Rankings: No. 3 Pack wins twice to stay in MW race

Steve Alford made sure his Nevada Wolf Pack was ready to take on the Wyoming Cowboys last Tuesday night at Lawlor Events Center.

“It was really just our guy’s mindset,” Alford said after the Wolf Pack’s 76-58 win over the Cowboys.

The victory in Reno came just a month after the Wolf Pack lost at Wyoming, 98-93, in Laramie, Wyo. That loss, Alford said, was probably set in motion before the Pack even arrived in Wyoming.

“We were in a (figurative) storm at that time,” Alford said. “We had just lost to San Diego State and Boise State. And then the travel to that game (Wyoming) was brutal. We flew commercial into Denver and then had to bus two hours. It’s not what I wanted to do, and I wish we hadn’t. But we got through that storm (four losses in five games the last two weeks of January) and we’re a much different team now.”

The Wolf Pack, No. 3 in this week’s Nevada Appeal Mountain West rankings, also beat San Jose State, 84-63, on Friday and has now won six of its last seven games to improve to 22-6, 9-5 with four games remaining in the regular season.

The Pack, Alford said, got back to its defense-first mentality to whip Wyoming last week.

“We really defended,” Alford said. “We took away the three-ball and made it real tough on the guards.”

The 40-point defensive improvement against Wyoming (98 points allowed to just 58) in a month is the second-largest in Wolf Pack history against one team in the same season. The Pack beat Saint Mary’s 102-76 and 19-17 in 1975-76 for a 59-point defensive improvement, though that improvement was aided by Saint Mary’s stalling each time it took possession of the ball in the rematch.

The Wolf Pack is still very much in the race for first place and the No. 1 seed in the Mountain West tournament this season. Only Utah State (10-4), Boise State (10-4) and San Diego State (10-5) were ahead of Nevada in the conference race when this week began.

The Pack will play at Colorado State (Tuesday) and host Fresno State (Friday) this week and then travel to Boise State (March 5) and host UNLV (March 9) to finish out the league schedule.

A sweep of the final four games will give Nevada its best Mountain West record (13-5) since it went 15-3 in 2018-19. Just two seasons ago (2021-22), it went 6-12.

“February sets up March,” said Alford, whose team has already matched its overall win total (22) of a year ago when it played in the NCAA Tournament. “We have to be who we are. We have to defend at a high level, take care of the ball and take good shots. We’ve just got to continue to move that needle forward. It’s that time of year.”

No. 1 Utah State (22-5, 10-4) beat No. 2 San Diego State, 68-63, last week. Darius Brown led Utah State with 25 points and Jaedon LeDee had 23 for San Diego State. No other San Diego State starter had more than six points.

“I think a lot of people hit the panic button on us when things go bad,” Brown said, referring mainly to a 75-55 loss to Colorado State at home on Feb. 17. “But we knew if we rebounded and defended, we’d be fine. I know this team. I know we’re fighters.”

“I told our team before the game that this was a chance to show people how great they are,” Utah State coach Danny Sprinkle said. “I told them, ‘This is why you come to play in the Mountain West. Go show who you are.’ And they did.”

San Diego State (21-7, 10-5) rebounded last week after its loss to Utah State to beat No. 10 Fresno State, 73-41, as LeDee scored 22.

“We took care of business,” LeDee said.

“We shared the ball at a really high level,” San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said. “It was good to see we were so connected offensively.”

No. 4 Boise State (19-8, 10-4) rolled over San Jose State (82-50) and Wyoming (92-72) last week. Tyson Degenart had 37 points combined in the two victories. The Broncos have won three games in a row to stay in the league race. Boise State, however, closes the season with three difficult games against New Mexico and Nevada at home and San Diego State on the road.

No. 5 New Mexico (21-7, 9-6) was stunned at home by No. 9 Air Force, 78-77, last Saturday as Rytis Petraitis hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds to play to shock the Lobos. It was Air Force’s first win at Albuquerque since 2007 and New Mexico‘s third loss in its last four home games.

“They (Air Force) made big plays and made big threes,” New Mexico coach Richard Pitino said. “We were not intense enough in the first half. They packed the paint and we couldn’t hit threes. It came down to the 3-point line. They made 11 and we made three.”

New Mexico needed a 3-point play by guard Donovan Dent with three seconds to play to beat Colorado State, 68-66, last Wednesday. It was the third time this season that Dent, the Lobo point guard, went the length of the floor for a game-winning layup.

“We knew we had to have that game,” Pitino said. “In the end, it was just ‘give the ball to Donnie and let him figure it out.’”

No. 6 UNLV (16-10, 9-5) whipped Air Force, 72-43, and got by Colorado State, 66-60, last week to remain in the race for the regular season conference title.

“They (the UNLV players) continue to surprise me in a good way,” UNLV coach Kevin Kruger said. “They continue to figure things out.”

UNLV has won seven of its last eight games. The only loss during that stretch was a narrow 69-66 defeat to Nevada at home on Feb. 17. Three of the Rebels’ five league losses this year have been by three points or less.

“It was nice to be on the other side of (a close) one,” said Kruger after the six-point win over Colorado State. “It could have easily gone the other way.”

No. 7 Colorado State (20-8, 8-7), which hosts Nevada on Tuesday, has now gone just 7-7 since starting the season 13-1. The loss to UNLV all but eliminated the Rams from the conference-title race.

The Nevada Appeal Mountain West men’s basketball rankings for the week of Feb. 26:

1. UTAH STATE (22-5, 10-4): Last week: Utah State 68, San Diego State 63 (Feb. 20). This week: Utah State at Fresno State (Feb. 27), Air Force at Utah State (March 1).

2. SAN DIEGO STATE (21-7, 10-5): Last week: Utah State 68, San Diego State 63 (Feb. 20); San Diego State 73, Fresno State 41 (Feb. 24). This week: San Jose State at San Diego State (Feb. 27).

3. NEVADA (22-6, 9-5): Last week: Nevada 76, Wyoming 58 (Feb. 20); Nevada 84, San Jose State 63 (Feb. 23). This week: Nevada at Colorado State (Feb. 27), Fresno State at Nevada (March 1).

4. BOISE STATE (19-8, 10-4): Last week: Boise State 82, San Jose State 50 (Feb. 20); Boise State 92, Wyoming 72 (Feb. 24). This week: Boise State at Air Force (Feb. 27), New Mexico at Boise State (March 2).

5. NEW MEXICO (21-7, 9-6): Last week: New Mexico 68, Colorado State 66 (Feb. 21); Air Force 78, New Mexico 77 (Feb. 24). This week: New Mexico at Boise State (March 2).

6. UNLV (16-10, 9-5): Last week: UNLV 72, Air Force 43 (Feb. 21); UNLV 66, Colorado State 60 (Feb. 24). This week: UNLV at Wyoming (Feb. 27), San Jose State at UNLV (March 2).

7. COLORADO STATE (20-8, 8-7): Last week: New Mexico 68, Colorado State 66 (Feb. 21); UNLV 66, Colorado State 60 (Feb. 24). This week: Nevada at Colorado State (Feb. 27); Wyoming at Colorado State (March 2).

8. WYOMING (13-14, 6-8): Last week: Nevada 76, Wyoming 58 (Feb. 20); Boise State 92, Wyoming 72 (Feb. 24). This week: Wyoming at Colorado State (March 2).

9. AIR FORCE (9-17, 2-12): Last week: UNLV 72, Air Force 43 (Feb. 21), Air Force 78, New Mexico 77 (Feb. 24). This week: Boise State at Air Force (Feb. 27); Air Force at Utah State (March 1).

10. FRESNO STATE (11-16, 4-10): Last week: San Diego State 73, Fresno State 41 (Feb. 24). This week: Utah State at Fresno State (Feb. 27), Fresno State at Nevada (March 1).

11. SAN JOSE STATE (9-19, 2-13): Last week: Boise State 82, San Jose State 50 (Feb. 20), Nevada 84, San Jose State 63 (Feb. 23). This week: San Jose State at San Diego State (Feb. 27), San Jose State at UNLV (March 2).