Boise State basketball loses footing at Utah State, suffers another blowout loss
Slipping and sliding up the steep road leading to Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, Boise State men’s basketball’s evening started as inauspiciously as it ended.
Long-awaited snowstorms blew through northeast Utah ahead of the Broncos’ road trip to Utah State on Wednesday, resulting in the team bus being unable to climb the last stretch of the hill leading to the arena.
That left the Broncos with no option but to grab their bags and shuffle along the final icy stretch before reaching the safety of indoors.
But even on the hardwood floor of Stew Morrill Court, the Broncos (15-11, 7-8) never seemed to find their footing, and suffered a 75-56 loss to Mountain West-leading Utah State (23-3, 13-2).
It was Boise State’s lowest point total of the season, and the team’s sixth loss by double digits in a campaign that has slipped away.
The Broncos went scoreless in the final eight-and-a-half minutes of the first half to see a seven-point lead transform into a seven-point deficit. The Utah State dominance continued throughout the second half as the lead grew into the 20-plus range.
“We managed that first half pretty good with not too many explosions,” Boise State head coach Leon Rice told KBOI in his postgame interview. “(But) you can only manage it so long if your offense isn’t good enough to make them take it out of the net a few more times, and it put a lot of pressure on our D.”
Utah State defeated Boise State 93-68 at ExtraMile Arena in January and came into Wednesday having lost just one home game all season. The Broncos came out fighting this time and held the Aggies to a slog of a game that provided little in the way of transition basketball or quick possessions.
Boise State built that seven-point lead ahead of the 8-minute media timeout in the first half courtesy of a 9-0 run from four different scorers. Then the Broncos’ feet went out from under them, with Utah State closing out the final eight minutes on a 16-2 run to take a 30-23 lead into halftime.
The Broncos’ 23 first-half points tied their second-lowest total of the season; they also scored 23 in the loss to the Aggies in Boise.
Utah State’s turnaround came from suffocating defense, which forced Boise State to use almost the entire shot clock on every possession before taking a less-than-ideal shot.
“They ramped up, and credit to them, they did a good job tying it up,” junior forward Drew Fielder told KBOI. “But we’ve just got to continue to be able to see the floor and understand what the defense is doing, and be able to make adjustments and take advantage of what they’re giving us.”
Fielder was the only Bronco in double-digit scoring on the night with 14 points; next closest was senior guard Dylan Andrews with nine. Their troubles finding the net highlighted a 21-for-57 (36.8%) shooting night, including a 7-for-22 (31.8%) mark from beyond the arc that was 3-for-18 at one point.
It almost looked like it would also be a quiet night for the Aggies’ main two scoring threats, guards Mason Falslev and MJ Collins. After keeping the duo to a combined six points in the first half, Boise State was unable to contain them as the second half ticked on.
Falslev scored 13 of his game-high 17 points in the second half, while Collins tallied 11 of his 13 points in the back half of the game.
“They got (Falslev) on one of our smaller guards, and just took him in the paint,” Rice told KBOI. “We’ve got to firm up on that and make sure that he doesn’t get to three feet (from the basket); you’ve got to keep him at eight or nine feet.”
Utah State stretched its lead out to as many as 24 points in the second half, a gap that was narrowed thanks to three-straight 3-pointers from the Broncos within the final few minutes.
Wednesday night’s defeat brought to a close a tough stretch for the Broncos, who went 2-3 against teams above them in the conference standings. A slightly easier task is next, as they travel home to host San Jose State (7-19, 2-13 Mountain West) at ExtraMile Arena in a 2 p.m. tipoff Saturday.
This story was originally published February 18, 2026 at 11:56 PM.
