Tag: Alex Hobbs

Air Force vs. Boise State: Game Preview, TV & Radio Schedule, Livestream, Odds, More

Air Force vs. Boise State: Game Preview The Broncos welcome Air Force to ExtraMile Arena Tuesday night with hopes of conference standing ascension. Contact/Follow @HardwoodTalk & @MWCwire Boise State looks to avenge seven-point loss to Air Force …

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Air Force vs. Boise State: Game Preview

The Broncos welcome Air Force to ExtraMile Arena Tuesday night with hopes of conference standing ascension. 

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Boise State looks to avenge seven-point loss to Air Force last month with their home court advantage as added element. 

WHO: Air Force Falcons (9-15, 3-9 Mountain West) At Boise State Broncos (16-9, 8-5 Mountain West)

WHEN: Wednesday, February 11th—8:00 PM PST/7:00 PM MST/9:00 PM EST

WHERE: ExtraMile Arena, Boise, ID

TV: AT&T Sports Network 

STREAM: Get a free trial through FuboTV

RADIO: Tunein

SERIES RECORD: Boise State leads all-time series 12-6 

PREVIEW: 

After suffering a seven-point loss to the Falcons a little under a month ago in Clune Arena the Broncos are looking to improve their 11-1 record at home, reach second place (no matter who else is there with them) and get some revenge on Tuesday night in ExtraMile Arena. Boise State like everyone situated in 2nd-5th place in the conference at the moment is looking for a win tonight. Aside from the juggernaut season San Diego State is currently having everyone else has been handing out losses and taking them right back.

The Stakes,

Boise State is in a current three-way tie for third place with Colorado State and Utah State (who face off tonight in another important match up to keep an eye on). And the race for a top seed in the conference tournament will take a couple of turns tonight as the winner of the Rams vs. Aggies matchup dictates a lot. If Colorado State wins they keep sole possession of second place and give Boise State sole possession of third (for now). But an Aggie win creates a two-way tie for second place, knocking the Rams to third place just ahead of Nevada.

Air Force is playing for a better seed in the conference tournament at this point with the hopes of making a deep tournament run to make the big dance. The Falcons are currently sitting in two-way tie for seventh place with the Spartans of San Jose State.

Air Force

Air Force has been exactly the sort of team we usually expect them to be each year and have dished out some upsets and challenged teams at times this season. But in true Air Force fashion has also struggled at times with scoring consistency and defense (refer to their Feb. 4th box score against Nevada for further explanation). But when they’re knocking down shots they are one of the most dangerous teams in the Mountain West (refer to their Jan. 7th box score against Utah State for further explanation).

Lavelle Scottie has played well for the Falcons as of late (15.8 PPG and 6.0 RPG in his last five games). And the possible emergence of junior guard Christopher Joyce who had 23 points against San Diego State on Saturday on 5/8 shooting from deep may be just what this Air Force team needs to break a six game losing streak. Which began after their win over the Broncos last month, and what a better way to break it than with a regular season sweep of Boise State in the process.

Boise State

The Broncos have had a bit of trouble getting solid production from leading scorer Derrick Alston Jr. of late, as the 6-9 guard averaged 4.5 PPG, 1.5 APG and 2.0 RPG in two games last week. Justinian Jessup has stepped in up his absence along with fellow senior guard Alex Hobbs with big performances in a win over Wyoming on Tuesday night and a tough loss on the road against Utah State on Saturday. It’s been hard to predict a leading scorer for the Broncos recently, with five different players taking that honor over their last ten games. But Leon Rice’s crew were just enjoying a five game winning streak just last Tuesday and could use a win before they host San Diego State this Sunday at home for what could be the Aztec’s first loss of the season.

Some history, 

Aside the fact both schools are only about three and half hours away from each other by plane, these two squads have only met on the court eighteen times in their short history. A twenty year gap between their first matchup on Dec. 27th, 1991 and their next one on Jan. 14th, 2012 in Boise State’s inaugural season in the Mountain West conference.

The last time these two met back on Jan. 15th of this year, Ryan Swan scored 17 points scoring his 1000th career point in the process, becoming the 27th Falcon to do so.

Matchup of the night: Down Low

F RJ Williams Boise State vs. F Ryan Swan Air Force

The Stats: Williams (1.4 PPG, 8.0 PRG & 1.0 SPG) & Swan (12.8  PPG, 4.5 RPG & 1.8 APG)

Both are coming off of some of their worst performances of the season against San Diego State and Utah State respectfully, but both should have an impact in tonight’s Mountain West presentation of the NBA’s “small ball”. Both struggled against bigger opponents last week but both stand at 6-7 with Swan winning the weight portion of the contest and Williams winning for best motor.

Williams is at his best when he’s down low getting second chance boards and receiving assists from driving teammates. Swan gets his buckets when he’s knocking down mid-range jumpers or getting to the line, look for him to drive against a smaller Bronco frontcourt tonight.

Prediction: Boise State 80, Air force 70

This one will come down to how hot the Falcons can get tonight on the road and whether or not the Broncos can get hotter. The home record speaks for itself, and the Broncos are as dangerous as anyone in the conference when playing in ExtraMile Arena where they have averaged 84.5 PPG over the twelve games played their this season.

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Aggies fight off another Boise St. comeback to win 70-61 at home

Utah State won 70-61 at Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Saturday night, beating Boise State to pull even in the Mountain West standings.

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Game Recap: Utah State 70, Boise State 61

Aggies pull into three-way tie for 3rd place with BSU, Nevada

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Utah State bent but never broke as they evened the season series with Boise State on Saturday.

Utah State got revenge against their neighbors to the north, beating Boise State 70-61 at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Saturday. While the Aggies led for nearly the entire game, the Broncos didn’t allow themselves to be put away for good until the final minute. The win pulls Utah State up into a three-way tie for third place with Boise State and Nevada.

The Aggies (19-7, 8-5 MWC) led by as many as 12 points during the second half, but they also let the Broncos stay within reach for the duration of the game. The deficit shrunk to as small as a single point after Riley Abercrombie’s field goal with just over a minute remaining.

But on the ensuing possession, the Aussie freshman was charged with a flagrant foul after pulling down Utah State’s Neemias Queta on a shot attempt.

The decision from the referees meant that the Aggies retained the ball after Queta made both free throws, and fellow USU star Sam Merrill added two more on the bonus possession. The Broncos were unable to score another point, as Utah State ended the game on an 8-0 run.

Queta led all scorers with a game-high 21 points, adding five rebounds and five blocks. Merrill contributed 17 points and four assists. Diogo Brito had 11 ponts and seven rebounds for the Aggies, while Justin Bean had 16 rebounds to go along with seven points.

Despite getting the win, Utah State will not be happy with their three-point shooting performance. They finished the game just 2-for-19 from beyond the arc, barely eclipsing the 10% mark. For a team with multiple sharpshooters, this kind of inefficiency simply does not compute.

They were bailed out in this instance, by a Boise State team that didn’t fare much better from three-point land. The Broncos went 6-for-29 from deep, good for just 20.7% on the night.

Senior guard Justinian Jessup was the only Boise State player to hit multiple threes, knocking down a trio of triples to extend his newly-earned Mountain West record for career threes made to 301. He is the first player in league history to surpass the threshold.

Jessup led Boise State (16-9, 8-5 MWC) with 20 points. Alex Hobbs had a second-straight impressive offensive showing, putting up 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting. After scoring a career-high 24 points off the bench against Wyoming earlier this week, Hobbs got the start in place of Abu Kigab, who sat out of Saturday’s game with a hip injury.

Derrick Alston Jr.’s struggles this week continued through the weekend. The junior went 0-for-7 and scored just two points against the Cowboys on Tuesday. His box score improved on Saturday, but he still managed only seven points on 2-of-8 from the floor.

Abercrombie was forced into extra action against the Aggies after RJ Williams and Robin Jorch both fouled out. Though he did have some success on the interior, Abercrombie was 0-for-5 from beyond the arc—and also committed the ill-timed flagrant foul near the end of the game.

UP NEXT

Utah State’s next matchup is a Tuesday showdown on the road against Colorado State (17-8, 8-4 MWC). Now that the Aggies have climbed back into third place in the Mountain West, only the Rams stand between them and San Diego State. A win in Fort Collins would give Utah State at least a share of second place in the league. It would also position the Aggies to hold firm in that position, with their final four games all coming against teams in the bottom half of the conference.

Boise State heads home to host Air Force (9-15, 3-9 MWC). The Falcons were the latest team to put a scare into San Diego State but were unable to seal the deal at Clune Arena. Dave Pilipovich’s team has been disappointing compared to preseason projections, but they are always capable of surprising an unsuspecting team. If the Broncos want to keep pace in the MW for second or third place, they cannot afford to overlook this midweek tussle, especially with a Sunday tilt with SDSU looming.

Andrew is a current USBWA member, covering college basketball for multiple outlets, including Mountain West Wire of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Busting Brackets of the FanSided Network. He also runs the Dieckhoff Power Index, a college basketball analytics system, and provides bracketology predictions throughout the season.

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Hobbs’ career-high 24 fuels Boise State comeback over Wyoming

Boise State narrowly avoided a bad loss in Laramie, using a late surge to push past Wyoming at Arena-Auditorium on Tuesday night.

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Game Recap: Boise State 67, Wyoming 62

Boise State holds serve in the race for 2nd place in the MW

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Boise State avoids an embarrassing loss, thanks to a herculean effort from Alex Hobbs

It took Boise State roughly 35 minutes to fully wake up during this game, but a late push from the Broncos helped them avoid what would have been a discouraging loss on the road against Wyoming.

Alex Hobbs came off the bench to lead the Broncos with a career-high 24 points, including a pair of three-pointers down the stretch that helped Boise State stave off the Cowboys’ upset attempt. It was the third time in six games that the senior guard has scored in double digits and his largest offesnive output since November 9, when he scored 18 points against Oregon.

Maybe it’s something about Arena-Auditorium. Hobbs scored 17 points there last season, too.

The Cowboys led by as many as five points during the second half, but they were unable to hold off Boise State for the full forty minutes. After a pair of Trevon Taylor free throws gave Wyoming a 52-47 lead with 9:52 to play, the Broncos outscored the Cowboys 20-10 the rest of the way.

Wyoming put one final scare into Boise State when they forced a turnover on the Broncos’ inbounds pass, trailing by three points with just under 30 seconds to play.

On the ensuing possession, Jake Hendricks missed a three-pointer, but Maldonado grabbed the offensive rebound and put his team back within one point.

After Jessup hit two free throws to put the Broncos back up three, Hendricks missed another shot from beyond the arc. Boise State forward RJ Williams grabbed the defensive rebound, was fouled, and iced the game with two free throws with 4.4 second remaining.

The victory keeps Boise State tied for second place in the Mountain West, along with Colorado State. Both schools currently sit at 8-4 in the conference, a full game ahead of both Nevada and UNLV.

The Rams also won on Tuesday night, beating Fresno State 80-70 on the road.

TEAM NOTES

Boise State

During the first half, Justinian Jessup set the Mountain West record for most career three-pointers, passing former BYU standout and All-American Jimmer Fredette. The senior finished with 16 points and extended the new high-water mark with a second three-pointer later in the game. … Derrick Alston Jr. was held scoreless in the first half and added only two free throws for the entire game, giving him a new season-low. The junior guard was 0-for-7 during the game, despite coming into the night scoring nearly 20 points per game. … RayJ Dennis started for the eighth straight game in Leon Rice’s lineup. The freshman’s insertion into the starting five has allowed Hobbs to provide veteran leadership in the second unit. That dynamic played itself out perfectly tonight. … Max Rice, the son of Boise State head coach Leon, also tied a career-high off the bench. The guard scored 12 points, matching the mark he set in the season opener against NAIA opponents Life Pacific. Together, he and Hobbs outscored the rest of the Broncos, 36-31.

Wyoming

The Cowboys move to 1-11 in Mountain West play. Wyoming scored their first league victory last weekend, as they toppled San Jose State, and came very close to making it two in a row tonight. … Hunter Maldonado registered his 22nd double-digit scoring performance of the season, scoring a team-high 17 points. The do-everything Cowboy has been one of the very few bright spots for this Wyoming team. … Kwane Marble was in double digits for the sixth consecutive game, scoring 11. He was also making his second start of the season after his debut in the starting lineup against the Spartans on Saturday. Marble played more than 10 minutes just once during the first two months of the season, but he has become a big part of this Wyoming team. He is developing into a key piece for Allen Edwards. … Freshman guard Kenny Foster was yet another player to set a new career-high in this game, finishing with 12 points in 27 minutes of action.

UP NEXT

Boise State travels to Logan to take on a Utah State team that is starting to regain its form after a midseason slump. The last time these two teams met, magic happened. We’ll see what the encore brings this weekend. Utah State will be out for revenge—and a place back near the top of the Mountain West standings.

Wyoming heads into one of the Mountain West’s most hostile territories, as they take on New Mexico at The Pit on Saturday. The Lobos started the season 15-3 but have taken a terrible nosedive in the wake of injuries, suspensions, and a dismissal. Paul Weir’s team has lost five of its past six games.

Andrew is a current USBWA member, covering college basketball for multiple outlets, including Mountain West Wire of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Busting Brackets of the FanSided Network. He also runs the Dieckhoff Power Index, a college basketball analytics system, and provides bracketology predictions throughout the season.

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