The Boise State men’s basketball team opened the 2026-27 season with a record-breaking performance against West Coast Baptist. 

The Broncos set new single-game program records for points (132), made field goals (52), margin of victory (79) and rebounds (67) in Wednesday’s 132-53 destruction of West Coast Baptist, a National Christian College Athletic Association program that did not have a single player above 6-foot-5 on its roster. 

Eight Broncos (1-0) finished in double figures, led by Dovydas Butka’s 18 points, nine rebounds and two assists. Fellow transfer Damari Wheeler-Thomas added 17 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. 

“I was really proud of our guys’ approach,” Boise State head coach Leon Rice said after the game. “Every day we’re together, we want to get better. … You saw some guys get better right in front of your eyes.”

Rice noted that Alabama State transfer Jerquarius Stanback grabbed 16 rebounds—including seven offensive boards—off the bench. 

“I single him out, but I saw a lot of that with a lot of different guys, that game experience,” Rice said. “That’s hard to come by throughout the year. Especially when they can get reps, play through mistakes, get stuff on film. Then they get time with the coaches and get to watch it on film, and that’s how they learn. And it’s really tough to get a lot of guys those kinds of minutes.” 

Rice also praised sophomore point guard Aginaldo Neto, who nearly had a double-double with 10 points and eight assists. 

“He should’ve had 10 assists; we just missed a bunch of shots where he would’ve had great assists and made the right play,” Rice said. “He’s just doing a great job.”

Rice called Wednesday’s game “a great tuneup” for the Broncos’ first real test of the season this weekend. 

Boise State will host Big East opponent Butler at noon on Sunday. The game will air live nationally on USA Network. 

The Bulldogs (2-0) have two blowout wins this season and matched a single-game program record with 20 made three-pointers in Wednesday’s 99-65 win over Fairleigh Dickinson.

“We accomplished the mission, and now this gets real, and it gets real in a big hurry,” Rice said. “Sunday, there’s a really good basketball team coming. And they are clicking right now.”

The two teams faced off last December in Indianapolis with Boise State earning a 77-68 victory. The Bulldogs went on to finish 16-16 overall with a 7-13 record in Big East play. 

Following head coach Thad Matta’s retirement in March, the Bulldogs hired Ronald Nored to run the program. Nored, a former Butler point guard from 2008-12, had spent the previous three seasons as an assistant coach with the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks.