What Boise State head coach Leon Rice said after non-conference victory over Wichita State

Broncos edge Shockers, 62-59

Boise State Broncos head coach Leon Rice. | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

Boise State held on down the stretch to defeat Wichita State, 62-59, in Tuesday’s non-conference men’s basketball game at ExtraMile Arena. 

The Broncos (4-1) led 60-50 with three minutes to play but were unable to put away the Shockers (3-1). Michael Gray Jr.’s tying three-point attempt in the final seconds was off the mark to give Boise State its fourth straight victory. 

Wichita State, which entered Tuesday’s game averaging 91.7 points per game, was held to a season-low 59 points.

“I’m so proud of our guys for the way we’re progressing,” Broncos head coach Leon Rice said. “The guys did a great job of taking the game plan, the staff did an amazing job. That was a great game plan to hold that team to 59 points. That’s back-to-back games that we’ve held two good offensive teams in the 50s. That’s a great sign.”

Boise State shot the ball poorly for the second straight game, finishing 20 of 54 (37 percent) from the floor and 15 of 23 (65 percent) from the foul line. 

Drew Fielder paced the Broncos with 17 points and six rebounds. Andrew Meadow added 15 points, five rebounds and two assists. 

Boise State has the rest of the week off before heading across the Pacific Ocean to the Maui Invitational. The Broncos will open play in Hawaii against USC (3-0) at 3 p.m. Mountain time on Monday. 

Here are the highlights from Rice’s postgame comments. 

On overcoming offensive issues with strong defense

“You’re not going to make all the shots all the nights. We missed a lot of lay-ins, we missed a lot of free throws. But you’ve got to be able to win games with your defense — regardless of what you do down there — because that stuff is going to happen. We beat a team that could score.”

On early-season development

“It’s crazy … we’ve played a lot of games so you feel like “Oh, we should be (clicking). But it’s early, there’s so many things we can get better at. An encouraging thing for me as a coach is the days that we practice and the days we are together, we get better. We just have to keep that trend. And if we can keep that trend, this has the potential to be a really good basketball team.”

On screen-and-roll between Fielder, Dylan Andrews

“They had to extend their defense out a little bit because we started making threes. Drew, he drives a hard bargain there in the paint. He’s got great touch around the rim, he’s got great moves. We can keep getting better at that.”