What Happened?
The Broncos lost to San Diego State 64-47. Tyson led the Broncos with 17 points, while SDSU was led by Nick Boyd, who scored 24. This loss drops the Broncos to 9-5 in conference play and all but knocks them out of NCAA bubble consideration. Once again, on the road, the Broncos fail to bring their shooting shoes from their home locker room. The team shot 33% from the field and 16% from behind the arc. No player besides Tyson broke the double-digit scorning mark. Alvaro had 8, Peanut and Andrew were tied with 7, Omar had 4, and Javan had only 2. Just another sad performance by this Broncos team on the road.
Different Location, Same Result
The game had the familiar feel of a BSU vs SDSU game. Lots of defense and rebounding, but not a lot of points. It was pretty even between both teams for the most part of that first half. Neither wanted to concede the first big scoring run early, so both teams packed it in and played tough basketball. Eventually, the dam broke. SDSU went on a 10-0 run in the last 5 minutes of the first half that essentially proved to be a killing blow.
The Broncos went to the locker room with only 18 points to show for 20 minutes of basketball, down 28-18. The start of the second half didn’t get much better, with miscommunication leading to wide open 3’s and bad defense. That allowed SDSU to take a 10-point lead and stretch it to 20. Credit to the team; they fought back late in the second half. Cutting the lead to 11 with 5 minutes to go, but couldn’t get over the hump.
Ain’t Got That Dawg In Them
There’s a phrase when a team is really good playing on the road: Road Dogs. Well, this Broncos team doesn’t have any kind of dog or dawg in them. So far this season, they are 3-5 on the road, all 5 losses being Q1 games. A season ago, the Broncos didn’t mind playing on the road. Last season they notched wins against New Mexico, San Diego State, and Colorado State.
This season, all those games were losses. At home, the Broncos shoot above the 40% mark; on the road, we are shooting below 35%. This team looked like it finally turned the corner after the ROAD loss to Colorado State. It seems only the home team actually turned the corner. Lucky for us, we only have 3 road games left. Next week at Nevada is a must-win if we want to salvage our standings going into the Mountain West Tournament.
Any Hope Left?
Personally, I’m not a fan of moral victories, but last night, there were a couple. First, Alvaro broke the single-season assist record with 6 games left in the regular season. Watching him play is always a show, and I have loved every assist. It’s rare to see a senior transfer to a new school and automatically slot into the driver’s seat so seamlessly.
The second moral victory was the emergence of Pearson (Peanut) in the offense. The true Freshman has had a rough couple of games. Against UNLV, he had 3 back-to-back-to-back turnovers that left Leon and Co pulling their hair out (or what’s left of it). Last night against SDSU he looked like one of the only players who didn’t play scared. He had a couple of beautiful 3’s and a couple of drives to the hoop that led to free throws. The future is bright with him on this team.
What’s Next?
Wednesday we welcome New Mexico, a squad who crushed us in The Pit last month. Going forward, I want to see effort and pride from these players. The NCAA tournament may be out of reach, but we must rack up some wins to improve our seed in the Mountain West Tournament. Currently, we are the 5 seed, which, if the season ended today, would put us on the same side as Colorado State and New Mexico. We have yet to beat both teams this season, and both have guards who ate our lunch this season. Here’s to hoping that the wheels haven’t fallen off the wagon yet (and that last night’s game was just a speed bump.)
