MBB: Boise State (7-2) at Saint Louis University (7-3)
Boise State University at Saint Louis University
Date: Saturday December 10,2022
Time:6:00pm MT
Stadium: Chaifetz Arena, (10,600)
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: KBOI 670 AM
Commentators: Bob Behler and Abe Jackson
Know Thy Enemy
The Broncos are headed to the “Gateway to the west” for their first “true” road game of the 2022 season. Sure the Broncos have played away from the friendly confines of the “X” but all of those games have been deemed “neutral” site games. Boise State will take on a Bilikens in hopes of extending their current 6-game win streak.
The Bilikens return home to host the Broncos in the first of a three-game home stand. So far this season SLU has been experiencing some good home cooking going 6-0 at Chaifetz. The Bilikens are coming off a 23-12 season that ended in the first round of the NIT. This year SLU comes in with high hopes and rightfully so because a Biliken stands for “things as they ought to be.” But there are questions looming around the team. Can their prolific scorer, Javaonte Perkins return to his former self after a knee injury? Can their terrific point guard Yuri Collins cut down on his turnover to assist ratio? So far the Bilikens are answering correctly. Perkins has four games of 15 points or more and Collins is averaging 3.3 assist to turnover which is way better than his 1.9 to 1 mark from a season ago.
Along with Perkins and Collins, SLU has other two over starters who are averaging more than 10 points per game. The lone starter who’s not is their glass cleaning big man, who's averaging 9 boards and 2.1 blocks per game. Saint Louis can really fill it up, scoring more than 80 in 6 of their 9 games.
The Bilikens are coached by Travis Ford. Ford is in his seventh season with Saint Louis. Even though Ford has revitalized the program, many think that Ford hasn’t done enough in his time with the team. Ford has not finished any higher than 4th in the A10 conference and has only taken the team to the NCAA tournament one time back in the 2018-19 season.
Boise State and Saint Louis have battled it out on the court one other time and that was last season in Boise.
What Happened Last Time
A game that saw 12 ties and 17 lead changes needed an extra period before Saint Louis prevailed against Boise State, 86-82 in overtime. Tyson Degenhart, making the first start of his career, forced overtime with a jumper off the glass after driving to the block with 39 seconds left. Degenhart finished with season highs of 11 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots in 37 minutes.
Abu Kigab scored a season-high 27 points to lead five Broncos in double figures. Kigab was 11-for-17 from the field and chipped in eight rebounds and three steals.
Saint Louis scored seven of its 13 points in the extra period at the free throw line, shooting 7-of-8 from the stripe to finish the game 30-for-34 at the line.
Shaver scored 11 of his 14 points in less than five minutes during the second half, including a trio of three-pointers that brought the ExtraMile Arena crowd to life and pushed the Broncos back in front.
Shaver's other three points came via an old-fashioned three-point play late in overtime. He grabbed an offensive rebound and finished the putback while being fouled. His ensuing free throw put the Broncos in front, 82-81, with 42 seconds remaining in the extra period. Saint Louis scored the next five points for the final margin.
Player to Watch
SAINT LOUIS
JR., YURI COLLINS, G#1
Yuri Collins is a distributor in every sense of the word. The junior point guard loves to pass the basketball. Last season Collins led the NCAA in assists and through 10 games already has 111 assists. That’s 10 more than the whole Boise State team combined. He’s already had five games of 13+ assists and against Tennessee St. Collins went off with 20 assists! Collins is already the all-time assist leader at Saint Louis by 230 assists and counting.
BOISE STATE
SR., MARCUS SHAVER JR., G #10
Saturday will be one of the better point guard matchups we will see this year between Collins and Shaver. Marcus missed Tuesday’s game against EOU, but that didn’t matter much. Shaver has really stepped up this season in bringing the ball up the court and facilitating the Broncos offense. As a scorer Shaver has the ability to create his own shot which will go along away as the quality of opponents just gets better from here on out.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Boise State
SAINT LOUIS
Rev's Route to a Bronco Win
Yuri the 1
A lot has already been said about the SLU point guard, but the Broncos will be facing a really tough opponent on Saturday. If Boise State wants to win they have to hold Yuri under his assist average. If Collins is cooking and finding open teammates for easy looks at the basket the Broncos could be in trouble.
Smooth Shaver
Shaver didn’t play for precautionary reasons on Tuesday night which meant Jace Whiting played in his stead. As great as that was to see some of the reserves play a bigger role, The Broncos will need the leadership and ball handling ability of Shaver as they head into the final leg of non-conference play. Even with playing one less game, Shaver leads the team in points per game, assists, rebounds, steals and free throws.
Editor Note:
Gone Streaking
Last year Boise State went on a 14-game win streak that really changed the tenor and trajectory of the season which ultimately ended with a conference championship and NCAA tournament birth. This year the Broncos are already on a 6-game win streak with a chance to extend that against a SLU team that is embarrassed by how they performed in their last game. If Boise State can continue their winning ways and take that win streak into conference play this could be another special season and dare I say raising the bar on future expectations.
Boise State wins a tough one to avenge last seasons loss.
Boise State 83, Saint Louis 76
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