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By Cole Sullivan
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While a lot of the attention was likely on the NFL and NBA on Monday night in sports, the 2025-26 college basketball season opened with a full and loaded slate of games, and chaos has already ensued.
There were several games to keep an eye on — most notably the Arizona Wildcats knocking off the defending NCAA champion Florida Gators. But the biggest upset of the day game in Boise, Idaho when most people were probably asleep.
The Boise State Broncos led by longtime head coach Leon Rice, who's built them into one of the most consistent and successful program emerging out of the Mountain West in all of college basketball are now sitting at 0-1 to open the year after they lost 79-78 to Hawaii Pacific, a Division II team.
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"HAWAI'I PACIFIC SHOCKS BOISE STATE," NCAA posted. "DII Hawai'i Pacific grads a STUNNING win on the road."
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This matchup is typically considered a “buy game,” where a program like Boise State pays a smaller school, such as Hawaii Pacific, to come on the road. The smaller program usually enters as a massive underdog with little chance of winning.
However, as history has shown, these games don’t always go as expected. For the Broncos to open their season with a home loss to a team from a lower division is a significant blemish on their resume.
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Hawaii Pacific held a 38-37 lead at halftime and stayed close with Boise State throughout the game. Guard Joshua West led the charge, recording 23 points, three rebounds, one assist, and four steals in 31 minutes. Three other HPU players also scored in double figures.
For Boise State, Dylan Andrews led the team with 15 points and nine assists, while three others reached double figures as well. Despite out-rebounding HPU, the Broncos shot worse from the field and beyond the arc, and ultimately couldn’t pull away, suffering a shocking upset that will be hard to overcome.
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