Boise State faces Evansville in Mountain West Conference/Missouri Valley Challenge

After a solid win against the SMU Mustangs, the men’s basketball team heads to Evansville, Indiana to face, well, the Evansville Purple Aces. This matchup is one (of ten matches) between the Mountain West Conference and the Missouri Valley Conference. The two conferences previously squared off between 2009 to 2012, and picked up again last year with the MWC holding the overall lead 3-1-1.

If the Purple Aces sounds familiar, it should, as the Broncos last squared off against Evansville in Coach Leon Rice’s first year at Boise State. The two teams met in the College Basketball Invitational where the Broncos beat the Aces to help propel the Broncos into the semifinals that year (where the Broncos ran into familiar foe Oregon). This year the Aces are 3-4 overall, but are currently undefeated at home.

As for Boise State’s performances in the MW/MVC Challenge, Coach Rice has led the Broncos to a 3-0 record. In 2012 you may remember that the Broncos led the upset against then-no. 11 Creighton and was the highest ranked opponent that the Broncos had beaten.

Last Wednesday Drew spoke of the Broncos’ momentum after the Oregon loss. This still applies as the Broncos were able to dust themselves off and secure a win against SMU. Chandler Hutchison, hopefully, picks up where he left off and scores another 20 points. Justinian Jessup, James Reid, and Nick Duncan look to bring the City of Threes with them on the road as Jessup and Reid continue their hot shooting, and Duncan looks to get out of his 0-fer funk from SMU.

The game tips off at 12 p.m. MT. You can watch it on ESPN 3, or listen to it on the radio on 670 KBOI. If you are interested in the other matchups, check here.

Good luck to the men’s team and GO BRONCOS!