What head coach Leon Rice said after Boise State’s blowout loss to San Diego State

The Boise State men’s basketball team couldn’t solve San Diego State’s ferocious defense in a 64-47 Mountain West Conference loss Saturday night at Viejas Arena.

The Broncos (17-8, 9-5) shot just 18 of 54 from the field (33.3 percent) and committed 14 turnovers en route to a season-low 47 points. San Diego State (17-6, 10-4), the top shot-blocking team in the MWC, recorded 10 blocks to earn the regular-season sweep.

In early January, the Aztecs defeated Boise State at ExtraMile Arena, 76-68.

“Credit to San Diego State,” Broncos head coach Leon Rice said after the game. “Boy, they shut off our water.

“They’ve shown brilliance defensively this year in stretches. I would have to say, from watching all their games, that maybe this was their best 40 minutes of defense.”

The loss drops Boise State to fifth place in the MWC standings, four full games behind league-leading New Mexico (21-4, 13-1). The Broncos will likely need to win the MWC Tournament to reach the NCAA Tournament for the fourth consecutive season.

Nick Boyd scored 16 of his season-high 24 points in the first half for the Aztecs, who snapped Boise State’s four-game winning streak. Center Magoon Gwath had eight points, six rebounds and five blocks.

Tyson Degenhart led the Broncos with 17 points and 12 rebounds, his fourth double-double of the season. The senior was 0 for 5 from 3-point range; Boise State finished 3 of 18 (16.7 percent) as a team.

Here are the highlights from Rice’s postgame radio interview.

On San Diego State’s rim protection

“They altered so many (shots), and then you start looking around. One of our strengths is scoring around the basket. We shoot a high percentage around the basket. And boy, they shut that down. Ten blocks, I don’t think we’ve had a game like that (in a while). We played Kentucky back in the day when they had Willie Cauley-Stein, an elite NBA shot blocker. Well, they have one here (in Magoon Gwath). He’s a special talent.

“They just did a great job of protecting the rim and not giving us any of those easy buckets that we usually get.”

On San Diego State’s physicality

“They were really physical into the ball all night. … It takes a lot to handle the ball for 40 minutes against these guys, just to bring it up the court. Because they do it so consistently and hand-check and that kind of thing, they let them do the first and the second and maybe they’ll call the third (foul). It wears on a ball-handler, and I think they did a good job on Al (Cardenas). That gets us slow getting into offense, and that’s why you see so many end of the shot clock possessions where we weren’t very good.”

On Tyson Degenhart’s big night

“I thought Tyson did a great job tonight. He had 17 and 12, seven offensive rebounds. And again, he had a couple more that he usually gets that just ended up getting blocked.”

MORE BOISE STATE NEWS & ANALYSIS

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