24 left in the first half, the Broncos failed to hit another field goal and Grand Canyon went on a 15-4 run. Not a single Bronco had more than five points at halftime, and the team was shooting just 28% from the field.
“I’m part of it. ... We were pretty selfish and soft,” said Carmichael, who scored seven points on 3-for-8 shooting.
Rice agreed with Carmichael’s assessment, repeating the “selfish and soft” comment and saying his team played “right into their hands.”
“The ball was pretty stagnant,” Carmichael continued. “It didn’t really move in every direction.”
Stagnant may be an understatement.
The Broncos ended the night with just six assists, and only two of those came from point guards Neto and Andrews. Neto had an uncharacteristic five turnovers, while solid 3-point shooter Andrew Meadow had just two shots the entire game — he went 2-for-2 and ended the night with nine points.
“You’ve got two point guards out there that don’t have a clue what’s going on in the game,” Rice said.
Andrews shot 0-for-4 from the field and ended with just four points, while Neto had six points on 2-for-6 shooting. Forward Javan Buchanan ended the night with a team-high 18 points, shooting 5-for-12 from the field.
Plenty of fans left ExtraMile Arena at halftime, meaning even when the Broncos got within four points at 51-47, there wasn’t much juice in the arena to spur on a comeback. Grand Canyon immediately responded with an 8-0 run, and Boise State didn’t come close the rest of the game.
“I thank the fans that came, but that might have been the worst crowd we’ve had,” Rice said. “I’m so grateful for the ones that came, because that was the emptiest this building’s been.”
Rice will be hoping for a better crowd on Saturday when the Broncos host conference-leading Utah State (13-1, 4-0) at 7 p.m. And for a much better effort from his team.
“I don’t know how they’re not ranked coming in on Saturday,” Rice said of the Aggies. “And with that kind of effort and that kind of environment, we’ll get beat by 100.”
This story was originally published January 8, 2026 at 1:36 AM.
