The Mountain West announced its men’s basketball schedules today, and UNLV will have some difficult hurdles to clear.
The Rebels will play conference favorites UNR and San Diego State back to back on two separate occasions, and UNLV will hit the road three times for back-to-back away games.
The MWC season will commence on Jan. 2 with a home game against Colorado State at the Thomas & Mack Center. The Rebels will then host Wyoming on Jan. 5 before heading out for a pair of road games at New Mexico and Air Force.
The first significant battle will come with a trip to San Diego State on Jan. 26, which will be immediately followed by a home date with UNR. San Diego State won the Mountain West tournament last year and returns most of its impact players, while UNR is coming off a Sweet 16 run and should be ranked in the top five nationally to begin the year.
The Rebels will get the two league favorites again toward the end of the campaign. San Diego State comes to the Mack on Feb. 23, while the Rebels will travel north to face UNR in Reno on Feb. 27.
The schedule closes with a home game against Boise State (March 2) and a road game at Colorado State (March 9). Due to the unbalanced schedule, UNLV will play at Utah State (Feb. 2) but will not host the Aggies this season. The Rebels will also host Fresno State (Feb. 9) but not travel to Fresno for a return game.
UNLV went 20-13 last year and finished seventh in the Mountain West with a record of 8-10. The Rebels defeated Air Force in the play-in round of the MWC tournament before falling to top-seeded UNR, 79-74.
The full schedule:
UNLV Mountain West schedule 2018-19
Jan. 2 — vs. Colorado State
Jan. 5 — vs. Wyoming
Jan. 9 — at New Mexico
Jan. 16 — at Air Force
Jan. 19 — vs. San Jose State
Jan. 23 — vs. New Mexico
Jan. 26 — at San Diego State
Jan. 30 — vs. UNR
Feb. 2 — at Utah State
Feb. 6 — at Boise State
Feb. 9 — vs. Fresno State
Feb. 13 — vs. Air Force
Feb. 16 — at San Jose State
Feb. 20 — at Wyoming
Feb. 23 — vs. San Diego State
Feb. 27 — at UNR
March 2 — vs. Boise State
March 9 — at Colorado State
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy