There were a lot of stats and graphics being made about Max Rice this week by quite a few people around the Mountain West. Rice had struggled to connect on shots from inside and out, and had one of the worst shooting percentages in the nation in conference play going into the game on Friday Night. All of that went away when he took the floor at The Pit. The lights were, once again, indeed not too bright for the pride of Bishop Kelly.

The Skinny

Before the game, the thought of a Bronco win that included Tyson Degenhart only scoring six points seemed irrational at best. In the end, however, the junior forward didn’t need to put the team on his back in terms of scoring. No, that was a job for Max Rice. 12-20. 7-14 from three. 4-4 from the stripe. THIRTY-FIVE POINTS. Max Rice went nuclear in Albuquerque, and that’s about the only way to put it. Donovan Dent did his best to keep the Lobos in the game, putting up a team-high 31 points on 12-18 shooting. The sophomore guard stepped up to the plate to fill the hole left by Jaelen House only knocking down two shots on the night. House still finished with 12 points, but seven of those came from the free throw line.

The struggles House faced were a representation of the whole Lobos team, as they only shot 41 percent from the floor and 28 percent from three. Much of that can be attributed to the tenacious Bronco Defense, who held the nation’s hottest scoring team to just 78 points in a building where the Lobos have been nearly impossible to stop. In fact, House and his teammate Jamal Mashburn Jr. combined to shoot just 8-30 from the floor, putting up just 26 points. As far as New Mexico is concerned, that’s not a recipe for success.

There are some other performances that merit discussion as well, most notably Cam Martin and Jace Whiting. Martin played for 14 minutes but was 3-4 from the field and picked up three rebounds and two assists to go along with his six points. Whiting played 20 minutes when starting point guard Roddie Anderson III got into foul trouble, and scored seven points with two rebounds, and most importantly, no turnovers. Overall, the Broncos shot the ball better, rebounded the ball better, and defended the ball better than a team known for doing all three of those things very well.

Next Up:

A home game to Air Force awaits the Broncos on Saturday, before a MASSIVE double road swing at Colorado State and Utah State. BSU needs to win two of the next three, and it is imperative that one of those losses is not at home on Saturday to the Falcons. One or two more nice wins over good teams in the league and the Broncos will play themselves off the bubble. But for now, Leon Rice and co. will set their sights on the high flying Falcons for a home test over the weekend.

Author