Around the Mountain: Why has a competitive league had so many blowouts?

It's conference time in the Mountain West.

That means the stakes are higher, the player is more physical and the games are closer, right?

Well, two out of three ain't bad.

The reality in the Mountain West so far is that there have been few close games and plenty of blowouts, at least as defined by our friends at KenPom.com.

That site, which logs "blowouts" and "close games" for every conference game, shows that the Mountain West currently leads Division I basketball in games decided by 20 or more points (there are 31 conferences, though a few haven't yet started league play).

Of the league's 17 conference games, five have been decided by 20 or more, a 29.4% blowout clip. Even with the league as competitive as it has been over the past several years, that's not uncommon. 

Mountain West's rank in 'blowout' games:

• 2025-26: 1st of 31 conferences (5-17 — 29.4%)
• 2024-25: 2nd of 31 conferences (28-110 — 25.4%)
• 2023-24: 3rd of 32 conferences (21-99 — 21.2%)
• 2022-23: 14th of 32 conferences (14-99 — 14.1%)
• 2021-22: 4th of 32 conferences (20-97 — 20.6%)
• 2020-21: 2nd of 32 conferences (28-99 — 28.3%)

After UNM handed Wyoming a 20-point loss on Saturday in the Pit, a game that was close in the first half, Cowboys coach Sundance Wicks said on his postgame radio show that he was frustrated his team couldn't seem to play a complete game in either of their two league losses (they lost by 12 at home to Grand Canyon on Dec. 20).

"I'm highly disappointed in the fact that we can't come out there for two halves and compete against a team," Wicks told KFBC Radio, as reported by WyomingNews.com. "We (played a good) second half against Grand Canyon and a good first half against New Mexico. Twenty minutes is not how the game of basketball is played. It's 40 freaking minutes."

An inability to put together two great halves led the Mountain West to one of its most exciting games ever Saturday in San Diego. If KenPom tracked "blowouts" by half, he would have had two of them in what ended up being a 110-107 San Diego State win over Boise State in triple overtime.

The Aztecs beat Boise State 50-29 in the first half and the Broncos returned the favor by beating SDSU 50-29 in the second half.

Utah State coach Jerrod Calhoun, whose league-leading Aggies have already been on happy end of one of the league's five blowouts — a 42-point win over Colorado State on Dec. 20 — and nearly a second on Saturday when it beat San Jose State by 18 points, said he thinks a huge difference between good teams and great teams are halftime adjustments.

"Everybody (asks) 'Are halftime adjustments important?' I think they're one of the most important things in basketball," Calhoun said after Saturday's win. "You have to get organized at halftime. ... We got to make those adjustments and the kids got to adapt and change."

A look at the MW's five 'blowouts' this season:

• 42 — Utah State 100, Colorado State 58 (Dec. 20 in Logan)
• 28 — UNLV 67, Air Force 39 (Saturday in Las Vegas)
• 23 — New Mexico 88, San Jose State 65 (Dec. 20 in Albuquerque)
• 23 — San Diego State 81, Air Force 58 (Dec. 17 in San Diego)
• 20 — New Mexico 78, Wyoming 58 (Saturday in Albuquerque)

Silver Waves

The Silver Waves Media company released its 100 Most Impactful mid-major assistant coaches on Monday, and 18 Mountain West assistants, including four from UNM, were on the list:

• Boise State: Lexus Williams
• Colorado State: Tim Shelton
• Grand Canyon: Matt Lottich
• New Mexico: Mike Roberts, Sam Stapleton, Tom Tankelewicz and Michael Wilder. (UNM was tied with Gonzaga as having the most assistants on this list).
• Nevada: Craig Neal, Jarod Lucas, Lo Leath
• San Diego State: David Velasquez, JayDee Luster, Ryan Badrtalei
• UNLV: Justin Hawkins, Scott Garson
• Utah State: Ben Asher, Eric Haut
• Wyoming: Nick Whitmore

Other notables: Former Lobo players Kory Alford (Oral Roberts) and Cullen Neal (Murray State); former Lobo assistants Ralph Davis (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) and Preston Laird (NM State).

MW Players of the Week

These are the picks for player and freshman of the week from the Mountain West league office:

Player of the Week: B.J. Davis, San Diego State — The junior guard led the Aztecs to two wins (at San Jose State, vs. Boise State in triple overtime), averaging 20 points, seven rebounds and shooting 52.0%. He scored 10 of his 18 at SJSU in the final five minutes and his 22 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in the win over Boise State included a dramatic steal and game-tying 3-pointer that forced the second overtime.

Freshman of the Week: Tomislav Buljan, New Mexico — The forward from Croatia averaged a double-double (20.5 points, 11 rebounds) in a loss at Boise State and win vs. Wyoming. His 25-point, 12-rebound Wyoming game came on 11-of-13 shooting.

Weekly Nique

Colorado State fan and podcaster Steve Ivy and I also give out weekly awards in an effort to sometimes correct the mistakes made by the league — or at a minimum the Weekly Nique gets other worthy names into the Mountain West discussion.

The Weekly Nique is named in honor of former CSU Rams star and current NBA player Nique Clifford who, somehow, earned only one MW weekly award in his college career.

This week, we have no problem with the league's picks, but here for some shout-outs:

Weekly Nique POW: Buljan, UNM — Yes, he won the league's FOW, but he's also at times playing like one of the best players in the league. Last week was one of those weeks.

Also worth noting, Nevada's Tyler Rolison, CSU's Carey Booth and Utah State's 1-2 punch of Mason Falslev and M.J. Collins, who seem to be alternating stellar games, which means they often cancel each other out for the weekly awards.

Weekly Nique FOW: Elijah Perryman, Utah State — the backup point guard came into Saturday's SJSU win and finished with 13 points and 10 assists in 22 minutes. Not bad for a backup point guard (or a starting one).

Other freshmen playing well, Wyoming's Nasir Meyer and UNM's Uriah Tenette.

Poll position

No Mountain West team is ranked in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll, but Utah State did receive votes.

Utah State: 27 points, four spots out of rankings (No. 25 UCF has 132 points), appeared on 11 of 61 voter ballots with a high ranking of No. 20 by Victor Flores of the Billings (Montana) Gazette.

My five

Here are the five games I'm most looking forward to this week around the Mountain West (listed in order of when they'll be played):

• New Mexico at Colorado State: Tuesday, 7 p.m. MT (TheMW) — CSU has the highest 3-point attempt rate in the Mountain West (20th nationally) and ranks No. 2 in the country (out of 365 Division I teams) in 3-point shooting percentage (42.1% vs. DI teams). UNM allows the highest 3-point rate in the MW and third highest in the nation (52.6%). If CSU is hitting, does the fact that they have no inside presence even matter?
• UNLV at Wyoming: Tuesday, 8 p.m. MT (CBS Sports Network) — Two of the most energetic coaches in basketball go at it 7,220 feet above sea level with UNLV off to a 2-0 league start, albeit against the two teams picked 11th and 12th in the league and Wyoming is 1-2, albeit both losses are to teams picked in the top five in the preseason poll. Let's find out who's got some staying power in that middle of the pack discussion.
• San Diego State at Nevada: Tuesday, 9 p.m. MT (FS1) — It's 3-0 vs. 3-0. It's Dutcher vs. Alford and Neal. It should be a heck of a basketball game.
• Grand Canyon at Boise State: Wednesday, 9 p.m. MT (FS1) — The two biggest teams in the Mountain West (Boise State ranked 16th, GCU 17th nationally in average roster height on KenPom.com), are coming off losses, but both still believe they can be top four teams in this league. It'll be hard to get there if you start 1-2 (GCU) or 1-4 (BSU).
• Utah State at Boise State: Saturday, 7 p.m. MT (CBS Sports Network) — At Nevada, vs. New Mexico, at San Diego State, vs. Grand Canyon and vs. Utah State. Boise State fans and coaches tend to think the world is out to get them sometimes. The start of league play this year sure makes it hard to argue. As of this writing, these are the league's top two rated KenPom teams.

Reach Geoff Grammer at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.