What Boise State associate head coach said after College Basketball Crown semifinal loss to Nebraska

Huskers reach title game with 79-69 victory over Broncos

Boise State Broncos forward Tyson Degenhart. | Brian Losness-Imagn Images

The Boise State men’s basketball team’s season came to an end Saturday with a 79-69 loss to Nebraska in the semifinals of the inaugural College Basketball Crown tournament. 

The Huskers (20-14) shot 12 of 19 (63.2 percent) from 3-point range at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to advance to Sunday’s Crown championship game. 

“You’ve got to tip your hat to them,” associate head coach Mike Burns said after the game. “They did some great things defensively, flew around a little bit and created some problems for us. That’s a good team.”

In the final game of his Boise State (26-11) career, Tyson Degenhart put up 26 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals. Andrew Meadow added 14 points and three rebounds while Pearson Carmichael had 13 points and two steals. 

Juwan Gary led the way for Nebraska with 21 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Gary went 4 of 4 from beyond the arc. 

The Huskers are guaranteed an NIL prize of at least $100,000. 

The champion of the 16-team Crown tournament receives an NIL payout of $300,000. The runner-up gets $100,000 while the semifinal losers earn $50,000 apiece.

Here are the highlights from Burns’ postgame radio interview. 

On two good teams meeting in Vegas 

“The reality is, this game today was basically an NCAA Tournament game. Those were two teams that had a strong argument for the NCAA Tournament. It was a good game, and unfortunately we couldn’t get it done.”

On Boise State’s strong start, Nebraska taking control

“Our guys were just aggressive. They came out aggressive and were hunting shots and were able to knock some down. Then (Nebraska) made some adjustments. They started pushing their defense out a little bit further, and we couldn’t capitalize by going by them or getting the ball into the paint. And then we had some silly turnovers that we’re not accustomed to having. Those things, combined with the rebounding, was what got them back in the game.”

On Degenhart’s final game 

“I’ve been here nine years now, and we’ve had some great players in our program. But there are none greater than Tyson Degenhart. Everything he means to this team as a player and a leader, and just the young man he is off the floor, I mean, you can’t replace that. We’ll have to collectively as a group kind of fill that void. There will be a long, long time before anybody wears the number two in a Boise State uniform.”