Happy Feast Week, everyone! With multiple intriguing matchups to look forward to, here are our Mountain West men’s basketball power rankings heading into the week!
1. Utah State
And then there was one! Utah State moved
to 6-0 Sunday with a dominant 34-point win over Davidson in the Charleston Classic. This came after a 21-point win over Tulane. Utah State is the clear-cut No. 1 heading into Thanskgiving week. MJ Collins’ 40-point performance — on 19 shots in 28 minutes, no less — was the conference’s 20th-ever 40-point performance and the first since Donovan Dent’s 40 on Dec. 18, 2024, against VCU, according to Stathead.
2. San Diego State
Maybe I should’ve give more grace to San Diego State after what Troy did to USC two nights after beating SDSU in double overtime. But I’m not, even though I’m still confident that San Diego State is one of the only at-large teams left. It was the Aztecs’ only game of the week, and their defense looked nothing like a Dutcher-led Aztec team. They deserved to be dinged this week, but they can make up for it with a win against either Michigan or Oregon this week.
3. New Mexico
New Mexico moves up to No. 3 in this week’s rankings after its two-point win over Mississippi State on Friday. Deyton Albury, who did not play in the first half of Friday’s game after being suspended due to a cheap shot committed on Thursday, netted the game-winning layup with 30 seconds left, his fifth basket of the game. Tomislav Buljan was phenomenal and has been an absolute vacuum on the glass this season, hauling in 11.8 rebounds per game with a 25.0 percent rebound rate!
4. Colorado State
Colorado State drops a spot after losing by two to Denver, who was ranked outside of the top-300 on KenPom heading into the game. Congrats, CSU, you have joined the party! You still can’t say enough about how good Kyle Jorgensen has been this season. He had 29 points and six rebounds against Denver and is averaging 17.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists on an absurd 81.3 percent true shooting through five games.
5. Boise State
Boise State’s defense has looked better over its last three games, holding teams to 40.5 percent shooting and 30.5 percent from deep. Boise’s offense still looks murky heading into the Maui Invitational. They will face USC, NC State/Seton Hall and Washington State/ASU/Texas/Chaminade. These are measuring stick games, so I’m very interested to see how they fare.
6. Wyoming
Wyoming lost their first (and only) road game of the season this past week to Sam Houston State, but rebounded against Norfolk State with an eight-point win. They still crack our top-6 despite not having faced a team in the team in the top-180 of KenPom — essentially the top-half of D-I. That will end this week against Texas Tech (No. 31) on Sunday after a mid-week contest against Denver, who recently upset Colorado State inside Moby.
7. UNLV
UNLV’s highs are high, and their lows are low. It’s the same very year! They won their only game of the week against St. Joseph’s, 99-85, with six double-figure scorers. I still maintain the belief they’re one of the most talented teams in the MW, and they actualized that against St. Joe’s despite only shooting 4-of-15 from 3-point range. It’s hard to score 99 points with only four threes, but that’s what happens when you get to the free-throw line **checks notes** 49 times.
8. Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon got back on track on Friday with a 13-point win over Northwestern State. They eviscerated Northwestern State on the glass (41-17) while netting 14 more points at the stripe (30-16), including 12 made free throws from the team’s leading scorer, Jaden Henley (22 PTS). If there’s one thing that’s impressed me most with them, it’s on the backboards, limiting teams to just one possession while rewarding themselves with extra bites at the apple.
9. Nevada
Nevada played with fire against Pacific and Southern Illinois before UC Davis finally burned them. They did a good job bouncing back against UC Santa Barbara behind Corey Camper’s career day, but questions about this team’s depth and offensive process remain. They will face Washington on Thursday, their second game away from Lawlor, for their only game of the week.
10. Fresno State
Look at the Bulldogs go! They improved to 5-2 with wins over Stephen F. Austin and New Orleans this past week. Jake Heidbreder erupted for 33 points on 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range in 39 minutes against New Orleans, while DeShawn Gory and Zaon Collins were the biggest standouts in their nailbiter over Stephen F. Austin.
11. Air Force
Air Force tallied three-straight home wins over Alabama State, SIUE and IU Indy. Good news: They get back into KenPom’s top-300! Bad news: They just concluded the easiest part of their schedule, with upcoming games against Northern Colorado (184), South Dakota (289) and Pacific (188). They haven’t beaten a team inside the top-200 since … November of last year.
12. San Jose State
San Jose State recorded its first D-I win of the season this week over Southern, 80-66. Iona transfer Yaphet Moundi continues to be awesome for the Spartans, averaging 11.8 points and 10.2 rebounds, including a 21-point, 11-rebound performance in their most recent win. Jermaine Washington has been a fun breakout story, too.
