Don’t blame Roddie Anderson for being a bit confused as the final seconds ticked off the clock and the student section came pouring onto the court.
Boise State had just pulled off an impressive 65-58 upset of No. 17 Colorado State – and given it was the third-highest ranked AP team the Broncos have ever beaten and easily their best win of the season – the students felt like celebrating with a good old-fashioned court storm.
The problem is Anderson, who is in his first year at Boise State after transferring from UC San Diego, hadn’t experienced anything close to the sellout, electric atmosphere of 12,000-plus inside The X – or the postgame party at midcourt.
“I’ve never been a part of something like that,” Anderson said. “It was something so different to me. I’m not used to this big atmosphere, but the love the fans show every game, it’s a blessing.”
Anderson may want to get used to it. The win extended Boise State’s nation-leading homecourt winning streak to 22 games.
Boise State (11-4, 2-0 MW) led pretty much from start to finish and used a strong defensive effort to hold one of the best offensive teams in the country to just 58 points.
Colorado State had 16 turnovers – including six from All-American candidate Isaiah Stevens – and shot just 25 percent from 3-point range (4 of 16).
“I thought we were a train wreck on offense tonight,” Colorado State coach Niko Medved said. “Some of it was them but I thought also just a lot of sloppy, uncharacteristic turnovers for our team.
“Clearly we played good enough defense when you hold a team to under 40 percent on the road, but we very poor on the offensive end. Sloppy turnovers. And we had a lot of open looks that jut didn’t go down tonight. We fought like crazy but we we’re really not good on the offensive end.”
Boise State won despite shooting 38.9 percent from the field and getting out-rebounded 33-30. The Broncos made just 6 of 18 shots from 3-point range (33 percent).
O’Mar Stanley had 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Broncos, while Tyson Degenhart and Chibuzo Agbo each added 13 points.
“I’m really proud of the guys because we knew it was going to be a battle,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “We fought through some fatigue and just kept grinding. It was a great team win for us tonight.
“What a great atmosphere. That’s why we have this record at home, those fans. You can’t have a great program without a great home court and these fans make it a great home court by coming and being loud.”
Stanley scored at least 17 points for the fourth straight game. It was his third double-double of the season.
“It started on defense,” Stanley said. “We were getting stops and getting rebounds.”
Asked about the electric atmosphere inside ExtraMile Arena on Tuesday, the St. Johns transfer said, “This place is special. Boise, Idaho, is a special community and we’re blessed to be here. … It’s truly a blessing because this team is really special.”
Freshman Andrew Meadow, taking advantage of extra playing time due to an injury to Cam Martin, had 11 points and hit three huge 3-pointers.
“Right now I’m just grateful for the opportunity to get on the floor,” Meadow said. “I work on my game every day and I work on those shots so I was just going back to the work I put in and it paid off.
“I have that confidence in the back of my head every time I touch it that I know I can make that shot.”
The win gives Boise State another coveted Quad 1 game for its NCAA Tournament resume. Colorado State came in at No. 19 in the NET rankings, and any home game against a top-30 team qualifies as Quad 1.
Boise State also improved eight spots in the KenPom rankings to a season-best 58th.
It’s still very early in conference play, but the Broncos appear to be putting things together at just the right time.
“It’s amazing. I haven’t won much in my career yet but it felt amazing,” Anderson said. “The fans here, they were going crazy, the crowd was jumping and just to get some wins consistently feels great.”
Boise State will hit the road for another tough matchup on Friday night at 8:30 p.m. in Reno against Nevada. The game will be televised by FS1.