What head coach Leon Rice said after Boise State’s massive Mountain West victory over New Mexico

The Boise State men’s basketball team snapped New Mexico’s eight-game Mountain West Conference winning streak Wednesday night with an 86-78 victory at ExtraMile Arena. 

Tyson Degenhart led the way for the Broncos with 32 points, seven rebounds and two assists. It was the first 30-point game of the senior’s college career. 

Making his first start in a Boise State uniform, freshman Pearson Carmichael filled up the box score with 21 points — a new career-high — and five rebounds. Carmichael, a graduate of Summit High School in Bend, Oregon, went 4 of 8 from 3-point range. 

Alvaro Cardenas also entered the record book with the first 10-assist, five-steal game in Broncos history. The senior point guard added 11 points for a double-double. 

“If we get everybody playing our best, then we’re a really good team,” Boise State head coach Leon Rice said after the win. 

It was an important victory for the Broncos (18-8, 10-5), who entered Wednesday 4.5 games behind MWC-leading New Mexico (22-5, 14-2) in the standings. Boise State needs a strong regular-season finish to re-enter the NCAA Tournament at-large picture. 

The Lobos won the first meeting between the teams last month in Albuquerque, 84-65.

Here are the highlights from Rice’s postgame radio interview. 

On Carmichael’s first career start

“I’ve got to give my staff a lot of credit. They saw it in him and they’ve been his advocate. We all bounce ideas off each other, but we knew we had a scorer and somebody special. Sometimes it takes different freshmen a different amount of time. Some of the things he had to overcome was the turnover stuff, and just getting used to (the physicality). … There’s a difference between high school and Nelly Junior Joseph, between Bend, Oregon, and Nelly Junior Joseph. But he’s such a good player that once he gets used to that — which he is doing — and understanding better, then it’s easy for him.”

On Degenhart’s first 30-point game

“He’s hitting his stride right now. Man, he looked good tonight. I think I’ve got to fight and try to give him a couple more small rests, because now we’ve got more guys playing better, and more guys understanding.”

On double-teaming New Mexico stars Donovan Dent, Nelly Junior Joseph 

“I always tell these guys that we’re going to guard the knowns. And the knowns right now for that team, I think you can name them: Donovan and Nelly. Those two have just been dominant players. It’s almost like ‘Make somebody else beat you,’ but also get in the gaps because when those guys get going downhill, they’re going to go. And we had some big, big steals off of that tonight.”