All five victories have been by double figures, scoring 86.4 points per game and winning by an average margin of 23.4. With an offense flowing with precision, 10 players seeing playing time, and a defense going strong, recent weeks have seen a peak performance from the Broncos.
The Broncos are coming off a 89-79 win over New Mexico last Saturday. O'Mar Stanley and Chibuzo Agbo each had double-doubles, combining for 41 points and 25 rebounds. Max Rice added 16.
Tyson Degenhart again chose his moments to shine, finishing with 23 points. The junior is averaging 22 points in his last eight games.
The bench did score only four points and none of those five played for more than 10 minutes. But they found ways to contribute (and buy the starters rest) as Boise State had only seven rebounds and a plus eight advantage on the boards.
Boise State (21-8, 12-4) is playing some of their best basketball. The Broncos are climbing up the rankings (all the ones with fancy abbreviations) and are receiving votes in both the Associated Press (26, good for no. 28) and Coaches (16, good for no. 29) polls. And with their latest victory, Boise State guaranteed themselves a first-round bye in the Mountain West Conference tournament.
Heading into the final week of the regular season, there is plenty left to play for, with the Mountain West regular season title still in play. The Broncos are currently tied with the Utah State Aggies (24-5, 12-4) for first. And since the Mountain West doesn't do tiebreakers (except for tourney seeding), Boise State and Utah State could ultimately share the title despite two wins by the Aggies over the Broncos.
Utah State travels to San Jose State on 3/6 and hosts New Mexico on 3/9.
San Diego State, Nevada, and UNLV all sit at 11-5, with the Aztecs playing at UNLV on Tuesday. Meaning with a victory Tuesday, Boise State will guarantee themselves a top-3 seed for the conference tournament.
Boise State vs Nevada
Tuesday night (3/5, 9 p.m. MT) at ExtraMile Arena in Boise, the Broncos close out the home portion of the season, hosting the Nevada Wolf Pack (24-6, 11-5).
The first meeting of the season between the teams, Boise State picked up a 64-56 victory in Reno.
Degenhart controlled that game with 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists. Point guard Roddie Anderson III had 12 points, four assists, and two steals for the Broncos.
Anderson has nine steals in his last four games.
Boise State struggled shooting that game, hitting 41.2 percent from the field but only 5-22 from deep. The Broncos also committed 18 turnovers, overcoming these obstacles by collecting 19 more rebounds than the Wolf Pack.
Nevada committed only 11 turnovers and shot 36 percent from the field. Nevada standouts Jarod Lucas and Kenan Blackshear combined for 29 points but were only 10-30 on field goal attempts.
Lucas leads the team at 17.5 points per game, shooting 40.8 percent on three-point attempts. Lucas has been dialed in as of late. In his last three games, he's averaging 21.3 points per game and shooting a shade under 50 percent.
Blackshear averages 15.2 points, five rebounds, and 4.9 assists but has been out the last few games with an ankle injury.
Nick Davidson adds 12.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per contest.
Nevada has won five straight and eight of their last nine. During this nine-game stretch, the Wolf Pack failed to score over 70 points just once.
Nevada closes out their regular season on Saturday, hosting UNLV, while Boise State hits the road for conference game no. 18.
Aztecs vs Broncos
Entering the week, the San Diego State Aztecs (22-7, 11-5) have won four of five and are ranked no. 21 in the latest AP poll.
And the Aztecs will be looking to avenge a 67-66 loss to Boise State earlier this season when they host the Broncos on 3/8 (8 p.m. MT).
In that game, the Broncos had their struggles in shooting 39.3 percent. However, defense was in rare form and Boise State did enough to win.
Stanley had 17 points and 7 rebounds, while Anderson had one of his best games on offense, finishing with 14 points. Degenhart and Agbo each scored 11.
Rice was only 1-8 from the field and scored four points.
San Diego State shot 43.1 percent but connected on only 6-24 from deep. The Aztecs did get 24 points from the bench that game, something to keep an eye on in this meeting.
Boise State managed to hold Aztec standout Jaedon LeDee to 13 points and 8 rebounds, forcing Lee into four turnovers. LeDee averages 20.8 points and 8.4 rebounds, shooting 56.9 percent on field goal attempts. LeDee's last six games have been on par with Degenhart's, averaging 23.7 points and shooting 63.9 percent.
Reese Waters is the only other Aztec to average in double figures, scoring 11 points per clip. He had 10 in the first meeting with the Broncos, when he was a starter. Recent weeks have seen Waters moved to the bench, with Darrion Trammell earning starts in Waters' place.
Friday night promises to be another knockdown, physical game between the two teams. There could be some jockeying for seeding, only adding fuel to what has become quite the rivalry in recent years.
photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
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