WSU clips Boise State, 66-61, behind Isaac Jones’ stellar outing — and one late stop

Myles Rice shook his head with a knowing glare. He was looking at his coach, Washington State head man Kyle Smith, and he could hardly contain his smile.

Smith was trying to convince an official that seconds prior, guard Jabe Mullins had laid in a basket through a foul from a Boise State player. The officials had to hit the monitor to see what had actually happened. When they emerged, they determined it had been tipped in, prompting Rice to burst into laughter — after watching the replay on the arena video board, he knew Mullins had help scoring.

In WSU’s 66-61 win over Boise State Thursday night in Spokane, it never mattered. Mullins knocked down the two free throws, plus a transition triple moments later, propelling the Cougars to their best win of the season, topping a 2023 NCAA Tournament team for their best non-conference win in some time.

“That one went kinda to script,” WSU coach Kyle Smith said. “That’s about what I expected. It was gonna be a really hard, tough game, almost like a heavyweight fight. It was probably gonna be a split decision, and it kinda was, and we ended up on the right side of that one.”

Mullins totaled 13 points, far and away his best game of the season, emerging as the reliable catch-and-shoot option he always profiled as. Rice added 14 points, seven in the second half, and forward Isaac Jones led his team with 21 points to put the Cougs back in the win column, icing the game with five points in the final 90 seconds.

WSU took a 33-27 lead into halftime, but thanks to Boise State’s hot start to the second stanza, the whole thing was a seesaw affair — especially the final few moments.

Broncos forward O’Mar Stanley, who tallied a game-best 23 points, posted four straight points late in the game, pushing BSU ahead 54-50 with around five minutes to play. That’s about when things got hectic. Cougar guard Kymany Houinsou converted a runner in the paint, and Mullins tied it up with those two free throws.

Then, after things went back-and-forth, Mullins cashed that triple. Jones took over from there. He knocked down a pair of free throws, and after BSU countered with an up-and-under bucket from Spokane native Tyson Degenhart, Jones went back to work. He fouled out Stanley with an and-one floater in the paint, good for a 62-58 lead, but the Broncos had another answer.

It came from star wing Chibuzo Agbo, who found himself all alone in the corner thanks to a blown coverage from Washington State. He sunk the long ball. Boise State drew within 62-61 with a shade over a minute left. His team regained possession by forcing a jump ball on the Cougs’ next trip.

Boise State couldn’t make it count. Guard Roddy Anderson III forayed into the paint, where he was met by Rice and WSU forward Oscar Cluff, who converged to force a miss. The loose ball was recovered by Houinsou, who took a foul, went to the line and hit both free throws, securing a 64-61 lead with 20 seconds to play.

On the other end, Boise State drew up a catch-and-shoot play for guard Max Rice, who misfired. The rebound went to Jones. He ended the game with a 2-for-2 trip. When the final buzzer blared, he shared a dance with Rice, racing into the holidays on the highest of notes.

That made it a little tricky evaluating the Cougs’ defense down the stretch. They rotated well to force Anderson to miss. They also forced a miss from Rice — but both Smith and BSU coach Leon Rice agreed that Rice may have been surprised to find himself so open.

It came on an action that WSU assistant Jeremy Harden scouted the Broncos well enough to call out in the huddle prior. As he watched the action unfold, Smith thought oh no. Veteran wing Andrej Jakimovski lost Rice around a pick. He recovered for a decent contest, but Rice sprung open because Jakimovski didn’t see Rice make his initial cut.

“I think the radio guys asked me about the last play,” Smith said, “and they’re like, oh, you did a good job. And I’m like, no, no, we totally blew that coverage.”

There was a lot to unpack from this one. Jakimovski slogged through another clunker on offense, scoring 6 points on 8 shots, but he snared 13 rebounds. He impacted the game on defense, using his length to bother the Broncos’ playmakers, especially on the perimeter.

For the game, Washington State forced Boise State to shoot just 36% from the field. The Broncos hit just 5 of 20 triples. Two of their best players, Degenhart and Rice, combined for 18 points — a total the Cougs will take.

That’s where WSU really won this one. Absent that late-game mistake to leave Agbo open, the Cougs turned in a sterling defensive outing to close things out, subbing out freshman center Rueben Chinyelu (who played sick, Smith said) and inserting Mullins, who stretched the floor and knocked down crucial shots.

“I just think it just opened up the floor,” Rice said of Mullins’ scoring. “I think they had to respect our outside shooting, which left IJ (Jones) to go one-on-one with their bigs. Anybody trying to guard IJ one-on-one, that’s gonna be a problem.”

Washington State is also facing a different future than it did a few days ago. WSU and Oregon State, the lone Pac-12 holdovers, agreed to become affiliate members of the West Coast Conference for the next two seasons while they cement a more long-term option.

So as the Cougs prepare for this Pac-12 schedule, which begins Dec. 29 on the road against Utah, things might take on a different feel. WSU was already playing the final Pac-12 slate as we know it. Now the Cougs are straying from the conference — at least for two years.

After the game, Smith joked that WSU may have to nail a crucifix to the Beasley Coliseum walls, a nod to the faith-based WCC schools that include that arrangement at all arenas. He’s happy to have a path forward, he said. Right now, though, the Cougs remain a part of the Pac-12. They get a week off to prepare for their final go-round in the conference as currently constructed.