Wyoming guard Hunter Maldonado fends off Arizona’s Dalen Terry on Dec. 8, 2021, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Colorado State coach Niko Medved was as surprised as anyone that his Rams beat Mississippi State, 66-63, this past Saturday.
“Somehow, when the clock ran out, we had more points than Mississippi State,” Medved said with a relieved smile.
The Rams are now the only undefeated team (10-0) remaining in the Mountain West and the No. 1 team in the Nevada Appeal Mountain West men's basketball rankings.
“That was a testament to our emotional toughness,” said 6-foot-6 junior David Roddy, who had 19 points and seven rebounds and was named the Mountain West’s Player of the Week on Monday. “Having that maturity is huge and will definitely win us a lot of games like we just did.”
Roddy is second in the Mountain West in scoring at 20.4 points a game. Isaiah Stevens had eight points, 10 assists and five rebounds while Kendle Moore added 13 points and Dischon Thomas (6-8) had 10 rebounds for the Rams.
The Rams trailed by as much as 11 (25-14) in the first half and were behind by eight (57-49) with six minutes to go before going on a 17-2 run.
“It was not a pretty game,” Medved said. “But you don’t get style points. These guys (the Rams) just don’t panic. This team realizes that the game is played for 40 minutes. They (the officials) don’t stop the game for you after 34 minutes.”
No. 2 San Diego State (6-3) grinded out a 66-56 victory over Fullerton in front of 11,823 fans at Viejas Arena. Matt Bradley had 22 points while Trey Pulliam added 15 for the Aztecs.
“Can we play better?” asked Aztec coach Brian Dutcher. “One hundred percent, we can play better. But we did play good enough to win. So I’m happy with that. And we’ll grow.”
Bradley is averaging 15 points a game, despite making just eight 3-pointers all season.
“He always comes out strong,” Pulliam said. “He’s always in attack mode, looking to score.”
No. 3 Fresno State (8-2) lost to San Francisco 71-63 but rebounded three days later to beat Irvine, 63-55. Orlando Robinson had 23 points and 13 rebounds in the two games combined. The Bulldogs beat Irvine despite missing 17-of-23 3-point shots.
“(Robinson) affected winning in a lot of different ways and that was encouraging,” Fresno State coach Justin Hutson said of his 7-foot center who is averaging 18.3 points and 8.3 rebounds a game this year. “But he also wanted to play better and we’ll get better at that.”
No. 4 Wyoming (9-1) was whipped by Arizona, 94-65, on Wednesday but responded with a 74-62 win over Utah Valley on Saturday. Xavier DuSell had 38 points in the two games combined while Hunter Maldonado had 10 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals against Utah Valley.
“The last eight minutes we made a lot of money plays,” said Wyoming coach Jeff Linder of the win over Utah Valley.
No. 5 Boise State (6-4) beat Northridge (74-48) and Prairie View A&M (97-60) last week, both at home.
Tyson Degenhart, a 6-7 freshman, had 37 points in the two games combined and was named the Mountain West Freshman of the Week. Abu Kigab had 32 points and 10 rebounds against Prairie View while Marcus Shaver had 32 points over the two games.
No. 6 Utah State (7-3) lost at BYU, 82-71, and beat New Orleans, 82-50, at home last week. New Orleans, though, had just seven players available because the rest of their roster was back home because of health and safety protocols. All seven New Orleans players were on the court between 22 and 33 minutes but just one (Simeon Kirkland with 14 points) scored more than nine points.
The No. 7 Nevada Wolf Pack (4-4) did not play last week because of health and safety protocols. The Wolf Pack will host Minnesota-Duluth on Wednesday and Loyola Marymount on Saturday at Lawlor Events Center.
No. 8 UNLV (6-5) beat Seattle, 76-56, and Hartford, 95-78, last week. Bryce Hamilton had 51 points in the two games combined. Hamilton, a 6-4 senior, had 33 and Donovan Williams, a 6-6 junior, had 32 against Hartford.
Williams is averaging 11.9 points a game for the Rebels (16-of-36 on threes) after playing the last two seasons for Texas (playing 10-11 minutes a game).
No. 9 Air Force fell to 7-2 with a 66-48 loss at Montana. A.J. Walker, who is averaging 19.1 points a game, had 18 points and made all three of his 3-point shots.
No. 10 New Mexico (6-5) went 1-2 last week, beating Denver 87-67 and losing to New Mexico State (78-76 in overtime) and UTEP 77-69 on Sunday afternoon. The Lobos were a combined 10-of-40 on threes in their two losses.
No. 11 San Jose State (5-4) lost to Pepperdine, 82-69, and beat Pacific, 78-66. Trey Anderson had 23 points and seven rebounds in the win over Pacific while Omari Moore, who is averaging 15.5 points a game, had 31 points and 14 rebounds over the two games.
The Nevada Appeal’s Mountain West men’s basketball rankings for the week of Dec. 13:
1. COLORADO STATE (10-0, 0-0). Last week: Colorado State 66, Mississippi State 63. This week: vs. Tulsa at Fort Worth, Texas (Saturday).
2. SAN DIEGO STATE (6-3, 0-0). Last week: San Diego State 66, Fullerton 56. This week: vs. Saint Mary’s at Phoenix (Friday).
3. FRESNO STATE (8-2, 0-0). Last week: San Francisco 71, Fresno State 63 ... Fresno State 63, Irvine 55. This week: vs. Cal Poly (Friday).
4. WYOMING (9-1, 0-0). Last week: Arizona 94, Wyoming 65 ... Wyoming 74, Utah Valley 62. This week: No games.
5. BOISE STATE (6-4, 0-0). Last week: Boise State 74, Northridge 48 ... Boise State 97, Prairie View A&M 60. This week: vs. Santa Clara (Tuesday) ... vs. Montana Tech (Sunday).
6. UTAH STATE (7-3, 0-0). Last week: BYU 82, Utah State 71 ... Utah State 82, New Orleans 50. This week: at Weber State (Wednesday) ... vs. Iowa at Sioux Falls, S.D.
7. NEVADA (4-4, 0-0). Last week: No games. This week: vs. Minnesota-Duluth (Wednesday) ... vs. Loyola Marymount (Saturday).
8. UNLV (6-5, 0-0): Last week: UNLV 76, Seattle 56 ... UNLV 95, Hartford 78. This week: vs. Omaha (Wednesday).
9. AIR FORCE (7-2, 0-0). Last week: Montana 66, Air Force 48. This week: at Arkansas State (Sunday).
10. NEW MEXICO (6-5, 0-0). Last week: New Mexico State 78, New Mexico 76 (OT) ... New Mexico 87, Denver 67 ... UTEP 77, New Mexico 69. This week: vs. SMU (Sunday).
11. SAN JOSE STATE (5-4, 0-0). Last week: Pepperdine 82, San Jose State 69 ... San Jose State 78, Pacific 66. This week: at Portland (Thursday).
