Six weeks from now the Boise State men’s basketball team might look back and call this the biggest week of the season.
Although they hope to say the same thing about next week.
A road win at The Pit on Wednesday night and a 38-point blowout win on Saturday gave the Broncos a massive boost to the computer metrics and moved them back into a first place tie with Utah State at the midway point of the conference season.
Not a bad week.
Next week Boise State plays maybe its toughest week of the season with a Tuesday road game at Colorado State and a Saturday road game at Utah State. But they’ll worry about that come Sunday.
For now, there was plenty to like about Boise State’s 94-56 win over Air Force in front of 12,004 fans at ExtraMile Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Tyson Degenhart had a career-high 29 points and Chibuzo Agbo added 14 for the Broncos, who shot 60 percent from the field, made 15 shots from 3-point range and committed just eight turnovers in arguably their best game of the season.
“We played a really good game tonight,” said Degenhart, who went 11 for 12 from the field. “I give credit to my teammates. They were finding me. We moved the ball really, really well tonight. I think you saw really good spirts of that in the second half. I was just happy to get the win tonight.
“We have so much potential we haven’t even tapped into. We really haven’t felt like we’ve played our best game yet. We’re practicing hard and getting better and this team will continue to improve all the way up until the end of the year.”
O’Mar Stanley had 14 points, Max Rice had 12 points on 4 of 7 shooting from 3-point range and Roddie Anderson had 10 points on 3 of 4 from deep as the Broncos finished with 1.6 points per possession – which according to BartTorvik.com is the best of any team in the country in the last six years in a conference game.
“That’s remarkable,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “And it looked right, but I didn’t know it was that good. That’s saying something. And it was how they played. They made all the right plays, the simple plays, the unselfish plays. We’ve got a special team and that showed up tonight and that’s what people are starting to see.”
“We had such a short turnaround with the (game Wednesday night at New Mexico and) travel back, your body is tired, the emotional game and I think everyone thought we’d have a big let down and it was set up for that. But these guys are tough and so mature with how they approached these last two days. The prep was magnificent.”
Boise State trailed 27-25 with 6:54 to go in the first half but the Falcons didn’t score again in the half – and the Broncos ended on a 16-0 run heading into the break to lead 41-27. And much of that was done with reserves Kobe Young and Jace Whiting on the floor.
Young, the seldom-used guard with tons of athleticism and potential, played the final five minutes of the half along with Whiting. The two were rewarded by starting the second half as well in place of Chibuzo Agbo.
“That flipped the game,” Rice said. “That group didn’t score on us in the last seven minutes and we ended up 14 at half and I didn’t want to be the cooler. I said same group is going back out there and they extended it even more. And then the other guys came back in and it lifted them up.”
Boise State improved to 16-6 overall and 7-2 in Mountain West play. The Broncos improved nine spots at KenPom.com following the win and now sit at No. 45 after being way down at No. 63 heading into the New Mexico game.
The Broncos were No. 56 in the NET prior to the win at New Mexico. They are up to No. 35 after the win against Air Force.
Two big wins. Two big boosts to the metrics. And maybe more importantly – the Broncos looked really, really good while doing it.
Not a bad week.
“Momentum is real and we’re trending that way,” Rice said. “That’s what I love about them. … It’s exciting. I love where we are. Would I liked to have been undefeated? Absolutely. But with the talent and the coaches and the teams and the places you go (in the Mountain West), I love where we are. But hey, we have to flip the switch quickly again.”
Boise State visits Colorado State on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Bronco Nation News will be live with the Lithia Ford of Boise Pregame Show at 6 p.m. on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
