BOISE, Idaho — Friday Special: March 18, 2022.
Everything that could go wrong in the first half did Thursday for Boise State. The Broncos were turning the ball over, losing the battle of the offensive boards, missing free throws, and missing shots in general. The result was a 19-point halftime deficit against Memphis in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The takeaway from the 64-53 loss to the Tigers, though, is that the Broncos did lay down in the second half. They came out with a purpose after the break and whittled away.
An opening 8-2 run got the lead down to 13 in the first four minutes. Then it was 11, then nine, and eventually down to five with a minute and a half left. That was the margin with 50 seconds left when Tyson Degenhart grabbed a rebound underneath the Memphis hoop, and there was hope that the Broncos could get it to one possession. But Degenhart was stripped, and Tigers star Jalen Duren grabbed the ball and put up a lay-in that just about sealed it.
ABU’S SECOND-HALF GLUE
Boise State can thank Abu Kigab for the change of complexion after halftime in Portland. His leadership goes without saying. But in his final game as a Bronco, Kigab had gone scoreless in the first half — then poured in 20 in the second half. He put the team on his back with 10 minutes left in the game. That’s when Boise State trailed by nine, and Kigab scored 18 of the team’s 20 points the rest of the way. Kigab became the fifth Bronco to notch a 20-point game in the NCAA Tournament, and he finished his career with 1,035 points in his three seasons at Boise State.
THESE WEREN’T NIT TEAMS
Boise State was better than the team that made the NIT quarterfinals last year, but so was Memphis, which won that game in Denton,Texas. The Tigers are deep — so deep that coach Penny Hardaway used 12 players in the first half. During a media timeout midway through, Hardaway told CBS, “We’re trying to wear ‘em down.” The Broncos masked their fatigue pretty well while carving up the 19-point halftime lead. But it was evident that they were gassed in the final minutes even as they pulled to within five points. Boise State played 35 games this season. The 11-point loss to Memphis on Thursday was its biggest of the campaign.
THAT SHAKY START
There were some omens in the first five minutes of the game. The Tigers’ DeAndre Williams laid one in over Mladen Armus in the first 15 seconds. With just over a minute gone, Boise State had already committed two turnovers. Just over two minutes in, NBA-bound Jalen Duren skyed for one of Memphis’ patented offensive rebounds and putbacks. Less than four minutes in, Armus turned his ankle (although he did return). The Broncos missed seven of their first eight shots. It was not pretty at halftime, with 29 percent accuracy from the field, seven turnovers and a 1-for-6 ledger at the free throw line. The shooting from the floor didn’t improve in the second half, but most everything else did. Boise State turned the ball over only three times, went 12-for-13 from the charity stripe and won the battle of the boards. There’s just no “W” to show for it.
ONE DOWN AND A BUNCH OF UPS
This trip to the Big Dance ends with same way the previous seven did — with a loss — but it’s still been Boise State’s best season ever. The Broncos finished 27-8, the most victories in school history, and (of course) won the Mountain West regular season and tournament championships. With a school-record No. 8 seed, they wore their home uniforms in the main field of the NCAA Tournament for the first time. You can’t take that away from them. The program can build on this, especially if some combination of Marcus Shaver Jr., Emmanuel Akot and Mladen Armus returns to use a COVID year. And Degenhart, the Mountain West Freshman of the Year, has the look of a new kind of Bronco with his Gonzaga-type moxie. We won’t know until November, but it looks like the fan base for hoops may have turned the corner, too.
A MOUNTAIN OF A NIGHTMARE
Oh, the Mountain West. The conference hoped to justify getting four teams into the tournament. But Wyoming couldn’t stay with Indiana and didn’t get out of the First Four in Dayton Tuesday night, losing to the Hoosiers 66-58. Then, as the Broncos were taking the court, Colorado State was letting a 15-point first half lead get away against Michigan and lost 75-63. Thursday night, it looked like San Diego State was going to save face for the league when it built a 14-point lead over Creighton. And there you go. The Aztecs lost 72-69 in overtime. That is a really painful 0-fer. According to ESPN, the MW is just the third conference ever to finish 0-4 or worse in a single NCAA Tournament.
THE YOTES KEEP ON PLAYIN’
Things are a bit more euphoric at College of Idaho. The third-ranked Coyotes won their 15th game in a row Thursday in the NAIA Tournament Sweet 16, taking a 71-66 win over Grace College in Kansas City. The Yotes are 32-4, breaking the school record for victories. They got there with four players in double figures Thursday, including Ivory Miles-Williams with 16 points and Jake O’Neil with 15. They’re rightfully calling it the best “start” in C of I history— 36 games in. But now it’s all about the finish. The Yotes face Loyola of Louisiana Saturday morning in the quarterfinals.
NEW HOMES FOR TOP FORMER HAWKS
Two of the most prominent all-time Boise Hawks, the team’s only two big league MVPs, have new addresses. The first to move was Josh Donaldson, the 2015 American League MVP for Toronto. Donaldson goes from Minnesota to the New York Yankees in a five-player trade. He has hit 251 career home runs with five teams in 11 seasons in the majors. Kris Bryant is the one who’s in the money, agreeing to a seven-year, $182 million contract with Colorado after spending the second half of last season in San Francisco. The 2016 NL MVP for the Cubs was average with the Giants down the stretch, but he did collect eight hits in their five-game playoff loss to the L.A. Dodgers. This is a gamble for the Rockies, though.
MORE FRIDAY ‘PROPOURRI’
Troy Merritt is in position to make another PGA Tour cut after a three-under 68 Thursday in the first round of the Valspar Championship. The former Boise State star sandwiched five birdies in between bogeys on No. 2 and No. 18 in Palm Harbor, Fla., and is tied for 33rd. And the Idaho Steelheads go for a second straight win following a five-game losing streak as they host the Utah Grizzlies tonight in the first of a two-game series at Idaho Central Arena.
THIS DAY IN SPORTS…March 18, 2015:
A quirk in the NCAA Tournament selection process places Boise State in the First Four in Dayton — against Dayton. The Broncos and Flyers were the last two at-large teams picked and were No. 11 seeds in the East Region. With Dayton the pre-determined host site for the play-in round, Boise State was forced to play the first true road game in the NCAA Tournament in 28 years, in front of a First Four record 12,952 fans. The Broncos led by 12 points in the first half and nine in the second half, but the Flyers won it 56-55 on a three-pointer with 35 seconds left. Boise State’s Derrick Marks led all scorers with 23 points in his final game.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.)
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