Feb. 8, 2010

Mountain West Conference Men's Basketball Press Release Week No. 14

RECENT RESULTS

Tuesday, February 2
*@No. 12/12 BYU 76, TCU 56
*@SAN DIEGO STATE 70, AIR FORCE 48

Wednesday, February 3
*COLORADO STATE 65, @UTAH 50
*UNLV 78, @WYOMING 50

Saturday, February 6
*@UNLV 88, No. 12/12 BYU 74
*@No. 15/23 NEW MEXICO 88, SAN DIEGO STATE 86 (OT)
*TCU 65, @AIR FORCE 51
*@COLORADO STATE 80, WYOMING 64

UPCOMING SCHEDULE (TV)

Tuesday, February 9
*COLORADO STATE at AIR FORCE, 8 p.m. MT (The Mtn.)

Wednesday, February 10
*UTAH at TCU, 7 p.m. CT (The Mtn.)
*WYOMING at SAN DIEGO STATE, 7:30 p.m. PT (The Mtn.)
*No. 15/19 NEW MEXICO at No. 23/25 UNLV, 8 p.m. PT (CBS C)

Saturday, February 13
*No. 23/25 UNLV at SAN DIEGO STATE, 1 p.m. PT (VERSUS)
*TCU at WYOMING, 1:30 p.m. MT (The Mtn.)
*AIR FORCE at No. 17/17 BYU, 4 p.m. MT (The Mtn.)
*No. 15/19 NEW MEXICO at UTAH, 7 p.m. MT (The Mtn.)

*Mountain West Conference game.
CAPS denotes Mountain West Conference team.
All times listed are local to game site and subject to change. Rankings listed according to Associated Press/USA Today/ESPN Coaches Top 25 polls.

MWC CO-PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
DARINGTON HOBSON, JR., G, LAS VEGAS, NEV. (NEW MEXICO)
A 6-7 junior guard from Las Vegas, Nev., Darington Hobson netted 29 points to lead the Lobos in an 88-86 victory over San Diego State last Saturday. He scored eight of the Lobos' 10 points in overtime, including two free throws with 2.7 seconds left that provided the final margin of victory. Hobson also pulled down 12 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season, while contributing six assists, three steals and no turnovers in 43 minutes of action. He finished the game with 9-of-17 (.529) field-goal shooting, including a career-high four 3-pointers on five attempts (.800), and 7-of-9 (.778) shooting from the charity stripe.

TRE'VON WILLIS, JR., G, FRESNO, CALIF. (UNLV)
A 6-4 junior guard from Fresno, Calif., Tre'Von Willis led UNLV to a 2-0 mark in Conference play last week. In a 78-50 road win at Wyoming, Willis scored 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field and 6-of-9 shooting from the free throw line, while adding eight rebounds and four assists. He followed that performance with a game- and career-high 33 points in the Runnin' Rebels' 88-74 home victory over then-No. 12 BYU. Willis also dished out eight assists without a turnover, and added two steals and a block while going 11-of-20 (.550) from the field, including 4-of-7 (.571) from 3-point range, and 7-of-9 (.778) from the charity stripe. For the week, Willis averaged 24.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists while shooting 55.6 percent (15-of-27) from the field, 50 percent (5-of-10) from beyond the arc and 72.2 percent (13-of-18) from the free throw line.

LAST WEEK
New Mexico and UNLV each went undefeated in Conference play last week to create a three-way logjam with BYU atop the Mountain West standings. The Lobos escaped with an 88-86 overtime win vs. San Diego State, while the Runnin' Rebels were victorious over Wyoming (78-50) and then-No. 12 BYU (88-74). Colorado State also went 2-0 with wins over Utah (66-50) and Wyoming (80-64), moving the Rams into a two-way tie with SDSU for fourth place in the standings.

TELEVISION SCHEDULE
All eight Mountain West tilts will be nationally televised this week. Four of those contests will feature Top 25 teams, including a Feb. 10 match-up pitting No. 15/19 New Mexico vs. No. 23/25 UNLV that will air on CBS College Sports Network (8 p.m. PT). Six games will be broadcast on The Mtn.-MountainWest Sports Network, while one will be carried on VERSUS. Below is a complete listing of the week's television slate:

IT'S ALL ACADEMIC
For the second straight year, New Mexico forward Roman Martinez has been named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District VI Men's Basketball First Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). The senior from El Paso, Texas, holds a 3.48 cumulative grade point average in business administration and marketing. Martinez currently ranks fifth in the league in scoring (13.8) and seventh in rebounding (6.0). He is one of 40 NCAA Division I men's basketball student-athletes eligible for selection to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America team, to be announced on Wednesday, Feb. 24.

THREE MOUNTAIN WEST TEAMS IN TOP 25 POLLS
For the first time in the league's 11-year history, three Mountain West teams are ranked in the national Top 25 polls at the same time. New Mexico climbed to No. 15 in this week's Associated Press poll, followed by BYU at No. 17 and UNLV at No. 23. The same trio is ranked in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' poll, with BYU at No. 17, New Mexico at No. 19 and UNLV at No. 25. The Mountain West is one of five conferences (Big East, Big Ten, Big 12) with at least three teams ranked in both polls

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
BYU has won 19 straight home games, which currently ranks as the nation's sixth-longest active streak. The Cougars' last loss in the Marriott Center was Jan. 21, 2009 vs. UNLV (76-70). Below is a look at the NCAA's top home win streaks through games of Feb. 7, 2010:

UTAH'S FOSTER ADDS TO MWC SOPHOMORE BLOCK RECORD
Utah center David Foster continues to add to his season block total, swatting nine shot attempts last Wednesday against Colorado State. The Lake Forest, Calif., native's 95 rejections in 2009-10 surpasses the MWC single-season sophomore record of 66, previously held by former Colorado State center Jason Smith (2005-06). The 95 blocks, which currently ranks third on the MWC's all-time list, also shattered Utah's all-time single-season record of 92, set just last season by former Ute Luke Nevill. Foster is averaging a league-high 4.5 blocks per game, ranking fourth nationally. He has blocked at least one shot in all 21 games he has played in this season, including 19 games with multiple rejections.

SDSU'S LEONARD CRASHING THE BOARDS
San Diego State's Kawhi Leonard is making a strong bid to become the first freshman since Utah standout Andrew Bogut to lead the league in rebounding. Bogut grabbed an MWC-best 326 rebounds as a freshman in 2003-04. Leonard currently tops the Conference with 220 boards, while his league-best 9.6 average ranks third nationally among freshmen rebounders, behind Fordham's Chris Gaston (10.7) and Kentucky's DeMarcus Cousins (10.0). Leonard, who also boasts an 11.8 scoring average, tops the MWC with 11 double-doubles this season, joining Cousins (14) and Gaston (13) as the only three freshmen in the NCAA with 11 or more double-doubles in 2009-10.

FOUR MWC TEAMS IN TOP 50 OF NCAA RPI RANKINGS
A league-record four Mountain West teams are listed in the Top 50 of the Feb. 8 NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) report. New Mexico leads the MWC pack with a No. 10 ranking, followed by BYU (21), UNLV (30) and San Diego State (41). The previous high was three teams in 1999-00, 2002-03, 2006-07 and 2008-09.

MWC TEAMS AGAINST RANKED NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS
Mountain West teams have combined for a 5-1 record against ranked non-conference opponents this season. New Mexico owns three of those victories, defeating No. 20/24 Texas Tech (90-75) on Dec. 29, then-No. 16/18 Texas A&M (84-81) on Dec. 12 and then-No. 25 California (86-78) on Dec. 2. Utah staged the league's first Top-25 win of 2009-10 with a 60-58 victory against then-No. 20/21 Illinois on Nov. 27 in the semifinals of the Las Vegas Invitational. UNLV followed the Utes' lead with a 76-71 triumph over then-No. 16 Louisville on Nov. 28. The league's lone loss to a Top 25 foe this season came on Dec. 8, when TCU dropped an 80-70 decision to then-No. 23 Texas Tech. This marks the first time the MWC has opened with a 5-1 mark vs. ranked non-conference opposition.

MWC IN NON-CONFERENCE PLAY
Mountain West teams have combined for 90+ wins in non-conference play for the third time in four years, posting a collective 91-38 (.705) record overall this season. That is the second-best win percentage vs. non-conference opposition in league history, behind a 96-37 (.722) mark in 2006-07. The MWC has a .500 or better record against 19 of the 23 conferences played thus far, including a 2-0 mark vs. the Big Ten, 1-0 vs. the Big East and 1-1 vs. the SEC. The Mountain West has recorded an overall win percentage of 61 percent or greater against non-conference opponents every season since the league's inception in 1999.