Boise State basketball starters, plus ‘vintage Keene,’ show out to beat Wyoming
Less than a week ago, the Boise State men’s basketball team relied on its depth to churn out a home victory over San Jose State.
It was the polar opposite on Tuesday night against Wyoming. Although 10 Broncos saw the floor at ExtraMile Arena, all but seven points were scored by the starters in a 72-62 victory over Wyoming (15-13, 6-11) that pushed BSU (17-11, 9-8) just over .500 in Mountain West play.
Senior guard Dylan Andrews led all scorers with 20 points, narrowly beating junior forward Drew Fielder’s 18 thanks to a pair of free throws in the final 10 seconds. They were joined in the scoring column by senior forward Javan Buchanan (17 points) and junior forward Andrew Meadow (10).
“We’ve had some explosive play off the bench, and tonight it wasn’t that,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said after the game. “They didn’t get a ton of minutes, and the rotation got a little messed up.”
The only starter not to enjoy a big night was sophomore forward Pearson Carmichael, who went 0-for-3 from the field and exited the game with an injury after seven minutes. He checked back in for the second half but was rolling his ankle on the sideline and played for just two minutes. Rice said Carmichael’s ankle was swollen and would require further evaluation.
Redshirt senior guard RJ Keene played 28 minutes in Carmichael’s stead and played just as well as the starters. He finished with nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals to accompany his two points.
“It felt like vintage Keene,” he said about himself after the game.
His 28 minutes were the most he’s played since early February, as he had been suffering from the flu for about a week and had lost about 15 pounds.
“I’m finally 100%, got all my weight back, and it feels good to go win these games with my brothers,” Keene continued.
Outside of Keene, the other four Boise State bench contributors combined for a total of just 37 minutes and five points. However, they were all on the court at the same time in the first half after the starters played the entirety of the first seven minutes. The full-team substitute was part of Rice’s rotation getting “messed up,” he said after the game, and it put the Broncos in a brief hole.
The subs came in with the Cowboys leading 11-10, and led to a five-minute Bronco scoring drought that put the home team 16-10 down before Buchanan re-entered and broke the drought with a layup.
The Cowboys still managed to hold a lead for almost the rest of the half, holding Boise State to a stretch of over three minutes without a single field goal attempt. But the Broncos finally woke up in the final two minutes of the half, going on a 9-0 run that concluded with a banked 3-pointer from Fielder at the buzzer to take a 32-30 lead.
“That was huge. ... I also want to give a lot of credit to Keene. He had a block, a deflection, an assist and then another assist,” said Fielder, whose buzzer-beater was assisted by Keene.
The Broncos continued to roll after the halftime break, building up a 10-point lead after five minutes. Boise State would keep the lead for the rest of the game, despite the Cowboys holding the Broncos to a tough shooting night from the field.
Boise State shot 25-for-53 (47.2%), but just 5-for-21 (23.8%) from beyond the arc. The home team made up the difference by dominating Wyoming inside, ultimately outscoring the Cowboys 36-28 in the paint and outrebounding them 35-23. Boise State also went 17-for-19 from the free throw line.
Keene led the rebounding effort with nine, eight of which were defensive. Fielder had seven rebounds.
“That’s a great sign,” Rice said about his team’s shooting struggles, but still winning by 10. “(Wyoming) were almost kind of picking their poison a little bit, because Drew and Javan were going to work down there. Dom (Parolin) had some good plays, too.”
Boise State enters the final stretch of the regular season on Saturday with a 5:30 p.m. Mountain time tipoff at Fresno State (12-16, 6-11). The Broncos, whose only NCAA Tournament path is winning the Mountain West Tournament, will close out the regular season with a home game against San Diego State and a road trip to Colorado State.
This story was originally published February 24, 2026 at 10:34 PM.
