At a glance: Scouting Boise State

[PonyPride]

Boise State's Derrick Alston, Jr. presents matchup nightmare
SMU, Boise State meet Thursday in NIT opener
Posted on 03/16/2021 by PonyFans.com

The SMU Mustangs have had their season extended with an invitation to play in the National Invitation Tournament. The Ponies (11-5) will tip off the NIT at 8 p.m. Thursday against the Boise State Broncos (18-8) at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.

So what kind of opponent is heading to North Texas to face the Mustangs?

Now in his 11th season as the head coach, Leon Rice is the only coach in program history to coach Broncos to 20 or more victories eight times.

The Broncos head to Frisco riding a four-game losing streak, including an 89-82 loss March 11 to Nevada in the first round of the Mountain West Championship. They are 1-1 this year at neutral sites, and 7-7 in all games played away from their home venue: ExtraMile Arena.

The Broncos have outscored their opponents by nearly 10 points per game this season, by an average of 76.2-66.3. They outshot their opponents in both quantity and quality, attempting 1,522 field goals, compared to 1,476 by opponents, and hitting 45.5 percent of their shots, while opponents shot 42.6 percent. The Broncos also held an edge in three-point shooting percentage, 34.2 percent to 32.5 percent for opponents, and enjoyed the narrowest of shooting margins at the free throw line, 74.4 percent to 74.1 percent.

Three Boise State players averaged double digits in scoring:

ΓÇó Guard Derrick Alston, Jr. (6-9, 190), of Houston (Strake Jesuit) leads the team with an average of 17.4 points per game after walking on at Boise State as a freshman. The first-team All-Mountain West Conference honoree has morphed from an NBA ballboy to a legitimate NBA prospect. His father, Derrick Alston, Sr., is the head coach of the NBA G League’s Westchester Knicks

ΓÇó Forward Abu Kigab (6-7, 220) averages 11.8 points per game and a team-high 5.4 rebounds per game, and earned second-team all-conference honors. Kijab will not be playing Thursday, having opted for season-ending surger after injuring his shoulder in the Broncos’ regular-season finale against Fresno State.

ΓÇó Guard Marcus Shaver, Jr., (6-2, 185) averages 10.5 points per game, and his 29 steals this season are third among the Broncos, and just three shy of tying the team lead.

Like Kijab, guard Max Rice (5.9 points per game, 27 assists this season) also underwent year-ending surgery.

SMU holds a 6-5 edge in the all-time series against Boise State. The last meeting was Dec. 18, 2017 at Moody Coliseum; the Mustangs won, 86-63.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Thank you for this information! I have to admit I don't know much about Boise basketball.

[BUS]

From Going to Fort Worth and watching that last game... The only person on the team that fights is KD.
Great open shots and SCARED. I am not talking about the first pass but the third, fourth, fifth...etc... Come on man, you are open big time... Take the shot like you like to score.

Aggressive mustangs can win. Docile ponies get made into dog food.
Go Mustangs.

[Terry Webster]

Hopefully Ethan can shut down Alston. Size match up is pretty similar.

[ALEX LIFESON]

Thank you for this information! I have to admit I don't know much about Boise basketball.

Neither does anyone else.

[Hoofprint]

I was thinking Bandoumel or Anei, he's available, might be better-suited to defending Alston. He's really smooth and quick for a bigger guy.

[Terry Webster]

Sounds like we are going to be at full strength tonight. Yor is good to go. Hopefully Feron can go full strength.

[shadowman]

Hope Feron is at full strength, have not really heard anything one way or the other.

[Charleston Pony]

Boise has been able to play 10 more games than our guys have. Just hope our guys are able to extend their season tonight. Four more games would be nice and just might rekindle some enthusiasm for this program.

[Charleston Pony]

I was thinking Bandoumel or Anei, he's available, might be better-suited to defending Alston. He's really smooth and quick for a bigger guy.

Should be interesting as Bandoumel might be our best defender but would be at a height disadvantage and Anei would be a quickness mismatch that might get Yor in foul trouble early. With conditioning an issue for our guys, I expect we'll see more zone than usual