BOISE, Idaho — Editor's note: The video above this article aired Monday, Jan. 23.
The Boise State men's basketball team welcomes Fresno State to ExtraMile Arena Tuesday night for the first leg of a two-game homestand. The Broncos are coming off a five-game gauntlet and arguably the toughest stretch of Mountain West games they will see in 2023.
Last Friday, Boise State (15-5, 5-2 MWC) dropped a heartbreaker to No. 25 New Mexico 81-79 in overtime, snapping a five-game winning streak. As noted by KTVB Sports Director Jay Tust, four of the Broncos' last five games came against Quad 1 opponents at the time of tip-off.
The Mountain West Conference is incredibly tough this winter, with five teams inside the NET rankings' top 35. The blue and orange sits at No. 21 in the latest NET rankings, the highest of any squad in the conference.
Boise State hosts the Bulldogs (NET 182) Tuesday at 7 p.m. and Colorado State (NET 118) Saturday at 6 p.m. The week back in the City of Trees gives the Broncos a bit of a break in terms of opponent strength.
Following its loss at 'The Pit,' Boise State head coach Leon Rice said he is excited about his group's fight and is ready to put Friday's two-point defeat in the rearview.
"Those heartbreakers sometimes are harder than anything, but we have to [move on]. There's a lot of great things to take away from it and a lot you can learn from it," Rice said. "I watched the film and I'm even more proud of my team, the way we competed, the way we overcame – and we didn't shoot the ball great – and we were a bucket away. It's not easy for them to get over things like that because they care so much, which is great. But we manage it and we do it and we close the book, get over it, and away we go to the next one."
Fresno State (7-11, 3-4 MWC) snapped a three-game skid on Saturday with an impressive 76-63 win on the road against UNLV.
Isaih Moore leads the way for the Bulldogs, averaging 12.1 points per game to go along with 7.9 rebounds and 0.9 assists. Moore has not played since Jan. 10 against San Jose State after entering concussion protocol.
Tyson Degenhart (14.4), Marcus Shaver Jr. (13.4) and Max Rice (13.3) each rank inside the top 20 in scoring in the Mountain West. Against New Mexico, Degenhart set career-highs in field goals made (12), field goal attempts (20) and points scored (28).
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