His goal was to replicate Gonzaga legend. Now he’s chasing Boise State scoring record

Shaun Goodwin, Idaho Statesman

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — When Leon Rice was recruiting Tyson Degenhart to play at Boise State, he had a four-year plan for the teenager from Mead, Washington.

Step one: Have a freshman season like Adam Morrison’s. Rice was an assistant coach at Gonzaga during Morrison’s stellar college career there, between 2003 and 2006. Morrison averaged 11.4 points per game his freshman season — and 28.1 in 2005-06 when he was named Co-Player of the Year with Duke’s J.J. Redick by the United States Basketball Writers Association.

“I think you can have that kind of a freshman experience,” Rice told a high school-age Degenhart.

The message may have struck a chord with Degenhart. Morrison also grew up in Mead and attended Mead High School, just a 10-minute drive from Degenhart’s eventual school, Mt. Spokane High. Degenhart also had an excellent freshman year.

After taking six games to settle in, Degenhart started every game the rest of the season, averaging 9.9 points. Subtracting his first six games, in which he played just 7.8 minutes per contest, Degenhart averaged 11.5 points per game.

The plan after his freshman year?

“We talked about being an all-league player and being a player of the year candidate,” Rice told reporters on Monday.

Degenhart became a first-team All-Mountain West player in his sophomore and junior years and was named to the Naismith Men’s Player of the Year Watch List at the start of his senior year.

But what Rice never suspected — and what is becoming an ever-looming target as the season nears its end — is that Degenhart, now a senior forward, would threaten the Boise State all-time career scoring record.

As of Friday afternoon, ahead of Boise State’s clash with San Jose State, Degenhart has 1,767 career points, good for fifth place in Boise State history. The current record belongs to Tanoka Beard, who scored 1,944 points as a center for the Broncos between 1989 and 1993.

“If you told me during November of my freshman year that I was going to end up being the all-time leading scorer, I’d tell you you’re crazy,” Degenhart said Monday.

With at least 10 games left — and potentially more depending on how the Broncos do in the Mountain West Tournament and postseason play — Degenhart is 193 points off Tanoka’s record.

The math is pretty easy: If he has only 10 more games, that’s 19.3 per game to get the mark. Through 22 games, Degenhart is averaging 17.7 points.

“If I did want to focus on (the record), I think it would take away from the team success trying to force up shots that I really don’t need to,” Degenhart said.

Rice believes that Degenhart could be even closer to the record — or already holding it — if he was “a little more selfish.”

“I don’t say that in a bad way because usually guys that score a lot have to be willing to take bad shots,” Rice said. “If I could push him a little more in that direction, but that’s also a fine line, because his feel for the game and doing the right thing is what Tyson’s always about, and that helps us a lot.”

Degenhart has the third-most assists for the Broncos this season (36) and has averaged 46.3 assists per season in his college career. The scoring record likely will be a close call.

Regardless of where Degenhart ends up — he needs 161 points to reach fourth place on the all-time list — he’ll go down as one of the best to play at Boise State.

“It’s been a long journey, and I’m really proud to see how far I’ve come,” Degenhart said. “To put my name in the record books would mean a lot.”