Boise State - Thursday 7:30 - Walt McPherson Court

The Broncos currently sport a 2-0 mark with wins at home against Louisiana Tech and then New Mexico State. BSU is 9-5 overall, 3-4 on the road (victories against San Diego, Davis and Northern Illinois). It's no longer Greg Graham in charge but former Gonzaga assistant Leon Rice as Boise is making the move to the Mountain West Conference and Rice's task is to get the Bronco hoops program at least in the same universe if not necessarily the same zip code -- as the BSU football squad.

It's an experienced squad, generally starting four seniors with at least two more coming off the bench for solid minutes.

Leon Rice's Starting Five

Count on Anderson, Arnold and Montreal as sure-fire starters against the Spartans. The other two spots will depend on what the BSU coaching staff deems the best matchups.

* La'Shard Anderson 6-1 170 -- 13.6 points & 3.4 rebounds per game, team-leading 71 assists, team-leading 32 st5eals

* Westly Perryman 6-1 180 -- 7.4 points & 3 rebounds per game, second on team in steals with 30, shooting 42% and 29%

* Robert Arnold 6-6 176 -- 15.6 points & 5.1 rebounds per game, shooting 41% and 33%, leads team in blocked shots with 13, 17/32 assist-to-turnover ratio, most free throw attempts with 82

* Paul Noonan 6-7 210 -- the best catch-and-shoot distance shooter on the team, 10.4 ppg., 52% and 45% shooting, half his attempts have been threes

* Darquon Montreal 6-8 230 -- 9.5 points & 6.1 rebounds a game, shooting 45%,

Off The Bench

* Zack Moritz 6-10 239 -- shooting 50%, more than half his rebounds have been offensive

* Sean Imadiyi 6-7 215 -- shooting 54% but inside the paint

* Ryan Watkins 6-8 247 -- 5.8 points & 3.2 rebounds per game, shooting 55%

The Broncos are shooting 45% to 39% for SJSU while conversely the Spartans are holding opponents to 42% shooting with BSU at 45%.

The Broncos have earned 58 more free throw attempts than opponents, are out-rebounding foes by six a game despite not being big, plus have pilfered 63 more steals.


Boise State schedule to date

Nov 13 Western State, Taco Bell Arena 78 - 52 (W)

Nov 19 San Diego, at San Diego 65 - 60 (W)

Nov 21 UC Davis at Davis 67 - 47 (W)

Nov 24 Eastern Washington Taco Bell Arena 83 - 54 (W)

Nov 27 Denver Taco Bell Arena 65 - 52 (W)

Nov 29 Northern Illinois at DeKalb, IL 80 - 51 (W)

Dec 05 Long Beach State Taco Bell Arena 66 - 69 (L)

Dec 08 UNLV at Las Vegas 72 - 75 (L)

Dec 12 Drake at Des Moines, Iowa 69 - 72 (L)

Dec 17 Utah at Salt Lake City 84 - 86 (L)

Dec 19 Texas-Pan American Taco Bell Arena 91 - 62 (W)

Dec 22 Portland at Portland 79 - 88 (L)

Dec 29 Louisiana Tech Taco Bell Arena 71 - 60 (W)

Paul Noonan scored a season-high 23 points to lead Boise State to a 71-60 victory over Louisiana Tech.

The Broncos opened the game with a 20-2 run and maintained control the rest of the way.

Boise State went into intermission up 36-14, holding Louisiana Tech to its lowest point total in a half this season. The 22-point halftime lead was also the Broncos' largest margin in a WAC game since Jan. 24, 2008, when the Broncos led Hawai'i by 25 (47-22).

In the second half, Louisiana Tech shot 55.6 percent but didn't get closer than 14 until less than three minutes remained.

Noonan tied his career high with six 3-pointers en route to his second 20-point game of the season.

La'Shard Anderson had 11 points and eight assists for Boise State, and tied his career high with seven rebounds.

Dec 31 New Mexico State Taco Bell Arena 81 - 78 (W)

Daequon Montreal had 21 points and 12 rebounds to lead Boise State to a 81-78 comeback victory over New Mexico State

Boise State trailed the entire game until Robert Arnold's 3-pointer gave them a 68-67 lead with 4:09 remaining.

La'Shard Anderson scored 17 points for the Broncos while Arnold and Paul Noonan added 13 apiece.

New Mexico State shot 69.6 percent from the field in the first half en route to a 45-39 halftime lead, but Boise State held the Aggies to just 37.5 percent shooting in the second period, outscoring the visitors 42-33 in the stanza.


The Bronco roster (alphabetized & by position)

La'Shard Anderson G 6-1 170 Sr.
Jeff Elorriaga G 6-2 180 Fr. (walk-on)
G.A. Hill G 5-9 150 Fr. (walk-on)
Tre Nichols G 5-11 168 Jr.
Westly Perryman G 6-1 180 Jr.
Justin Salzwedel G 6-2 182 Sr. (walk-on)
Drew Wiley G 6-7 215 Jr. (is redshirting)

Robert Arnold F 6-6 176 Sr.
Thomas Bropleh F 6-5 203 Fr.
Sam Hicks F 6-9 248 Fr.
Sean Imadiyi F 6-7 215 Sr.
Daequon Montreal F 6-8 230 Sr.
Paul Noonan F 6-7 210 Sr.
Isaac Oeltjen F 7-0 224 Fr. (walk-on)
Ryan Watkins F 6-8 247 Fr.

Zach Moritz C 6-10 239 Sr.