What head coach Leon Rice said after Boise State’s Maui Invitational loss to No. 23 N.C. State

Wolfpack defeat Broncos in consolation game, 81-70

Boise State Broncos head coach Leon Rice. | Orlando Ramirez-Imagn Images

The Boise State men’s basketball team fell to 0-2 at the Maui Invitational on Tuesday with an 81-70 loss to No. 23 N.C. State. 

The Broncos shot the ball poorly for the fourth consecutive game, finishing 19 of 56 (34 percent) from the floor, 11 of 33 (33 percent) from beyond the arc while going 21 of 32 (66 percent) from the foul line.  

After turning the ball over 15 times in Monday’s loss to USC, Boise State had 15 more turnovers against the Wolfpack. 

“They lost yesterday, and if you talked to their coaches, they weren’t real happy with their effort,” Broncos head coach Leon Rice said after the loss. “I think they had a little bit of a come to Jesus (moment), and they came out super aggressive defensively.”

Dylan Andrews led the way for Boise State (4-3) with 26 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Pearson Carmichael added 11 points off the bench while Javan Buchanan nearly had a double-double with 10 points, nine rebounds and two assists. 

Darrion Williams paced the Wolfpack (5-1) with 16 points.

Boise State will conclude play at the Maui Invitational at 10 p.m. Mountain time on Wednesday against the loser of a consolation game between Texas and Chaminade. 

Chaminade competes in the Division II PacWest Conference alongside Hawaii Pacific, which upset the Broncos to open the season. 

Here are the highlights from Rice’s postgame comments. 

On Dylan Andrews’ breakout game

“He made strides today, big strides. Like we’ve talked about a little bit, he was injured for a long time, so he’s kind of getting back into form, getting back into shape. He had a thing where it’s not like he could work out with the injury because they didn’t want him to sweat because the wound wouldn’t heal. I’m seeing him coming into his form.” 

On rebounding effort against N.C. State 

“We’re trying to get all of our guys tougher, all our guys doing their job rebounding, because that’s our identity. And we out-rebounded them by two, we were up early on the glass and doing pretty good. In the second half, we didn’t get enough offensive rebounds.”

On closing strong on Wednesday 

“We’ve got to come with the same intensity. No matter who we are facing, we’re going to come with great intensity. Because we came here to play 120 minutes, and man I was proud of the way we showed up and competed … in the morning today.”