BOISE, Idaho โ The Boise State men's basketball team is looking to get back on track Tuesday night when it hosts San Jose State for the Broncos' Mountain West Conference home opener at 7 p.m. MT.
In its last outing, Boise State fell in a 74-72 heartbreaker to Nevada on the road. Foul trouble hurt the Broncos and as a result, they were missing some key guys down the stretch, and showed some gaps in their defense.
"That's just something we have to pay attention to next time and as well as trying not to let ourselves get in that position where we have to, you know, be on defense for the last stop, and we could've got there earlier," Chibuzo Agbo said.
Boise State (10-4, 0-1 MWC) is still finding a rhythm and trying to get more production down the depth chart. Against the Wolf Pack, head coach Leon Rice played four different players off the bench.
The four Broncos combined for just one made field goal attempt, while Boise State's starters scored 69 of 72 points in the loss.
Ahead of Tuesday's bout against the Spartans (11-4, 2-0 MWC), Rice said the tight Mountain West contests creating learning opportunities.
"You look down at that end lineup and there's a lot of inexperience on the floor. You want them to, like I said, pick up where the other guys left off, but that's not fair. They haven't had that experience," Rice said. "We're disappointed when we lose, we hate it. Nobody did anything on purpose, no doubt about it, they want to do the right things. Great opportunity to learn and like I said, we have to correct that for us to be a good team."
As the Broncos work to boost their experience, they have been getting a spark from Agbo, the Texas Tech transfer and 6-7, 223-pound guard. Agbo did not bring a lot of in-game experience to Boise State from his two seasons as a Red Raider.
With the Broncos, Agbo is starting to find his groove, averaging 11.3 points per game and 5.1 rebounds. In Boise State's last five games, Agbo has scored 18, 10, 16, 12 and 15 points, and is getting to the free throw line more often.
Rice credits Agbo's thirst to learn and develop as a player. The newcomer is providing much-needed production alongside Boise State's star returners Marcus Shaver Jr., Tyson Degenhart, Max Rice and Naje Smith.
"The exciting thing for me is he knows he's growing and he knows he's getting better, and better, and better," Rice said. "He said it to me the other day, he goes 'I swear every time out, every game I'm learning stuff.' The sky's the limit for this kid. He's going to be a great player. I mean, he already is a great player, but he's got the chance to be great, because of how hard he works and how he wants to learn and all that stuff."
San Jose State is riding a three-game win streak, including back-to-back wins over conference foes UNLV and Colorado State. Omari Moore leads the Spartans with 15 points per game.
Shaver Jr. currently ranks seventh in the Mountain West with 15.5 points per game, two spots ahead of Moore. Degenhart, Rice and Agbo all average more than 10 points per game, with Smith adding 9.2 points per outing.
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