What Boise State’s Leon Rice said after exhibition victory over Idaho

Broncos defeat Vandals, 89-83

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

The Boise State men’s basketball team took down rival Idaho, 89-83, on Friday in an exhibition game at Idaho Central Arena in downtown Boise. 

“We were approaching it like a practice a little bit, but it’s not,” Broncos head coach Leon Rice said after the game. “You walk around town, everyone wants you to beat Idaho, and we had a lot of respect for this team.”

Junior forward Drew Fielder, a transfer from Georgetown, led the way with 24 points and eight rebounds in 23 minutes. Fielder made three 3-pointers and finished 7 of 11 from the floor. 

Andrew Meadow added 14 points and four rebounds while Javan Buchanan tallied 13 points, eight rebounds and three steals.

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— Boise State MBB (@BroncoSportsMBB) October 18, 2025

The Broncos finished 11 of 22 as a team from 3-point range. 

UCLA transfer Dylan Andrews, a senior point guard, did not play due to a minor injury. 

Here are the highlights from Rice’s postgame press conference. 

On playing an exhibition game

“We had a good approach for a game on October 17th. But you could tell … I just wanted to see everybody and get some data from a game-like experience, which was probably invaluable. I mean, you’ve got a freshman point guard (Aginaldo Neto) who played a lot against a veteran team, and I thought he did a great job for a first time out in kind of a high-pressure environment.

“So some great stuff, really. Stuff that will really help us in the long run as we move forward trying to figure out our rotation, trying to figure out who can do what in a game and our strengths and things to work on.” 

On Fielder’s performance

“Some guys just have a ball that goes in, and I’ve seen that with Drew. We’re making him better at some things that our program makes guys better at, but a lot of the things he brings are things that you can’t teach. When you’ve got a five-man that can shoot it like that and pass it and all those things, he’s just going to get better and better because he’s just getting comfortable in our system and what we can do. He was really efficient.”

On 3-point shooting 

“It was my gut feeling that we’re going to be a pretty decent shooting team. It doesn’t mean one exhibition game means that for sure, but those all looked good coming off their hands, I thought. We just have a lot of guys that can shoot.”

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— Boise State MBB (@BroncoSportsMBB) October 18, 2025