The Wolverines fought hard early in the first half but couldn’t keep up offensively with Boise State as their top scorer from last season, junior guard Trey Woodbury, was sidelined with a knee injury. UVU also turned the ball over 18 times in their 76-56 loss in Boise, Idaho Tuesday night.
“We battled back and got it down to 11 late in the second half,” head coach Mark Madsen said. “They made a push and we weren’t able to sustain our defense. Boise State is a very good team. We had some uncharacteristic turnovers, but we will watch the film, break it down and be back at it.”
BSU senior guard Devonaire Doutrive led all scorers with 18 points, while sophomore center Fardaws Aimaq led the Wolverines with 15 points. The Bronco’s also had five scorers who reached double figures while UVU had just two.
UVU reached their largest lead of the game after coming out of a timeout when sophomore forward Tim Fuller caught an inbound pass and slammed it home for the alley-oop.
On the next defensive possession, UVU forced a turnover and got the outlet pass up to sophomore guard Justin Harmon who got a dunk in transition to put the Wolverine lead up to six points, 19-13 with 11:21 to go in the half. The Wolverines kept pace with BSU behind Harmon’s seven first-half points.
UVU would then go scoreless for the next three minutes of game time while the Broncos went on a 12-0 run. During the run, the Broncos played tough on the defensive side, causing turnovers and forcing the Wolverines to take bad shots.
UVU stopped the bleeding with a pair of free throws and an Aimaq layup, only for the Broncos to go on another 7-2 run to finish out the half. At halftime the Wolverines trailed BSU 38-27.
“I think that Boise State got into us a little bit. They turned up their defensive heat and got us a little off-balance and back on our heels,” Madsen said regarding the scoring drought in the first half. “We had a few [possessions] early where the shot clock was winding down and we either had a shot clock violation or we didn’t get a good shot off.”
In the second half, BSU was able to stretch their lead to 22 points, the largest of the game with just 12 minutes left to play. Over the next nine minutes of game time, UVU battled back to make it an 11 point game, but ran out of gas as the Broncos went on another 9-0 tear blow the game wide open and win 76-56.
The Wolverines have the opportunity to get their season back on track Friday Nov. 12 at 6 p.m. in the UCCU center when they take on NAIA Antelope Valley from the California Pacific Conference. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
