It was only a matter of time before Max Rice broke out of his prolonged 3-point slump.
He did that and then some on Saturday.
Boise State’s sixth-year sharpshooter, who came in just 7 of 36 from 3-point range (19.4 percent), hit six 3-pointers and finished with a season-high 28 points to lead the Broncos to an impressive 109-70 win over visiting Western Oregon at ExtraMile Arena.
Rice had made just one 3-pointer in the past four games but had five in the first half alone on his way to finishing just two points shy of his career-high of 30.
“It felt pretty good,” Rice said. “My happiest part about it is probably I don’t have to listen to everyone try to tell me how to play basketball anymore. That’s probably why I’m happiest.”
Chibuzo Agbo had 24 points and Tyson Degenhart added 18 for the Broncos, who had a 43-14 edge on the boards, had a season-best 26 assists to just 11 turnovers and went 15 of 32 from 3-point range.
Boise State (6-3) has its first three-game winning streak of the season ahead of a Tuesday matchup with Northwestern State.
“There’s a value to these games,” coach Leon Rice said. “You look and say 109-70 but we needed that. We needed some flow and to play basketball and play with some freedom and not just grind like we have. We got to play everybody tonight and everybody contributed. Some good stuff.”
It was the seventh-career 20-point game for Rice but just the second time he’s had six made 3s in a game. And it came at the perfect time.
After a grueling start to the season and the 11th hardest schedule in the country to this point, the Broncos enjoyed the first of three easier games prior to playing Washington State in Spokane on Dec. 21.
And aside from cleaning up the turnovers and rebounding better the Broncos had one big objective during this stretch – get Rice going.
The senior has struggled to find open shots to this point – and he wasn’t making the rare ones he got. Nobody was really worried – he made 74 from 3-point range last season and shot better than 40 percent – but we hadn’t seen a stretch like this from him very often.
He finally got some open looks Saturday and kept letting them fly after the first three went in. He had seven made 3s all season coming but knocked down five in the first 19 minutes of the game.
“It’s nice to be guarded like that. I wish every team would zone us.” Rice said with a laugh. “For me it’s really mental to be honest. Making that first one was huge for my confidence because of the early struggles, but I’ve been through this before and I know I’ll be alright.
“The shots will fall and I think tonight was the first of many hopefully.”
Rice hit his first 3-point attempt to put the Broncos up 15-11 with 13:08 left in the half. He hit his next two attempts from deep on back-to-back possessions to put the Broncos up 27-19 with 9:14 left.
After the third one Rice threw his hands in the air and looked towards to the sky, as if to say ‘where’s this been all season?’
“Even the best shooters in the NBA have dry spells,” coach Leon Rice said. “We’ve played some tough, grinding games and I think this is the first night Max basically hasn’t seen a box and one and full denial, so for him to have some space was great.
“And credit his teammates for getting him some easy ones and getting him going.”
Rice finally missed one from deep, but made his fourth on a kick-out from an offensive rebound to extend Boise State’s lead to 47-30 with 2:34 left in the half.
His fifth made 3 of the half came on the Broncos’ next possession and pushed the margin to 50-32. Rice was 5 of 8 from beyond the arc in the first half.
Rice added a sixth three in the second half during a stretch in which he made a bucket, two free throws and a 3-pointer in a short spurt to push Boise State’s lead to 78-51.
His 3-point percentage for the season rose from 19.4 percent to 28.8 percent after Saturday.
“We know he’s a huge part of our team and we know they will start falling for him so it was good to have it happen tonight,” Agbo said. “We definitely know its going to keep carrying over.”
