"We put ourselves in this position. We've got to deal with it," Nevada coach Mark Fox said.

"It's just easier to be the better team over three days than it is over two months. ... If we haven't done enough to get in that tournament, it's going to make the next several months every difficult," he said.

Nevada saw its shot at an automatic bid disappear Thursday night when eighth-seeded Boise State nailed 9 of 20 3-pointers and made the most of a big bounce in the final 1.8 seconds to snap the Wolf Pack's 10-game winning streak and force their abrupt exit from the league tourney.

That the 73-72 loss came down to Jermaine Blackburn's game-winner off a missed a free throw was the result of a break down in what has been the best defensive team in the league all season, allowing just 61 points per game. Nevada is 1-5 in games when their opponents score 70 points or more.

"I did a horrible job coaching this team. We got comfortable. Our defense was horrible," Fox said.

"We were terrible in transition and then we were a step behind trying to find who we were guarding and the 3-point shots went down," he said.

Boise State coach Greg Graham had mostly been kidding when he suggested Nevada's own Lawlor Events Center was probably the best place to face the Wolf Pack, who went a perfect 9-0 in WAC road games this year.

"Maybe we're all lucky the tournament is here," Graham said earlier this week. "They're undefeated on the road. The only place they lost was here."

Nevada had won 20 of their last 22 overall, the last defeat at the hands of Fresno State in Reno on Jan. 29, after earlier home losses to No. 18 Pacific and UTEP.

Graham said it "would be ridiculous" if the loss cost Nevada a spot in the NCAA Tournament but could affect their seed.

"It might drop them from an eight to 10, 10 to 12 or whatever. They're a very good team. They've had a great year," he said.

Nick Fazekas, the WAC's Player of the Year and leading scorer averaging 21 points per game, finished with 18 but had only two in the first half in an extremely physical game inside. The Broncos also held Kevinn Pinkney to just three points for the game — nine below his average.

"I felt they had the whole team guarding me in the first half," said Fazekas, a 6-foot-11 sophomore who was wearing a protective mask after he broke his nose two weeks ago.

"It seemed like sometimes they were trying to hit me in the mask, but I don't know," he said.

Pinkney, Ramon Sessions and Mo Charlo each converted just one of two free throw attempts in the final 2:23 for Nevada, which was 17 of 26 from the line.