Around the Mountain: Bad week for Pac 12 defectors, but they hold edge on MW teams left behind

While the past week wasn’t a great one for the future Pac-12 members in the Mountain West, the defectors moving on after next season certainly have had the upper hand through the first 41 league games played so far.

In the past week, Mountain West mainstay UNLV upset both Utah State and San Diego State while the Lobos thumped Boise State in the Pit (seven days after also doing so against SDSU in the Pit) and tacked on a Monday blowout over Fresno State.

In the past seven days, that’s four of the nine wins the teams staying in the league have against the teams who chose to leave the league.

Even Gonzaga, which has announced it will join the future version of the Pac-12 as a basketball-only member, lost twice last week and dropped out of the AP Top 25 for the first time all season. UNLV’s win over Utah State also dropped the Aggies from the land of the ranked and UNM has three consecutive double-digit wins in the Pit vs. future Pac-12 teams.

Nevertheless, the teams moving on have had the upper hand overall.

In 41 Mountain West games played so far this season, 23 have been between the future Pac-12 vs. future Mountain West teams.

The Pac 12 is 14-9 in those games.

Of the nine wins for the teams that will still be in the Mountain West over teams going to the Pac-12, here’s the breakdown of wins:

• New Mexico: 5

• UNLV: 3

• Nevada: 1

Player of the week

UNLV sophomore point guard Dedan Thomas won the Mountain West Player of the Week award on Monday, leading UNLV to two big wins with big shots late in each. He shot under 30% on the week and averaged just 13.5 points — maybe the lowest I remember seeing for either for a weekly winner, but he was clutch when it mattered most in huge wins over Utah State and at hostile Viejas Arena over San Diego State.

It’s the first Player of the Week award for Thomas, who averaged 13.5 points, 5.5 assists and 2.5 turnovers in the wins. He scored his team’s final four points in a 65-62 win over Utah State and six in the final 57 seconds at SDSU, holding the Aztecs at bay as they tried to mount a comeback.

He was a perfect 10-for-10 at the free throw line at SDSU.

Air Force’s Kyle Marshall won his second Freshman of the Week award, averaging 12.5 points, six rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game in losses to Nevada and Fresno State.

Poll position

Just one Mountain West team received any votes in Monday’s new AP Top 25 poll.

Utah State has 38 points in the “others receiving votes” portion of the poll, dropping from No. 22 last week to two spots outside of being ranked.

The Aggies received two votes as high as No. 18, one from Chris Murray of Nevada Sports Net in Reno and one from Luca Evans of the OC Register in Irvine, California.

Half the story

Forty-one games, 82 halves of basketball and these are the top 10 scoring halves and bottom 10 scoring halves of the season:

The 10 highest scoring halves:

• 55 points by SDSU, 2nd half at Fresno State (Dec. 4)

• 53 by UNM, 1st half at Fresno State (Dec. 31)

• 53 by Fresno State, 2nd half vs. UNM (Dec. 31)

• 50 by UNM, 2nd half vs, Fresno State (Monday)

• 50 by UNM, 2nd half at Fresno State (Dec. 31)

• 50 by Boise State, 1st half vs. Wyoming (Jan. 14)

• 50 by Utah State, 2nd half vs. Fresno State (Jan. 4)

• 49 by CSU, 1st half vs. Fresno State (Jan. 7)

• 48 by UNM, 1st half vs. Boise State (Friday)

• 48 by UNLV, 1st half vs. Fresno State (Dec. 28)

The 10 lowest scoring halves:

• 14 by Air Force, 2nd half at SDSU (Jan. 8)

• 15 by SJSU, 1st half vs. CSU (Dec. 31)

• 18 by UNM, 1st half at Wyoming (Jan. 7)

• 19 by Wyoming, 1st half vs. Boise State (Dec. 31)

• 20 by SDSU, 1st half at UNM (Jan. 11)

• 21 by Boise State, 1st half at UNM (Friday)

• 21 by Wyoming, 2nd half vs. UNM (Jan. 7)

• 21 by Wyoming, 1st half at Boise State (Jan. 14)

• 23 by SDSU, 2nd half vs. Utah State (Dec. 28)

• 23 by San Diego State, 1st half vs. UNLV (Saturday)

Grammer’s Guesses

I pick all Mountain West games against the point spread, and my 15-year-old daughter, for 10 years now, has done the same just flipping a coin.

This season, that coin is money.

I’m 20-21 on the season. If you bet $100 on all 41 games I’ve picked, accounting for the 10% “juice” the sports books keep on wins, you’d be in the hole $281.80.

As for my daughter’s coin flip picks, they are 27-14.

If one had bet $100 on all 41 games she predicted, they’d be up $1054.57 right now.

Seriously.

Also, my daughter is grounded until she stops winning.

Four for me

There are the four games I’m most looking forward to this week around the Mountain West (listed in chronological order):

Boise State (13-6, 5-3) at Colorado State (11-7, 5-2), 6 p.m. MST Wednesday (CBS Sports Network): The loser of this one might be out of regular-season title contention, and both have looked very good more often than not.

Nevada (11-7, 3-4) at Utah State (16-2, 6-1), 7 p.m. MST (FS1): The Aggies’ Dec. 31 win in Reno was a one-possession game with under 10 seconds remaining (it ended up 69-64, Utah State). Nevada has won three straight since its 0-4 league start while Utah State is coming off its first league loss.

UNM (16-4, 8-1) at UNLV (11-7, 5-2), 1 p.m. MST (FOX): Richard Pitino’s Lobos are just 1-4 against the Rebels, who followed up back-to-back 22-point losses two weeks ago with back-to-back upset wins last week of Utah State and San Diego State.

San Diego State (11-5, 4-3) at Nevada (11-7, 3-4), 8 p.m. MST (CBS Sports Network): A Steve Alford/Craig Neal coached team going up against Brian Dutcher’s Aztecs has made for some great drama through the years. SDSU has lost the last two in Lawlor Events Center, including in overtime last season.