FORT COLLINS, Colo – Leon Rice has seen enough. Or maybe, not enough.
Boise State’s 15th year coach, stuck in one of the toughest and weirdest predicaments of his career, vowed to make big changes to his lineup and rotation moving forward after a 75-72 heartbreaking road loss to Colorado State at Moby Arena.
The Broncos lacked energy and looked sluggish and out of sync for the first 25 minutes and trailed by as many as 17 points early the second half before coming up just short after an improbable late-game comeback to fall to 13-7 overall and 5-4 in Mountain West play.
Boise State actually took the lead on a Tyson Degenhart 3-pointer with 1:06 to go before the Rams won on an offensive rebound and 3-pointer from Jalen Lake with 4.8 seconds left.
Degenhart had 27 points and Alvaro Cardenas had 18 to lead the Broncos. But it was what they didn’t get from much of the supporting cast that had Rice unhappy afterwards.
“We’re going to hit reset,” Rice told Bronco Nation News. “I declared it rock bottom for them and when you say that, you have to be willing to do anything and I owe it to the guys who are playing their tails off to find the guys to be out there with them.
“We’ve got to get some things fixed. But I’m going to find the answers. We found some great answers in the second half.”
Rice again played 11 players – way more than is typical for him at this point in the season – as he searches for the right combination to get things back on track.
Degenhart and Cardenas combined for 45 points. The rest of the team had a total of 24 points.
“I’ve got a big challenge and I have to figure it out one way or the other,” Rice said. “Maybe I’m playing too many guys. They are all great guys and hard working but I owe to this team and if I have to narrow it down, I have to narrow it down. It’s like a crapshoot. I’m like OK, what am I getting out of that guy tonight and I’m having to sort through so much during a game.
“There’s been an inconsistency. Like one guy plays great one night and then you aren’t getting anything the next night. It’s just a spin the wheel and it becomes too much of a guess and I’m having to do it in game and figuring it out on the fly when I have a lot of other things to figure out.
“You just want that consistency and that means play hard, guard and rebound your tail off and be tough. It’s not about consistency of shooting. Right now everything is just too up and down.”
Chris Lockett started but didn’t score. Dylan Anderson, Emmanuel Ugbo, Pearson Carmichael and RJ Keene also saw the floor but didn’t have a point.
Andrew Meadow had nine points, Julian Bowie had five and Omar Stanley continued to struggle with just two points in 12 minutes.
One positive? Javan Buchanan had 11 points while battling foul trouble and finished a team-best +18 in 20 minutes – meaning when he was on the floor, the Broncos outscored the Rams by 18.
Moving Buchanan into the starting lineup seems like a no-brainer at this point. But which other two join him? Who knows at this point.
“I don’t want to place any blame on any individuals but there’s accountability to these guys who are playing so hard and giving everything they have and putting us in this position,” Rice said. “There’s an accountability to them and to this program to get it done.
“I have to figure some stuff out with the rotations and combinations and maybe shorten the bench right now and figure out the guys who are going to really guard and really rebound. .. We’ve got tough guys. We’ll find a way to do it. I’m glad we have the bye so we have more time to sort through some stuff.”
One play that summed up Rice’s frustration? The final one – which cost the Broncos the game. After the missed shot from Clifford the Broncos allowed an offensive rebound and a kickoff pass to a wide open shooter for the game-winning shot.
“It kills you when it’s an effort thing on the last play where we didn’t get it done,” Rice said. “If we get that rebound we’re going to have a shot to win it and we had some guys standing and watching on the rebound on the last play of the game. You can’t do that.”
It was the third game this season – and the second in the past 10 days – in which the Broncos lost when an opponent took the lead on a 3-pointer in the final 10 seconds.
The result is another brutal loss and the reality that an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament is likely out of the picture. At this point the Broncos hope to play well enough down the stretch to earn a bye in the first round of the Mountain West Tournament and try and get hot for three days in Las Vegas.
It’s not the scenario anybody saw coming when the season started. But it’s the spot they find themselves in as they search for answers.
“I have a strong belief we’re going to figure it out and that this team has what it takes,” Cardenas told BNN. “But we’re definitely in a spot where we definitely need to get better.
“There’s a lot of individual talent which is why we all believe we can turn it around. … We know this is rock bottom and now we have a decision to make and we have to decide who we want to be as a team. I think the whole team and locker room has belief we can turn it around.”
And Cardenas truly believes they can still make something of the season. Asked about wanting to finish his career strong down the stretch, Cardenas said all of their goals remain in front of them – even if they don’t look super likely right now.
“It’s why I came here – I came here to win,” Cardenas said. ”And we’re going to do it.”
Boise State is off this weekend before hosting Nevada next Wednesday at 8 p.m. at ExtraMile Arena. The Broncos have three of their next four games at home and play just four games during a 23-day span as they try to turn the season around.
