Thursday, March 13th, 2:00 p.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Site: Pan American Center (13,071) -- Las Cruces, New Mexico. Television: Local. Home Record: Hawaii 9-9, BSU 11-5. Away Record: Hawaii 2-9, BSU 11-3. Neutral Record: Hawaii 0-0, BSU 0-0. Conference Record: Hawaii 7-9, BSU 12-4. Series Record: Hawaii leads, 8-6.

GAME NOTES: By far the best road team in the Western Athletic Conference this season, the Boise State Broncos actually make it a neutral-site affair this afternoon as they challenge the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors in the quarterfinals of the WAC Tournament. BSU was the first to lock up at least a share of the regular season title in the conference at 12-4, but then three other teams finished with identical records, dropping the Broncos to the fourth seed in the tournament. Boise State has yet to bring home a trophy from the event and is 6-6 overall in the tournament since joining the WAC. As for the fifth-seeded Warriors, the only one of the current members of the league to have earned three WAC Tournament championships, they've been out of the mix now since winning it all in 2002 versus Tulsa, which has left Hawaii with a 21-20 record in the tourney. This is the first time these two teams have met on a neutral floor, with the Warriors holding on to an 8-6 edge over Boise State in the series. However, the Broncos won both regular season meetings this year. The winner of this matchup will face the winner of the San Jose State/Utah State bout in the semifinals on Friday.

Early on in the season the Warriors had to deal without having Matt Gibson available, but when he returned he gave the squad a huge spark. Unfortunately, the flame may have burned out now because the Warriors closed out the regular season with six straight losses. Gibson still ended up as the top scorer for Hawaii with his 17.0 ppg and was first in assists and steals with 120 and 45, respectively, playing almost 35 minutes per game. Bobby Nash, the son of the new head coach this year, chimed in with 13.9 ppg, although his 38 percent shooting from the field left a lot to be desired. Riley Luettgerodt (12.7 ppg) emerged as the top rebounder with just under five per game, which explains why the Warriors were getting beaten by almost five rebounds per game. As a team the Warriors were last in the conference in three-point shooting defense, allowing opponents to convert better than 38 percent of their attempts beyond the arc over the course of 29 games.

Sure, there was the 107-53 beating of Montana Tech early in the season, but that single game was not the reason that the Broncos led the conference in scoring with 81.0 ppg. As if having the top rebounder in the conference were not enough, with Reggie Larry clearing 9.2 boards per game, second on that list is teammate Matt Nelson who was responsible for almost seven and a half boards per outing, and yet the team was still just fifth in the WAC in rebounding margin with plus two per game. Larry and Nelson were also the top two scorers for the Broncos this season with averages of 18.9 and 15.8 ppg, respectively. If there was one problem with the pairing it was their free- throw shooting, as neither could hit even 65 percent from the line this year. BSU was seventh in the WAC in free-throw shooting at 65.3 percent, but the unit was good for 50.9 percent from the floor to make up for those issues.

Hawaii has never played all that well on the mainland and with the stakes as high as they are, Larry and Nelson aren't about to let a potential trip to the NCAA Tournament escape them.

Predicted Outcome

Boise State 83, Hawaii 70