-
1 of 10
-
2 of 10
-
3 of 10
-
4 of 10
-
5 of 10
-
6 of 10
-
7 of 10
-
8 of 10
-
9 of 10
-
10 of 10
Louisville out-shoots Broncos
Comments
Story
The Boise State men’s basketball team spent most of this season putting on a shooting clinic from 3-point range. The Broncos were so good, in fact, they finished the regular season as one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the country. That threat was supposed to be the thing that would give BSU a chance at an upset of No. 3 Louisville in the first round of the NCAA tournament Friday. Instead, it turned out to be the shot that sunk the Broncos’ ship.
Louisville torched the Broncos from nearly everywhere on the floor, Friday, shooting 55.8 percent from the floor and 50 percent from beyond the arc.
“I thought the thing that they did best, was they hit the three and we didn’t,” BSU Head Coach Greg Graham said after the game. “Them shooting the threes against the zone I thought extended their lead on us.”
Throughout the regular season UL shot just 34.2 percent from 3-point range. That is why BSU opted to pack the paint with a 2-3 zone for most of the game. As a result, UL went lights out BSU was never able to adjust.
“We wanted to pack it in a little bit and take away the paint,” Graham said. “The 3-point game was not their strong suit, except tonight. You got to kind of pick your poison a little bit. We were gonna try to control the paint and make them have to shoot it to beat us, and they did.”
It didn’t help either, that BSU never really found a shooting rhythm during the game. During the first half BSU was able to keep the score close, for the most part, by hitting an occasional three. In the game, however, the Broncos made just 4-of-17 3-point attempts.
Throughout the regular season BSU shot 39.7 percent from down town. Friday night the Broncos shot 23.5 percent from 3-point range. They also shot just 48.1 percent from the floor.
“We did a very good job of stopping a tremendous three point shooting team,” Pitino said.
BSU’s shooting woes were most apparent during the first half when Louisville mounted a 13 point lead by half time. Louisville jumped out to a 10-1 lead, and even though BSU managed to narrow the gap to 18-15 minutes later, they never were able to fully recover.
“We’re a pretty confident team,” BSU forward Matt Nelson said. “We don’t ever think we’re gonna lose or think we can’t compete with anyone. I think there was a little bit of jitters at the start of the game, just because we were over excited. Once we settled in we played pretty tough. I don’t think the score looked like the game was that close, but we battled and I think we played a good game. They just had a great game."
Jake Garcin
