Around the Mountain: What happened to it being tough to win on the road in this league?

The road in the Mountain West is tough.

The travel is hard. The weather is bad. The elevation dips and climbs mess with you. The venues are rough. The teams and the coaching are very good.

In talking to the Journal last year for a story written for the Mountain West Conference Tournament program on the league’s 25th anniversary, former San Diego State coach Steve Fisher explained it like this.

“There’s the venues and coaches and a lot of things that add up to saying this was a unique league from the beginning,” Fisher said. “It’s a league that everybody says it’s hard to win on the road. The Mountain West historically was one of the hardest leagues to win because of all kinds of things: travel, altitude, venues, all of that.”

Who can argue? The numbers back it up.

In its 26 years of existence, the Mountain West has:

■ An all-time home win percentage of 63.5% (1282-737)

■ Had an over 60.0% home win percentage in 19 of 26 seasons, and better than 70% four times

■ Never had a home win percentage lower than 55.6%

■ Ranked in the Top 10 among 30-plus conferences in home win percentage in league play 13 times, in the Top 4 nine times and been No. 1 twice.

■ The best of the home court advantages came in 2003-04 season when the home team won 43 of 56 league games for a ridiculous 76.8% win rate.

So, yeah. It’s a thing.

Just not so much anymore.

Last week, six of the Mountain West’s 10 games were won by the road team, and this season the home-road record is 26-24 (52.0%). That ranks 22nd out of 31 conferences, according to KenPom.com.

There are still 60 games to play, but if that percentage holds firm, it would be, by a significant percentage, the lowest home win percentage in Mountain West history.

Players of the Week...

One week after the Mountain West Player of the Week was awarded to a player (UNLV’s Dedan Thomas, Jr., on Jan. 20) who averaged just 13.5 points and shot under 30% from the field (and he was still the right choice, mind you), this week there were three players who had dominant, normally Player of the Week type weeks.

But only one — UNM’s Donovan Dent — won the award, his third of the season. Coupled with teammate Nelly Junior Joseph (two wins), UNM has five MW Player of the Week awards this season, tied for the program’s most in the 26-year Mountain West era (UNM also had five weekly awards in the 2007-08, 2009-10 and 2012-13 seasons). There are six more awards left to be handed out.

As for the three worthy candidates, each in two-win weeks for their team:

■ Dent, UNM, averaged 27.0 points, 5.5 assists, shot 57.9% from the floor and 88.9% rom the free throw line in wins over Fresno State and UNLV.

■ Junior Joseph, UNM, averaged 16.0 points, 16.5 rebounds, shot 50.0% from the floor and drew 13 fouls (he made 10-of-18 free throws) in wins over Fresno State and UNLV.

■ Nique Clifford, Colorado State, averaged 22.0 points, 7.0 assists, 7.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals and shot 48.4% from the field in wins over Boise State and Fresno State.

This week’s MW Freshman of the Week was San Diego State’s Magoon Gwath, who averaged 12.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and hit 71.4% of his shots in wins over Air Force and Nevada.

Close calls...

In last week’s 10 Mountain West games, four were decided by one bucket or less (three points or less).

This season, there have been 13 MW conference games decided by three or fewer points with only Fresno State not having played in one.

Utah State has played in the most (four) and has a 3-1 record. Colorado State (2-0), UNM (2-1) and Wyoming (2-1) are the other teams that have won multiple close ones.

As for the other end of the spectrum, as you might have guessed, Nevada’s 0-3 record in one-possession games is the worst in the conference.

Poll position

There were no Mountain West teams ranked in Monday’s new Associated Press Top 25 poll. Utah State and UNM did receive votes, though.

■ Utah State, 99 points, three spots out of being ranked. High rank of No. 12 by two voters: Dave Borges of the New Haven (Connecticut) Register and Luca Evans of the Orange County Register in Irvine, California. There were 43 of 62 voters who did not vote for USU.

■ New Mexico, 4 points, 11 spots out. High vote of 23rd by Borges. UNM’s other Top 25 vote came from Rick Bozich of WDRB-TV in Louisville.

MW in Top 10...

Here are a few statistical categories that Mountain West teams rank in the Top 10 nationally:

■ 36.3% — SDSU is holding teams to 36.3% shooting, No. 3

■ 17.7 — UNM’s 17.7 fast-break points per game rank No. 5

■ 5.7 — SDSU’s 5.7 blocks per game rank No. 9

My games to watch

UNLV (11-9, 5-4) at Utah State (18-2, 8-1), 8 p.m. MST Wednesday, (FS1): The Rebels are the only Mountain West team to beat Utah State so far this season. Can the Aggies get their revenge on their home court? UNLV hasn’t won in Logan since Todd Simon’s Rebels beat Tim Duryea’s Aggies on Jan. 19, 2016.

New Mexico (17-4, 9-1) at Utah State (18-2, 8-1), 7:30 p.m. MST Saturday, (FS1): It’s easy, this is the game of the year (to date) in the Mountain West. First place on the line. It will be sold out and the Hurd will be loud. And if Utah State takes care of business Wednesday with UNLV, this game with the Lobos also will likely lead to an awful lot of votes in next week’s AP Top 25 poll.

UNLV (11-9, 5-4) at Nevada (11-9, 3-6), 8 p.m. MST Saturday, (CBSSN): Why bother with Nevada games anymore, right? Well, in this case, the in-state rivalry often delivers drama.

You can reach Geoff at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.