MWC Men's Basketball Weekly Release No. 14

Feb. 4, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

WEEK 12 RECAP
Road teams went 7-1 in MWC action in Week 12. BYU and UNLV remain tied atop the league standings after the Cougars beat Air Force (69-53) and Wyoming (73-63), while the Runnin' Rebels rolled past TCU (70-58) and New Mexico (79-60). San Diego State edged Colorado State (83-82) to hold its position in third place, while Air Force took over sole possession of fourth following its loss to BYU and a 56-46 win over TCU. Following a 69-64 loss to Wyoming, Utah defeated Colorado State (67-52) to move into a three-way tie for fifth with New Mexico and TCU. Wyoming and CSU close out the standings in eighth and ninth, respectively.

MWC CO-PLAYERS OF THE WEEK (FEB. 4)

LEE CUMMARD, JR, G, BYU (MESA, ARIZ.)
Cummard, a Mesa, Ariz., native, led BYU to conference road victories over Air Force (69- 53) and Wyoming (73-63) last week. On the week, he scored 23.0 points per game on 64.0 percent (16-for-25) shooting from the floor, 60.0 percent (6-for-10) accuracy from threepoint range and an 88.9 percent (8-of-9) conversion rate at the free-throw line. Cummard also contributed 8.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.5 blocks per game. He scored 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting against Air Force, connecting on 3-of-6 attempts behind the arc, while adding a game-high five assists, eight rebounds, one block and one steal. Against Wyoming, Cummard scored a game-high 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting. He also tallied eight rebounds, two assists and one steal vs. the Cowboys.

WINK ADAMS, JR., G, UNLV (HOUSTON, TEXAS)
Adams, a Houston, Texas, product, led UNLV to a 2-0 league record last week with wins at TCU (70-58) and at home against New Mexico (79-60). Against TCU, he scored a gamehigh 25 points, 18 of which came in the second half. Adams also tallied five assists, three rebounds and one steal vs. the Horned Frogs. In the Runnin' Rebels win over New Mexico, Adams scored 17 of his game-high 24 points in the first half, shooting 6-of-9 from the floor before the intermission. He finished the game shooting 9-for-14 (64.3 percent) to go with four rebounds, three steals and one assist in 28 minutes of action. For the week, Adams averaged 24.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and two steals per game while shooting 54.8 percent (17-for-31) from the floor.

WEEK 13 PREVIEW
Seven of nine games involving Mountain West teams will be televised in Week 13 action, highlighted by the Utah at Air Force match-up on Saturday, Feb. 9, which will be nationally-broadcast on CSTV. Colorado State and New Mexico kick things off with an 8 p.m. MT outing on The Mtn. on Tuesday, Feb. 5. Wednesday's slate boasts a doubleheader on The Mtn, beginning with UNLV at Utah (6:30 p.m. MT) and ending with Air Force at San Diego State (8 p.m. PT). Other Wednesday contests feature TCU at BYU and Wyoming stepping out for a non-conference meeting at home against Cal State-Bakersfield. In addition to CSTV's broadcast of the Utah-Air Force game on Saturday, The Mtn. will air an MWC tripleheader: San Diego State at TCU (2 p.m. CT); Colorado State at UNLV (3 p.m. PT); and Wyoming at New Mexico (7 p.m. MT).

MWC ON TELEVISION
The 2007-08 MWC men's basketball package features a minimum of 100 games on national and regional television, including 27 to be broadcast nationally with 19 on CSTV and seven on VERSUS. Sixty-three of the 72 conference match-ups, and seven of eight MWC Championship contests are included in the television package. Seventy-five games will be shown on The Mtn. - MountainWest Sports Network, and two of the 100 televised contests will feature simulcasts on The Mtn. and CSTV.

HOME VS. ROAD IN THE MWC
Over the previous eight years in the Mountain West, home teams have won 63 percent or more of the games in league competition. This season, however, that margin is showing signs of narrowing, as home teams currently hold just an 18-14 (.563) edge in MWC play with four games left to play in the first half of the league schedule.

BYU (3-0) and UNLV (3-0) are the only teams who remain undefeated vs. league opponents in their home venues this season. For each of the previous eight years, the MWC regular-season champion has won no fewer than six of its league outings at home.

For each of the last six years, the MWC regular-season champion has finished with no fewer than five road victories against conference competition. Currently, BYU (3-1), UNLV (3-1), San Diego State (2-1) and Air Force (2-2) have .500 or better records in road MWC contests.

Only twice in the history of the Mountain West has a team claimed a share of the regularseason crown with a losing record in road games (Utah, 1999-00, 3-4; BYU and Utah, 2000-01, 3-4 each). UNLV shared the 1999-00 crown with the Utes but had a 4-3 record in MWC road games.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
With one non-conference opponent (Cal State-Bakersfield at Wyoming, Feb. 6) remaining on the schedule, the Mountain West is on pace to record its ninth consecutive season with an overall winning percentage of 61 percent or greater in non-conference play. Last year, MWC teams combined to win a league-record 72.2 percent of their games outside of the conference. This season, MWC teams own a collective 82-41 (66.7%) mark against nonleague opponents.

MWC SCORING LEADERS
Nine of the 10 leading scorers in the MWC are juniors, led by Colorado State's Marcus Walker (18.6 ppg). Overall, the junior class accounts for 13 of the league's top 20 scoring averages. Air Force's Tim Anderson (5th/15.6 ppg) is the top-ranked senior, while BYU's Jonathan Tavernari (13th/13.3 ppg) is the only sophomore of the group. In addition, San Diego State's Billy White is contributing 8.9 points as the top freshman scorer.

NEWCOMERS HAVING AN IMPACT
Several MWC newcomers are making their mark this season as five junior college transfers (Colorado State's Marcus Walker and Willis Gardner, San Diego State's Ryan Amoroso and TCU's Henry Salter and John Ortiz) and two freshmen (SDSU's Billy White and BYU's Chris Collinsworth) find themselves ranked among the Conference's scoring and/or rebounding leaders. Walker leads the MWC in scoring (18.6 ppg), while Gardner is 18th (11.1 ppg). Salter ranks ninth and 16th in scoring (14.1 ppg) and rebounding (5.1 rpg), respectively, while Ortiz is tied for 12th with a 5.4 average on the glass. Amoroso, the 2007-08 MWC Preseason Newcomer of the Year, is ranked eighth in rebounding (6.2 rpg), followed by White in ninth (5.9 rpg) and Collinsworth in 19th (4.8 rpg).

UNLV'S KRUGER APPROACHING 400 WINS
UNLV Head Coach Lon Kruger heads into this week's action one victory shy of reaching the 400-win mark for his career. The fourth-year Runnin' Rebel coach currently boasts a 399-271 (.596) record over a 22-year collegiate career that has included stops at Texas-Pan American (1982-86), Kansas State (1986-90), Florida (1990-96), Illinois (1996-00) and UNLV. At each of those institutions, Kruger has produced at least one 20-win season within four years of his arrival, racking up 10 NCAA Tournament appearances in the process. Kruger is one of only three coaches to lead four different schools to NCAA Tournament wins (Jim Harrick, Eddie Sutton) and is also just one of five coaches to ever take four different schools to the NCAA Tournament (Harrick, Sutton, Lefty Driesell and Rick Pitino).