Broncos and Spartans Battle at High Noon

Boise State (10-13, 5-5) vs. San Jose State (3-18, 0-9)
Noon MT | Saturday, Feb. 9
Taco Bell Arena | Boise, Idaho

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Game Notes

THE GAME: Boise State (10-13, 5-5) will continue its week at home with a noon game against San Jose State (3-18, 0-9) on Saturday, Feb. 9 at Taco Bell Arena.

WATCH: The game will stream online on the Mountain West Network.

LISTEN: Bob Behler and Abe Jackson will be on the call on 670 AM KBOI. The game will also be available on the TuneIn App.

LAST TIME OUT: The Broncos battled against UNLV, but the Rebels' 3-point barrage proved to be too much for the Blue and Orange, as the visitors were able to claim the 83-72 win.

Boise State did well offensively in shooting 52.7 percent (29-of-55) from the field, the Rebels were also able to excel in going 28-of-52 (53.8%) including a 14-of-26 effort from behind the arc. The 14 made threes were the most that the Broncos have given up this season.

Derrick Alston was the high scorer for the Broncos with 17 points while Alex Hobbs (16), Justinian Jessup (15) and Zach Haney (13) also finished in double digits.

While the Broncos were unable to limit the Rebels from distance, they did do an outstanding job of limiting the UNLV offensive rebounding attack, holding the Rebels to a season-low four offensive rebounds.

ABOUT SAN JOSE STATE: The Spartans are winless in Mountain West play and are led by Michael Steadman, who is tops on the team in both points (13.0 avg.) and rebounds (8.6 avg.). San Jose State almost claimed its first MW victory a couple weeks ago at home, but Air Force was able to pull out the 73-71 double overtime win on Jan. 26.

SERIES HISTORY: Boise State has a decisive 31-3 lead in the all-time series against the Spartans. The Broncos have never lost to San Jose State at home, as they have a 17-0 record.

JESSUP GETS TO 200: Justinian Jessup made the 200th three of his career against UNLV, Wednesday, making him the fastest Bronco to 200 career threes in program history. The Longmont, Colo., native did it in 87 games, surpassing the previous fastest, Abe Jackson, who reached the milestone in 91 games.

Making 50 as a freshman, 90 as a sophomore and now already up to 60 his junior campaign, Jessup moves into seventh place on the Boise State all-time list, surpassing Eric Lane (2003-07) and his 199. Jessup is now chasing Paul Noonan (2007-11) and his 211 for sixth place.

HIGH PERCENTAGE HOBBS: Alex Hobbs' 8-of-11 day for 16 points against the Rebels was his latest efficient game of the Mountain West season, as he continues to be the only guard in the conference who is a top-10 scorer (16.2 ppg – No. 10 in MW) with a field goal percentage of over 50 percent (52.1% - No. 7 in MW) during MW play. He is just under the cusp of the necessary free throw attempts to technically rank in the conference's top-10 list for free throw percentage, but his 22-of-24 effort through 10 league games would put him in first at 91.7 percent.

IMPROVED OFFENSE: While Boise State is just 2-2 in its last four games, there has been a noticeable improvement on offense that has shown through in multiple ways. The Broncos have scored 70 or more points and shot 45 percent or better from the field in each of its last four games, all the while averaging 7.5 threes over the same stretch.

Those benchmarks are proven indicators of earning wins under head coach Leon Rice, as the program is 145-37 (79.7%) when scoring 70 or more points and 113-26 (81.3%) when shooting 45 percent or better under his watch.

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Players Mentioned

Derrick Alston, Jr.

Zach Haney

Alex Hobbs

Justinian Jessup