PREVIEW | CBK: BOISE STATE (16-6,7-2) AT COLORADO STATE (17-5,5-4)
Boise State University at Colorado State University
Date: Tuesday February 6th, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm MT
Stadium: Moby Arena
Stream: Mountain West Network
Radio: KBOI 670 AM
Know Thy Enemy
Here we go! Boise State heads to Moby Arena for round two with the Rams of Colorado State. Both the Rams and the Broncos are coming off perfect weeks and looking to continue their winning ways. Boise State looks to keep their surprising road record unblemished, but Cam the Ram and the CSU student section will try their best to will their team to a win.
Since losing to Boise State, Colorado State has done what most Mountain West teams seem to be doing this year, hold serve at home and steal an away win against the bottom of the conference. The Rams beat Air Force, UNLV and San Diego State at home, but lost to Nevada, Wyoming on the road. CSU did manage to beat Fresno State at the Save Mart Center last Saturday for their first conference road victory of the season.
The Rams have been much the same since the last time the Broncos saw them, ranking top three in the conference in scoring offense, scoring margin, shoot percentage and rebounding defense. CSU is still being led by Isaiah Stevens and company but the one player that has been on a tear since losing to the Broncos has been Joel Scott. Scott only managed 5 points against Boise State, but has since scored in double figures in six straight and has scored 14 or more in four of those contests.
The Rams are coached by Niko Medved. Niko Medved became the 10th coach in Colorado State men’s basketball history in March of 2018. Returning to Fort Collins after he was an assistant coach from 2007-13. He made his head coaching debut at Furman, leading the Paladins from 2013-16. He had an overall record of 62-70 at Furman, taking them to the CIT in 2016 and 2017 and earning the Southern Conference Coach of the Years honor in 2017. He twice coached the SoCon Player of the Year.
Tuesday will be the 26th time these two teams have met since 2011 with the Broncos holding a three-game win streak. The last two contests inside Moby Arena have been hotly contested with the average margin of victory being 2.5 points.
What Happened Last Time in Fort Collins
Tyson Degenhart and Naje Smith combined to make three free throws in the final minute as Boise State held on to beat Colorado State, 80-78 in Fort Collins last February.
Smith made both free throws on a one-and-one with 18 seconds and Degenhart converted the opening end of his one-and-one with 6.5 seconds remaining, and the Rams' missed their final second shot as Boise State secured its 10th, 20-win season under head coach Leon Rice.
After getting into foul trouble early, Degenhart scored seven points with four fouls over the final 7:24 of the game. He scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half to go along with six rebounds. Smith, Chibuzo Agbo and Marcus Shaver scored in double figures for the Broncos.
Boise State missed its first six shots from beyond the arc before Naje Smith sank one from the left corner with 6:34 in the first half. In that span, the Rams were 5-of-6 on 3-pointers. Smith's trey fueled a 17-4 run for the Broncos to take a 36-31 lead at halftime.
Player to Watch
COLORADO STATE
SR., NIQUE CLIFFORD, G#10
Outside of Isaiah Stevens, Ni que Clifford was the only other Ram to score in double figures last time against the Broncos. Clifford went 5-of-7 from the floor for 12 points and also had eight rebounds. Since that game Clifford has been coming into his own, scoring double digits in five of the last six games including two 20+ performances against UNLV and SDSU. Clifford seems to be one that feeds off the home crowd and with this one being in Fort Collins he could be primed for another breakout performance.
BOISE STATE
JR., O’MAR STANLEY, F#1
First it was Max Rice with his 35 points against New Mexico then it was TG2 with his career-high 29 against Air Force. Now it’s O’Mar’s turn to have a monster game. The Junior has been really steady for the Broncos the last few weeks, but it seems like he’s going to be the next guy with a monster game. Stanly scored a team-high 17 against the Rams last time. Stanley also put together a 12 point 14 rebound performance inside “The Pit” last week so he shouldn’t be intimidated by the atmosphere inside Moby Arena at all on Tuesday.
PROBABLE STARTERS
BOISE STATE
COLORADO STATE
Rev's Route to a Bronco Win
Battle Boards
Different game, same key. Rebound the basketball. Last time out the Rams out rebounded the Broncos 33-30. When the Broncos are at their best they are crashing the glass and boxing out. This will need to continue if they want to steal another one on the road.
Take Care
Last week the Broncos did a good job of taking care of the basketball. In the last two games combined Boise State had 31 assists to just 19 turnovers. In these hostile environments taking care of the rock is of the highest priority.
Revs Rant and Prediction
I feel like the disrespect is at an all time high right now for these Broncos. Boise State is still on the 9/10 line in most bracketology while teams they’ve played and beaten are all on the 5 and 6 lines. Yes, the Broncos non-conference was challenging and they didn’t win as many games as their counterparts but the boys in blue are proving they are more than capable of hanging with and winning against the “big boys” of the conference. I feel like coach Rice is onto something when he said this week that we’ve lost the importance of just winning games. We sometimes focus so much on the “metrics” that we lose sight of what’s most important, winning the game. He’s also right when he said, “We gotta just keep doing our job” which is winning the game in front of them. This team is peaking at just the right time.
Boise State wins in a close one
Broncos 74, Rams 71
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