BOISE – Boise State senior Abu Kigab had one thought as he watched his coach climb the ladder and cut down the nets Tuesday night at ExtraMile Arena.
“It’s about damn time,” Kigab said with a smile.
The Broncos clinched their first outright Mountain West title with a 73-67 win over visiting Nevada, setting off a lengthy celebration years in the making.
Fans stormed the court, players danced and posed for pictures and everyone took their turn cutting down a piece of the net as the Broncos enjoyed their first conference championship in seven years – when they were co-champs with San Diego State in 2015.
Coach Leon Rice, in his 12th year with the Broncos, snipped off the final piece of the net to loud cheers before placing the net around Kigab’s neck as the two shared a lengthy embrace.
“I’m just so happy for these guys,” Rice said. “You just wanted it so bad you could taste it for those guys. And that atmosphere afterwards, not many teams get to do that throughout the country and to do it at home and do it in front of a great crowd. Man it got loud – I think that was the loudest I think I’ve ever heard ExtraMile Arena.
“Just so happy for my guys and these fans. That’s a neat thing to be able to see. … Kudos to our guys and hats off to them. They deserve it and they beat the odds on a lot of nights, over and over. The toughness they have is amazing.”
It’s just the second regular season outright conference title in program history and the first since 1988 when the Broncos were in the Big Sky Conference.
Boise State (24-6, 15-2 MW) cliches the No. 1 seed in next week’s conference tournament and will play at 1 p.m. MT on Thursday, March 9, against the winner of the No. 8 seed and No. 9 seed – which appears likely to be Nevada and New Mexico.
Wyoming, Colorado State and San Diego State all have four conference losses and are still fighting for the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 seeds in the tournament.
The Broncos finish the regular season at Colorado State on Saturday in a game now that means nothing for the Broncos in terms of the league standings – but could help them continue to strengthen their resume for a better seed in the NCAA Tournament.
“To win it outright, when you look a the conference schedule, we probably had the toughest schedule if you look at who we have to play two times,” Rice said. “So to do what we did and be up two games on everybody with the schedule we played, we played every top team two times. It was remarkable what these guys did.”
Kigab had 23 points in his final home game at ExtraMile Arena, while Marcus Shaver Jr. and Emmanuel Akot each had 16 points in what could have been their finale as well. Both are seniors but still have an extra year of eligibility left due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fifth-year senior Kigab started his career at Oregon in 2017 before transferring to Boise State. He made his debut with the Broncos midway through the 2019-20 season.
A year ago Kigab tore his labrum on his Senior Night before later electing to use his extra year of eligibility to return for a final season with the Broncos. That decision appears to have been worth it – both for him and the team.
“It feels amazing,” Kigab said. “I’ve been waiting for this moment ever since I got to college. All I ever wanted was to wi a conference championship and go to the tournament and make as deep a run as possible – and our dreams are coming true. But we’re not done yet.”
Asked to compare the moment Tuesday to how he dreamed it might be like, Kigab said, “It was a better than a dream, I’ll tell you that. Way better.”
A season-best crowd of 11,954 packed ExtraMile Arena, including a student section that was full and loud from the start. But things turned ugly after the game when multiple fans were thrown to the ground by security officials trying to keep fans from storming the court.
It was unclear after the game what led to a few security officers getting physical with fans. Athletic director Jeramiah Dickey said in a statement on Twitter, “We are aware of the postgame incident in between security at ExtraMile Arena and students rushing the court. University officials, including athletic department and arena personnel, will review available footage and respond appropriately.”
As for the game itself? It was a good one.
Boise State fed off the crowd early and opened up a 19-11 lead on a 3-pointer from Kigab. But Nevada stormed back with a 9-0 run to take a 20-19 lead midway through the half.
The game was tied at 27 when Shaver hit consecutive buckets to put the Broncos up 31-27, and his 3-pointer with 2:41 left in the half put them up 37-33. The Broncos led 41-35 at the break.
Nevada hung around for a while, pulling to within 47-44 on a bucket from Will Baker with 15:35 to go in the game. But the Broncos ripped off a 10-0 run, thanks in part to back-to-back 3s from Degenhart, to extend the lead to 57-44 with 11:14 remaining.
The Wolf Pack again responded, as consecutive 3-pointers from Kenan Balckshear silenced the crowd and pulled Nevada within 60-56 with 6:54 to go.
Nevada pulled to within one point on multiple occasions, including with 4:11 left at 66-65, but Kigab scored nine straight points and Akot added a key jumper to help the Broncos win a record 15th conference game – and in just 17 tries.
“It’s unreal,” Shaver Jr. said. “It feels so good to get this championship with the season we had last year, it’s a great feeling. This team deserves it for sure.”
The Broncos were once 3-4 on the season and had lost two straight ugly games to CSU-Bakersfield and Saint Louis. During a team meeting a short time later Rice put Boise State’s remaining schedule on the white board and told his team they could win every game left, but can’t win them all at once.
“It looked like a lot but he erased every game except for the Tulsa game, which was the next one,” freshman Tyson Degenhart said. “We just took it one game at a time, and during that 14-game winning streak, you’d see that ladder extend. After games I’d write it on the white board…we just took it one game at a time.
“When we were 3-4 and you tell us we’d be 23-6? That’s pretty remarkable. We had to take it one game at a time. It made it much easier.”
It’s been a remarkable run for the Broncos, who are 23-2 in their past 25 games – and now outright Mountain West champions for the first time in program history.
It’s been a season to remember – but one the Broncos still hope has plenty more memories to come.
“We’re going to keep this going,” Kigab said.
At this point? Who could doubt them.
