Boise State basketball’s ‘glue guy’ isn’t afraid to take shots, mix it up
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- After a four-game slide, Keene changed mindset and is 5-for-10 from threes.
- He averages 2.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and two assists while supplying defense.
- RJ Keene embraced glue role, moved into Boise State starting lineup.
RJ Keene was somewhat of an enigma to Boise State basketball coach Leon Rice when arriving on campus in 2021.
A three-star recruit out of The Woodlands, Texas, Keene scored close to 2,500 points in his high school career, and ESPN ranked him as the 11th-best prospect out of the Lone Star State and the 46th-best shooting guard in the nation.
Keene’s stats all pointed in the right direction, and the recommendations from his coaches were glowing, but there was one problem for Rice: He had not seen Keene play in person because of the COVID pandemic and ensuing recruiting limitations.
“I watched a lot of film on him, but it’s hard to tell,” Rice said Monday. “The real good evaluations are when you can see a guy, and when you see the way he moves, when you see the way he shoots, experience will help you make a decision in five minutes. When you watch them on film, it just loses a lot as far as being able to feel who they are.”
Rice’s staff was also scouting Wisconsin high school star Brandin Podziemski from afar at the time, but opted to pursue Keene. After an underwhelming freshman season at Illinois, Podziemski went on to average 19.9 points per game as a sophomore at Santa Clara before being drafted 19th overall by the Golden State Warriors in the 2023 NBA Draft.
Meanwhile, Boise State didn’t quite get the high-flying scorer that Keene was in high school. Instead, they got what sports fans and coaches lovingly call a “glue guy.” He’s the highly necessary player who does all of the dirty work — rebounding, setting screens, getting loose balls, helping on defense — while also getting some buckets here and there.
“I always tease RJ, because one of the guys that we were looking at is in the NBA right now,” Rice said. “And you’re like, ‘All right, RJ, come on. I took you instead, keep getting better.’”
After almost five years with Boise State, Keene has come to embrace his role. “I’ll do the stuff that will help us win,” he said Monday.
But being the glue guy wasn’t always the plan.
After redshirting his freshman year in 2021 and then missing the 2022 season through injury, Keene finally made his first appearances for Boise State in 2023 as a redshirt sophomore. But with scorers like Max Rice and Tyson Degenhart on the team, Keene knew he had to find another way to get into games.
“I realized that scoring wasn’t going to get me on the court. I struggled trying to find playing time earlier in my career,” said Keene, who’s now a redshirt senior. “So I’m like, ‘What can I do to get on the court?’ And I can kind of develop that glue guy role. I love winning, I want to do the dirty stuff, I don’t care if I get hit in the nose.”
As a result, Keene has never developed into a scorer for the Broncos, but he has worked his way into the starting lineup. He made 11 starts for Boise State last year and has started 17 of the 20 games this season.
His inclusion in the starting lineup could be a source of frustration for some, given that he averages just 2.6 points per game and shoots just 37%. But he’s third on the team with 4.7 rebounds per game and second in assists, averaging 2.0, and he seldom turns the ball over, with just nine the entire season.
“He brings so much culture, so much understanding of what the program’s about,” Rice said. “When you cut away a lot of stuff, our program is about blue collar and playing really hard, and that’s a description of RJ.”
Amid the Broncos’ current three-game winning streak, Keene has gone 5-for-10 from the field, with every attempt coming from 3-point range. He hit two 3-pointers in the Broncos’ 96-54 blowout win over Air Force over the weekend.
He’s shooting 11-for-32 (34.4%) from behind the arc on the season, and said he altered his outlook some after Boise State’s four-game losing streak — something Keene had never experienced with the Broncos.
“My mindset kind of shifted after the losses, just as an aspect of they need someone that can step up and hit the shot,” Keene said. “And I’m like, ‘Why couldn’t I be the guy to do that?’”
For most of his Boise State career, Keene probably found himself designated as the “non-shooter” on opposition scouting reports. He attempted only 65 shots all of last season.
Now he said it’s good to try to give foes more to defend — and Keene said he’s not hesitant to shoot. He’s taken 51 shots this season already, and he’s not looking to the bench expecting to be removed from the game if he misses.
Keene’s next opportunities will come Tuesday night when the Broncos (12-8, 4-5 Mountain West) travel to play struggling San Jose State (6-14, 1-8) in an 8 p.m. Mountain time tipoff. The Spartans rank 319th in the country in 3-point defense, allowing opponents to hit on 36.2% of their 3-point attempts.
This story was originally published January 27, 2026 at 4:00 AM with the headline "Boise State basketball’s ‘glue guy’ isn’t afraid to take shots, mix it up."
