BOISE – Colorado State coach Niko Medved has now played every team in the Mountain West.
He hasn’t seen many better than Boise State.
Tyson Degenhart had 22 points and Chibuzo Agbo added 17 as the Broncos posted one of their more impressive wins of the season in a 80-59 win over Colorado State on Saturday night.
Boise State shot a season-best 59.2 percent from the field, had four players score at least 14 points and made 11 shots from beyond the 3-point arc to improve to 17-5 overall and 7-2 in Mountain West play.
“We’ve seen all the teams now and I think they play as well as anybody,” Medved told Bronco Nation News after the game. “They have a group of veteran guys, they’ve been there before, they know what to do and I expect them to be there at the end.”
Naje Smith added 16 points and Max Rice had 14 for the Broncos, who used a 17-0 run in the first half to turn a 20-18 lead into a 37-18 margin late in the first half.
Boise State had 19 assists and committed just eight turnovers a game after having 15 turnovers in a sloppy first half in a come-from-behind win against Fresno State on Tuesday.
“I was so impressed with the way we prepared for it and the way we responded,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “We won that game against Fresno State, but what we won’t accept in losing we don’t tolerate in winning and we did a lot of things out of character in that last game.
“These guys responded and had maybe their two best practices of the year. I saw this in practice for two days. … Our guys, some of them played some heavy minutes, but they were tough enough to grind and grind. I’m most pleased with the 19 assists and eight turnovers. That’s more like it.”
Degenhart made 10 of 11 shots from the field while surpassing 20 points for the second time in the past three games. He added four rebounds and three assists while playing 38:41 of the possible 40 minutes.
“You look at a kid like Tyson Degenhart, I mean you could argue he’s got Player of the Year potential in the league with what he brings to the table,” Medved said. “He’s such a difficult matchup and makes winning plays.”
Isaiah Stevens had 19 points to lead Colorado State (10-12, 2-7 MW), which shot just 4 of 22 from 3-point range and 23 of 56 overall (41.1 percent).
Marcus Shaver Jr. had eight points, five assists and four rebounds, while Jace Whiting had Boise State’s only bench points on a 3-pointer late in the second half.
Boise State will play at Air Force on Tuesday before a huge game next Friday night at league-leading San Diego State.
And Medved likely won’t be picking the Broncos to lose.
“They’ll be a tough team to beat,” Medved said.
