Boise State hoops rolls past conference’s hottest team to end regular season
Boise State men’s basketball put the rest of the Mountain West on notice Saturday afternoon, handily defeating the hottest team in the conference to close out the regular season.
In the process, the Broncos let everyone know that in a wide-open league that will be lucky to get two teams in the NCAA Tournament, they are capable of making a run in next week’s Mountain West tourney to secure the automatic bid.
Boise State rolled past Colorado State 78-67 at Moby Arena in Fort Collins, Colorado, snapping an eight-game winning streak for the Rams that featured victories over New Mexico and San Diego State.
The win ensured that Boise State (20-11, 12-8) will enter next week’s conference tournament as either the 5 or 6 seed, depending on the result of Nevada vs. Air Force on Saturday night. A Nevada victory would slot the Broncos into the 6 seed.
An Air Force upset win would give Boise State the 5 seed — however, the Falcons are winless in conference play, and that likely won’t change against the Wolf Pack.
That means the Broncos likely have the 6 seed and a very good draw, facing No. 11 San Jose State (8-23, 3-17) in the first round of the tournament next Wednesday. A victory for BSU would set up a matchup against No. 3 seed New Mexico, a team Boise State swept this season.
It also puts the Broncos on the side of the bracket with No. 2 San Diego State, a team they split games with, and away from No. 1 Utah State and No. 4 Grand Canyon, both of which swept Boise State — in four games that weren’t close.
The loss for Colorado State (19-12, 11-9) solidified the Rams as the No. 7 seed.
Boise State will enter the tourney on a five-game winning streak and is 11-3 in its past 14 games.
“It’s win or go home,” senior guard Dylan Andrews told KBOI in his postgame interview. “It really shows that no matter what happens, it could be your night. You could play the No. 1 team in the country, and if they’re not on, anybody can win.”
For a matchup featuring the two hottest teams in the conference, the visiting Broncos had a surprisingly straightforward afternoon, leading for 38 minutes of the game against a team they beat 79-73 in Boise on Jan. 16.
Right from the first whistle, Boise State’s plan looked almost identical to how it defeated San Diego State earlier in the week: Dominate on the boards and get junior forward Drew Fielder in one-on-one situations inside.
Fielder scored a game-high 23 points on a 10-for-15 shooting clip — just one of those buckets came from beyond the arc. He was joined in double-digits by 19 points from Andrews and 11 from junior forward Andrew Meadow.
And when the shots weren’t falling, Boise State mopped up its misses. The Broncos outrebounded Colorado State 37-21, including a game-changing 13 offensive rebounds that led to 19 second-chance points.
In comparison, the Rams managed just six offensive boards and seven second-chance points.
“They all know (rebounding) is a non-negotiable in this program,” Boise State head coach Leon Rice told KBOI. “And they see what it does and how much value it has.”
Meadow led the Broncos with seven rebounds, two of which were on the offensive end and helped him reach the free-throw line, where he went 6-for-6. Boise State shot 20-for-25 (80%) from the stripe as a team.
The Broncos opened the game on a quick 6-0 run and led for the opening 11 minutes before the Rams took their first lead of the game at 21-20. The pair of teams exchanged a pair of threes that led to a 24-23 Rams lead before a stepback jumper from Andrews stole the lead away from Colorado State for good.
Boise State would end the first half on a 7-0 run, keeping Colorado State scoreless for the final three minutes to take a 36-28 lead into the break. That run would extend to 12-0 and a 41-28 lead early in the second half.
Boise State led by double digits the rest of the way, going up by as many as 19 points in the final four minutes of the game.
Colorado State came into Saturday’s game averaging 81.3 points per game across its eight-game winning streak. The Rams shot 26-for-52 (50%) from the field and 6-for-20 (30%) from 3-point range, and wound up with their lowest point total since a Feb. 7 in a win over San Jose State.
“We had a chip on our shoulder coming in, because no one thought we would win this game,” said Andrews, whose Broncos were a slight 1.5-point underdog.
“You’ve seen how we are during the season, and you’ve seen how this season has been going. I feel like we’re always the underdog. And so I love that. We love that coming in.”
