MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – It wasn’t the worst shooting performance in Boise State history Thursday night against Charlotte in the opening round of the Myrtle Beach Invitational – that came last year in the loss to CSU-Bakersfield – but it sure felt like it.
The Broncos scored just 11 points in the first half, believed to be the second-lowest total in a half in Boise State history, and couldn’t recover in a disappointing and somewhat surprising 54-42 loss at HTC Center.
Boise State made just 4 of 24 shots from the field in the first half and had 11 turnovers to just one assist in the opening 20 minutes. The second half was better, but a 28-11 deficit at the break was too much to overcome.
The Broncos (1-2) fall into the loser’s bracket, where they will face the loser of the final game Thursday night between Loyola Chicago and Tulsa.
“That was the most pathetic offensive display in the first half I’ve had,” said coach Leon Rice, who is in his 13th year with the Broncos. “And I saw the frustration in those guys and it affected their play.”
Tyson Degenhart had 14 points for the Broncos but was just 1 of 7 from 3-point range. Marcus Shaver Jr. had 9 points on 4 of 11 shooting, including 1-3 from deep. In three games so far Degenhart and Shaver Jr. are a combined 3-22 from 3-point range.
The Broncos as a team were 1-11 from 3-point range at one point and finished just 5 of 23. In three games Boise State is shooting just 12 of 54 (22.2 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc.
Many of the misses from deep Thursday night came on wide open looks – and from shooters who typically make them.
“I don’t know if it’s preseason jitters or what,” Rice said. “We had some open looks, a couple early that went in and out, and that kind of impacted our shooting all game.”
Boise State missed its first six shots of the game – an unfortunate sign of things to come. Buckets from Degenhart and Max Rice put the Broncos up 6-4 with 12:19 left, but they never led again.
Shaver Jr. hit a shot to cut the deficit to 9-8 with 10:04 left, but the Broncos scored just three points the rest of the half – a 3-point play from Degenhart with 7:43 left – and went into the locker room trailing 28-11.
The Broncos didn’t score in the final 7:43 of the half and had just three points in the final 10 minutes as Charlotte ended the half on a 19-2 run to go up 28-11.
“We let our missed shots affect really everything else we did,” Rice said. “It got us too desperate and we turned the ball over and we got out of our defense and let them have layups. You hold a team to 54, you can win that game.
“It was square peg, round hole. Instead of making the easy plays, I almost saw like desperation in the first half, and you never want to play that way. … Charlotte wanted this game low scoring, and we wanted it to be up and down a little more. When it didn’t immediately go our way, we had no resolve and that’s what I’m disappointed with.”
Defensively the Broncos allowed Charlotte to score 34 of its 54 points in the paint, including several easy buckets on back-door cuts. The 49ers shot 43.4 percent from the field for the game, including 44.8 percent in the first half to build the lead.
“We could have weathered that had we not broken down (on defense),” Rice said. “We gave them nine layups. You might have been able to survive the worst shooting half of my lifetime. You might have been able to survive that (with better defense), so that’s what I am disappointed with.
“Our defense can’t be so effected by the offense. … We have enough veterans that I didn’t think they handled it very good.”
One positive? Freshman Sara NgaNga had his best game as a Bronco. He scored just two points, but played a season-high 13 minutes and had three rebounds. He looked much more comfortable than he has and took advantage of significant playing time in the second half with the game no longer in doubt.
“He played hard and made some defensive plays, got some rebounds,” Rice said. “We have to develop him and he has to get out there and play and he played hard and didn’t play scared. He helped the team.”
The 11 points in the first half is believed to be the second-lowest in program history for a half, trailing only the 10 points the Broncos scored in the second half against Fresno State on Dec. 6, 1980.
Boise State outscored Charlotte 31-26 in the second half and shot much better – 43.3 percent shooting on 13 of 30 from the field. The Broncos got within 13 a couple times early in the half but couldn’t get any closer before ending the game on an 8-0 run.
Making matters tougher? The Broncos have barely 24 hours before playing another quality opponent Friday night.
“I think we came out in the second half with some energy and enthusiasm,” Rice said.
“We shuffled the deck a little bit and we’ll find the right guys and the right combinations and tonight maybe helped us with that.
“We’ll be up all night figuring it out and finding answers. I have to find answers on how I’m going to work this rotation and you find that out in games so we’ll look through that. … I think we have high character guys so I’m banking on them to respond.
“We have to grow and we’re going to. We have some good players but we don’t have it figured out – not even close. We’ll bounce back. We have high characters guys, but we have to do it in a hurry.”
