‘He’s a special player;’ What Leon Rice said after Nique Clifford torches Boise State for career-high 36 points

Colorado State rallies back to down Boise State, 83-73

Colorado State Rams guard Nique Clifford. | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

With a chance to claim the No. 2 seed for the Mountain West Tournament, the Boise State men’s basketball team squandered a 10-point second-half lead Friday night against Colorado State. 

The Rams (22-9, 16-4) closed the game on a 32-13 run to earn an 83-73 road victory over the Broncos (22-9, 14-6) in the regular-season finale for both teams. 

Nique Clifford poured in a career-high 36 points for the Rams, who will enter the MWC Tournament on a seven-game winning streak.

“He’s a special player,” Broncos head coach Leon Rice said of Clifford, a senior guard. “We were working our tails off and our guys were doing a good job. A lot of those shots were tough ones, and he was making them. He just wouldn’t miss.” 

Colorado State swept the regular-season series between the NCAA Tournament bubble teams. The Broncos, who had their five-game winning streak snapped, will likely need to win the MWC’s automatic bid to reach a fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament. 

Here are the highlights from Rice’s postgame radio interview. 

On Nique Clifford’s monster performance 

“Our guys battled, got that 10-point lead. And then right away, that’s really when he took over. … You’ve got to tip your hat to him.”

On facing condensed defenses 

“It’s a pick-your-poison deal. Tonight, we go 7 for 29 (from 3-point range), took a few at the end. But I swear we had five just rattle in and rattle out. 

“We’ve been getting to the line good. We’ve been scoring from around the basket consistently for most of the year. But when we’re really good, we make some 3s to go along with it. You’ve got to be able to do that, and we didn’t do that tonight enough against a good team.” 

On lack of bench production

“We didn’t get the scoring punch off the bench that we’ve been getting, and we need that. Usually when we sub, our offense doesn’t stagnate. We had some subs in when they went zone there … and Javan (Buchanan) is usually so good in that high post spot that we thought we were OK, but we got nothing out of it.” 

On likely playing San Diego State next

“We’re 0-2 against them, we’re going to have to play a lot better. They’re going to be a desperate team, we’re going to be a desperate team. We’re going to have to play a really, really good game to be on the floor with them, with a lot riding on it.”

On bouncing back

“Our guys, we’ve faced adversity before, and they respond. That’s what we’ve got to do now.”

MORE BOISE STATE NEWS & ANALYSIS

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