MW rankings: No. 1 Wolf Pack is all ears

The Nevada Wolf Pack men’s basketball team is listening to coach Steve Alford.

“We didn’t like what happened against Montana,” said Alford, referring to a 77-66 victory last Wednesday in which the Pack allowed 48 points in the second half. “So tonight (Saturday) we took a huge step in the right direction.”

The Wolf Pack, which whipped Loyola Marymount, 73-59, on Saturday, hasn’t taken any missteps this season so far. The Wolf Pack, No. 1 in this week’s Nevada Appeal Mountain West rankings, are 6-0 for the first time since a 14-0 start in 2018-19, the year before Alford took over the program.

“It was a pretty good week (last week),” Alford said. “We got a lot of good things done. Pretty impressive.”

Nevada got 22 points and 10 rebounds from Kenan Blackshear and 16 points from Jarod Lucas against Montana and 20 points from Lucas against Loyola Marymount.

But it was the defensive effort against Loyola that impressed Alford the most.

“Our physicality was on display right from the beginning,” Alford said.

No. 2 Colorado State also remained unbeaten (8-0) with an 86-81 win over Washington on Saturday. Joel Scott had 17 points and eight rebounds and Patrick Cartier had 16 points as coach Niko Medved won for the 100th time in his sixth year for the Rams.

“That’s as tough a win as I’ve ever been a part of,” said Medved of the win over Washington, who has also been a head coach at Furman for four years and Drake (one year).

The Rams played short-handed last week because of a finger injury to Jalen Lake, who will be out at least a month. Cartier has also been battling a back injury lately.

“You find out what type of team and what type of person you are when adversity hits,” Cartier said.

No. 3 San Diego State (7-1) got past San Diego, 63-62, on a layup by Jaedon Lee at the buzzer.

The Aztecs trailed 57-43 with 7:36 to play and outscored San Diego 20-5 the rest of the way. Lee had six of the 20 points while Lamont Butler had seven.

“This was a hard-fought victory,” San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said. “Sometimes you have to be at your best when your best is required and that’s what we did. We didn’t give in. We stayed tough-minded.”

No. 4 Utah State (7-1) beat UC Irvine, 79-69, on Saturday as Mason Falslev scored 19 points. Great Osobor, a 6-foot-8, 250-pound transfer from Montana State, had 17. Osobor came with new coach Danny Sprinkle from Montana State after last season.

“Once again, we keep finding ways to win,” Sprinkle said. “It changed at halftime when we challenged (our team) to guard. In the first half they (Irvine) beat us at our own game. They got every loose ball, made every toughness play.”

No. 5 New Mexico (7-1) destroyed New Mexico State, 106-62, on Saturday as Jaelen House scored 26 of his game-high 28 points in the first half.

“We know it’s a rivalry game,” said House, who was 5-of-6 on threes. “We knew we had to step up and put on a show for the fans.”

“We obviously shared the ball extremely well,” New Mexico coach Richard Pitino said. “That’s been a consistent message.”

The Lobos were 32-of-53 (61 percent) from the floor against New Mexico State.

“We have a lot of talent,” Pitino said. “It can’t be one or two guys. We have to spread the wealth.”

No. 6 Boise State (4-3) turned back Saint Mary’s, 63-60, on Friday as Tyson Degenhart scored 17 points with five assists and four rebounds. The game, in front of 4,985 fans, was the first Division I game at Hero Arena in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

“Not only did we have 22 points off the bench but, boy, were they timely points,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “They (Saint Mary’s) had matchup problems when we went small and got open looks.”

No. 7 Air Force (7-2) beat Portland, 80-58, on Sunday behind Rytis Petraitis’ 20 points off the bench. Ethan Taylor added 16 on four threes. Air Force outscored Portland 38-16 over the final 16 minutes.

No. 8 UNLV (3-3) got by Akron, 72-70, last Thursday. Luis Rodriguez had 13 points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

“We stumbled a bit last week,” said UNLV coach Kevin Kruger of losses to Florida State and Richmond (Nov. 20-21) in Dayton Beach, Fla. “We lost a little bit of our swagger and confidence.”

No. 9 San Jose State (5-4) lost at Montana, 75-58, on Saturday.

“Montana just kicked our butts all night,” San Jose State coach Tim Miles said. “There’s a lot of work to be done for the Spartans.”

No. 10 Wyoming (4-3) lost at Portland, 81-71, on Friday. Sam Griffin scored 17 points for Wyoming with three threes.

“We have to learn from the loss,” Wyoming coach Jeff Linder said.

No. 11 Fresno State (3-4) lost to BYU in Salt Lake City, 85-56, on Friday. The Bulldogs have lost their last three games.

The Nevada Appeal Mountain West men’s basketball rankings for the week of Dec. 4:

1. NEVADA (6-0, 0-0): Last week: Nevada 77, Montana 66 (Nov. 29); Nevada 73, Loyola Marymount 59 (Dec. 2). This week: UC Davis at Nevada (Dec. 6), Nevada vs. Drake at Henderson (Dec. 9).

2. COLORADO STATE (8-0, 0-0): Last week: Colorado State 88, Colorado 83 (Nov. 29); Colorado State 86, Washington 81 (Dec. 2). This week: Denver at Colorado State (Dec. 6), Saint Mary’s at Colorado State (Dec. 9).

3. SAN DIEGO STATE (7-1, 0-0): Last week: San Diego State 71, Point Loma Nazarene 51 (Nov. 27); San Diego State 63, San Diego 62 (Dec. 1). This week: San Diego State at Grand Canyon (Dec. 5), UC Irvine at San Diego (Dec. 9).

4. UTAH STATE (7-1, 0-0): Last week: Utah State 81, Saint Louis 76 (Nov. 28); Utah State 79, UC Irvine 69 (Dec. 2). This week: San Diego at Utah State (Dec. 6), Northwest Nazarene at Utah State (Dec. 9).

5. NEW MEXICO (7-1, 0-0): Last week: New Mexico 74, Louisiana Tech 65 (Nov. 29); New Mexico 106, New Mexico State 62 (Dec. 2). This week: UC Santa Barbara at New Mexico (Dec. 6), New Mexico vs. Santa Clara at Henderson (Dec. 9).

6. BOISE STATE (4-3, 0-0): Last week: Boise State 63, Saint Mary’s 60 (Dec. 1). This week: North Texas at Boise State (Dec. 5), Western Oregon at Boise State (Dec. 9).

7. AIR FORCE (7-2, 0-0): Last week: Air Force 80, Portland 58 (Dec. 3). This week: Eastern Washington at Air Force (Dec. 9).

8. UNLV (3-3, 0-0): Last week: UNLV 72, Akron 70 (Nov. 28). This week: UNLV at Dayton (Dec. 6). UNLV at Loyola Marymount (Dec. 9).

9. SAN JOSE STATE (5-4, 0-0): Last week: San Jose State 78, North Dakota State 65 (Nov. 27); Cal Poly 81, San Jose State 77 (Nov. 29); Montana 75, San Jose State 58 (Dec. 2). This week: San Jose State at North Dakota State (Dec. 4), New Orleans at San Jose State (Dec. 9).

10. WYOMING (4-3, 0-0): Last week: Portland 81, Wyoming 71 (Dec. 1). This week: South Dakota Mines at Wyoming (Dec. 5), Stephen F. Austin at Wyoming (Dec. 9).

11. FRESNO STATE (3-4, 0-0): Last week: UC Santa Barbara 69, Fresno State 65 (Nov. 27); BYU 85, Fresno State 56 (Dec. 1). This week: Idaho State at Fresno State (Dec. 5), Pacific at Fresno State (Dec. 9).