BOISE, Idaho – There is light at the end of the tunnel.
The Boise State men’s basketball team still has six games left of what’s been a grueling nonconference schedule. But it will conclude a stretch of seven straight games against opponents ranked in KenPom’s top-102 when North Texas visits Tuesday night.
The Broncos (4-3) host the Mean Green (5-2) at 7 p.m. inside Extra Mile Arena.
“These are a trip through Death Valley,” Boise State basketball coach Leon Rice said. “What it’s done for us, it’s made us better no doubt. Any time we weren’t really good or if we’re just OK in little stretches, we got exposed
“So it’s forcing us to get a lot, lot better and another opportunity awaits us tomorrow.”
That lies in the form of North Texas, which is coming off one of the best seasons in program history. It set a school record with 31 wins and claimed the National Invitational Tournament championship a year ago.
The last two winners of the NIT have won at least one NCAA Tournament game the following year. The Mean Green have a new head coach in Ross Hodge, who was the associate head coach last season, and bring back seven players. Their only losses have come to St. John’s and LSU, which have 54 March Madness appearances between them. They’ve only lost those games by a combined five points, as well.
“They’re tough,” Rice said. “They’re great defensively and that’s what they hung their hat on over the years. They got a lot of ballers, well-coached and there’s not a lot of holes in that thing.
“When the dust settles, you’re gonna look up and they (have) 20 plus win. However many, I don’t know, but it’s going to be a lot.”
Thankfully, the Broncos have a few things going for them.
First and foremost, they’re back at home.
Boise State hasn’t played in the confines of Extra Mile Arena since Nov. 12. That’s the longest span between home games in nearly a quarter century. It went 28 days from Dec. 5, 1998 to Jan. 2, 1999.
“Somebody said to me today when I popped (into) the press conference, ‘Welcome home,’” Rice said with a laugh.
The Broncos have been pretty good there as of late.
They’ve rattled off 16 consecutive games, which is tied for the sixth-longest active home win streak in the country. Another victory Tuesday would tie the previous longest streak set nearly eight years ago. The longest home winning streak in program history is 19 from March 2, 1997 to Jan. 17, 1999.
“We got our hands full tomorrow,” Rice said. “We hope we have a great crowd to help us.”
Boise State is also battle-tested.
It has faced Clemson, Virginia Tech, VCU, Butler and St. Mary’s over the last two weeks. Those all contributed to the Broncos having an average opponent NET rankings of 75 – the fourth-best rating of any team in the country. The three teams ahead of them are only a combined 0-17 compared to their 3-3 mark with wins over San Francisco, VCU and St. Mary’s. Only VCU ranks outside of the top-80 in the KenPom rankings.
Boise State hopes to add to that with a win over North Texas. It would also help because the nonconference schedule does lighten up a bit with NCAA DII Western Oregon, Northwestern State and Cal-State Fullerton – all at home – before facing Washington State in Spokane on Dec. 21.
“We’ve responded and bounced back from wins, losses,” Rice said. ““It’s been really good for this early in the year and we’ll keep getting better at that.”