Boise State forward earns Mountain West honor

Boise State junior forward Drew Fielder was voted Mountain West Player of the Week, the conference announced earlier this week.

Fielder opened the week with 23 points, three rebounds, two steals and an assist in an 86-64 home rout of Duquesne. Fielder shot 8 of 13 (61.5 percent) from the floor while making both of his three-point attempts.

Four days later, Fielder tallied 22 points and six rebounds as Boise State knocked off Saint Mary’s in Idaho Falls, 68-67. Fielder made two more three-pointers against the Gaels and is now 8 of 24 (33 percent) on the season.

“You have to attack Saint Mary’s different,” Boise State head coach Leon Rice said after the game. “We’ve got pretty strong guys and they go in and try to finish, and Saint Mary’s does such a good job of challenging them at the rim. As a coach and a player you’re like ‘Oh, that was a foul!’ When you go back and look at the film, most of them aren’t. They are physical, they go vertical and they challenge everything at the rim. Those aren’t high percentage shots; those are the ones they want you to take.

“We wanted to attack the paint and use Drew as a pop guy a lot. I told Drew ‘You’re a two guard this game. Pop, and we’ll play off you.’ And he did a great job of that. I mean he got in some good rhythm … and I could see him getting 40 in a game like that when he really gets going.”

The 6-foot-11, 225-pound Fielder is averaging 14.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists for the Broncos (8-3), who open Mountain West play on Saturday at Nevada (8-3).

Fielder spent his first two college seasons at Georgetown. He was rated the No. 163 overall player in the transfer portal and the No. 24 center by 247Sports.

Fielder started all 31 games for the Hoyas last season, averaging 7.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and one assist. Georgetown finished 18-16 overall with an 8-12 record in Big East play and fell to Nebraska in the quarterfinals of the College Basketball Crown.

The Huskers went on to defeat Boise State and UCF to claim the Crown title.

Fielder began his prep career at Meridian, Idaho’s Rocky Mountain High School before transferring to California’s SoCal Academy. Rated the nation’s No. 132 overall prospect by 247Sports, Fielder signed with Georgetown over offers from Arizona State, Creighton, Maryland, Miami, Syracuse and numerous others.

In 32 games as a true freshman in 2023-24, Fielder averaged 5.2 points and 3.1 rebounds.