UNLV opens the Mountain West Tournament against UNR today at the Thomas & Mack. Tip is at 2:30 p.m.
- Home
- >> Sports
- >> Basketball
#VegasMadness
Mountain West basketball this season has neither been good enough from top to bottom or in possession of a dominating team to suggest anything is inconceivable as the conference tournament opens today at the Thomas & Mack Center.
On the day before the Mountain West basketball tournament, reality hit. It actually hit a long time ago. But Chris Wood shook his head when discussing how the Rebels ended up getting buried in the conference standings.
Boise State defeated the UNLV women’s basketball team 64-46 in the Mountain West basketball tournament quarterfinals at the Thomas & Mack Center. The Lady Rebels’ season ends at 13-17.
Not that it comes as a surprise, but the injury report on freshman guard Rashad Vaughn is bad news for UNLV, which is planning for the postseason without its leading scorer.
UNLV was the hottest Mountain West women’s basketball team not long ago, but that was before a three-game skid to close the regular season. Now the Lady Rebels must find their old form with the conference tournament beginning.
The Mountain West men’s basketball tournament championship will be a stand-alone event on Saturday, March 14 at the Thomas & Mack Center. The women’s final was moved up to a day earlier.
UCLA vs. Arizona; New Mexico vs. San Diego State: SportsCenter anchor Scott Van Pelt says Las Vegas was the place to be for the prelude to March Madness.
There was about a minute remaining in UNLV’s basketball game against San Diego State on Friday evening when Aztecs fans began a popular chant for teams about to win on another’s court.
Fresno State defeated Colorado State 77-68 in the final of the Mountain West women’s basketball tournament. The victory assured the Bulldogs of their seventh consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Kendall Williams hit a 3-pointer with 24 seconds remaining and New Mexico took down top-seeded San Diego State 64-58 in the Mountain West tournament championship at the Thomas & Mack Center.
UNLV’s basketball team might over the next 24 hours be given the opportunity to continue a season that has delivered more disappointments than not, but the Rebels should deny any and all such inquiries.
A Spalding sports equipment technician armed with lasers showed up recently at the Thomas & Mack Center — and he was on a mission. He was there to make sure the basketball rim and backboard support equipment were properly aligned and connected into a special Mountain West court floor. But he was also there to change Thomas & Mack’s look and convert the venue into a neutral site.
UNLV’s Khem Birch courageously played through pain and laid it all on the line. But the Rebels went out with a whimper anyway, getting knocked out of the Mountain West tournament Friday night while resembling a dispirited and dysfunctional mess in the process.
In a game during which San Diego State was determined to take away UNLV’s big-man tandem of Khem Birch and Roscoe Smith, the Rebels’ guards had an opportunity to seize the moment and carry the team into the Mountain West tournament championship game. Didn’t happen. Never had a chance.