BOISE – Leon Rice doesn’t have the best memory of all time, but he’s confident Wednesday’s game against South Dakota State will be the toughest season-opening opponent he’s ever had as a head coach.
The Jackrabbits went 30-5 last season and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, and are predicted to finish second in the Summit League this season.
“It’s a great challenge,” center Lukas Milner said. “It’s wonderful to start the year with such a tough opponent like them.”
Boise State is coming off a pretty impressive season itself. The Broncos won a school record 27 games, won both the regular season and postseason Mountain West titles and earned the highest seed in the NCAA Tournament (No. 8) in program history.
The Broncos lose three starters in Emmanuel Akot, Abu Kigab and Mladen Armus but added four-star Texas Tech transfer Chibuzo Agbo, Detroit Mercy center Mo Sylla and the highest-ranked prep signee in program history in four-star Sada NGanga. Throw in the returns of Marcus Shaver Jr. and Mountain West Freshman of the Year Tyson Degenhart and the expected improvements from Milner, Naje Smith, Max Rice, Pavle Kuzmanovic, Kobe Young and others, and the roster appears good enough to challenge for a league title yet again.
“It’s been a long offseason,” Milner said. “And now it’s finally here. Very excited the season is starting.”
The first 750 students tonight will receive a replica Mountain West Championship ring. The ‘we win, you win’ promotion also is in effect. Any fan that buys a ticket (for as little as $10) and shows up to the game gets another ticket to the next home game should the Broncos win. If the Broncos keep winning, fans keep getting free tickets.
“We need 10,000 fans here,” coach Leon Rice. “You’re going to see a high-level basketball game.”
It’s a tough first week for the Broncos, who also play Washington State on Saturday at ICCU Arena downtown.
“We’re building a resume and we started that resume week one,” Rice said. “These are two high level feather in the cap games if you can get it done. … We have a nucleus and some experience and we’re coming off a really good team and we have guys that know how to win, but there’s also the reality of scheduling too. In a perfect world you’d have this game eight games in. But we’re right into the deep end.”
Tip off is set for 7 p.m. and the game will air on the Mountain West Network.
Here’s Rice and Milner meeting with the media on Tuesday:
