What head coach Leon Rice said after Boise State’s gut-punch loss to Utah State

Famed Smith Spectrum was loud well before the opening tip of Saturday’s Mountain West Conference men’s basketball game between Boise State and No. 25 Utah State. 

The noise briefly abated when the Broncos (12-5, 4-2 MWC) opened the second half with a 9-0 run to take a 13-point lead, but the crowd helped Utah State (16-1, 6-0) claw its way back. 

The biggest roar of the evening came when Ian Martinez rattled in a go-ahead 3-pointer with 7.3 seconds remaining that put the Aggies in front for good. Martinez was fouled by Tyson Degenhart after releasing the ball and converted the four-point play, lifting Utah State to an 81-79 victory over the Broncos. 

“We had an idea of what they were doing and where they were going to go,” Boise State head coach Leon Rice said after the game. “We just got there late, and the kid made a great shot.

“All that we have to do right now is beat travel, and beat the disappointment of this. And that’s easier said than done because our guys played their tails off tonight. I just loved the way they competed.”

Here are the highlights of Rice’s postgame radio interview:

On the environment at Smith Spectrum

“This was the loudest I’ve ever heard this place, and I’ve been in here a lot of times. I think that gave them some great energy and a great attack.”

On trying to defend Utah State’s high-flying offense 

“Our defense has to be better, and if it was a little bit better, we probably get out of here with a win. They shot 80 percent (16 of 20) in the second half. No matter what D we tried, they solved it. We didn’t protect the rim, so we go to a zone to try to protect the rim and they go and hit a three. Credit to them. They made … Martinez is a big-shot-maker, and he made every single one. They hit a couple big ones at the end of the shot clock. There were some great offensive plays there. Just a tough way to lose.”

On shooting over Utah State’s zone defense

“I thought we did a great job attacking (their zone), and we did. We’ve been so good at the free throw line, and we left a couple there. And in a game like this where you’re not getting stops, every point counts. … It all comes down to, for us to be a great team, we’ve got to become a better defensive team. And that has to start right now. If we play a little bit better defense, we win tonight because I thought our offense and our prep for (the zone) and the way we attacked it was terrific.” 

On a 9-0 run to start the second half

“We knew the game wasn’t going to be won in the first half, and we had a great mindset with our attack. We threw some things at them that maybe they hadn’t seen in the first half. We were getting the ball to the high post because we got them spread out because we were making so many threes. We knew that if we went inside-out, that would be a great way to finish this game.”