What head coach Leon Rice said about Boise State’s Mountain West sweep of Wyoming

The Boise State men’s basketball team shook off a slow start on Tuesday against Wyoming to secure a 72-62 Mountain West victory over Wyoming at ExtraMile Arena.

The Broncos (17-11, 9-8) closed the first half on a 9-0 run—including a Drew Fielder banked-in buzzer-beating three-pointer—to take a 32-30 lead into the locker room. Boise State never trailed in the second half to complete a regular-season sweep of the Cowboys (15-13, 6-11).

Dylan Andrews netted a game-high 20 points for the Broncos while Fielder (18 points, seven rebounds, two blocks) and Javan Buchanan (17 points, six rebounds) also starred. RJ Keene II played 28 minutes off the bench and had two points, nine rebounds and four assists.

Wyoming senior guard Leland Walker, who torched Boise State for 30 points in January, finished 2 of 14 from the floor with eight points.

“I was really, really proud of that,” Broncos head coach Leon Rice said. “He’s a handful and he got 30 on us last time. A good team can take their best player—or one of their best players—and really, really get him to score below his average and make it tough on him all night, and I thought we did that.”

Boise State matched a season-high with seven blocked shots and out-rebounded the Cowboys 35-23 with 10 offensive boards.

Here are the highlights from Rice’s postgame comments.

On RJ Keene II, bench minutes

“I thought our bench did some good things—not their usual explosive things—but RJ Keene came in and was RJ Keene tonight. I thought that steal he got (in the second half), that was a big bucket because it got the (lead) to 10.

“We just kind of wore them down a little bit, and that’s how we felt. Because I thought our shot quality, we were working pretty hard to get shots. We were getting in the paint a lot. I think our bodies wore them down just enough.”

On Buchanan’s strong night

“He’s given us some explosive minutes where he’s a handful down there. That body wore them down. He pinned three fouls on their backup (forward) in the first half, and that changes their rotation and changes how physical they can be in the post.”

On two-point scoring

“We were 5 of 21 from three, had some pretty darn good looks. So for us to score 72 and shoot 47 percent from the field, our two-point baskets won us the game tonight.”