It was a hectic week for Mountain West teams in postseason play, with coaches on the move and teams looking to extend their seasons. After a first round win over Villanova, Utah State had a second round game against top-seeded Arizona. Meanwhile, UNLV, Nevada, and New Mexico all looked to move past the round of 16 in the NIT. Let’s take a look at how each of these four teams fared in this edition of “The Good, the Bad, the Ugly.”
The Good
New Mexico
The Lobos are the last team standing and will continue their
quest for an NIT championship, as they take on Tulsa on Thursday night. After a dominating first round win over Sam Houston, New Mexico did not let up in wins over George Washington and Saint Joseph’s. In three NIT wins, the Lobos average margin of victory is 18 points. Freshman standouts Tomislav Buljan and Jake Hall have been phenomenal in this tournament and will likely be highly sought after when the season concludes. Here’s to hoping the Aggies can hold on to their star players.
Nevada
Their season may be over, but the Wolf Pack put up a heck of a fight in the NIT. Nevada followed their opening round victory over Murray State with a comfortable home win over Liberty. The Wolf Pack were led by impressive performances by Vaughn Weems (23 points and 5 rebounds) and Corey Camper Jr. (17 points and 8 rebounds). Unfortunately for Nevada, their season came to an end in a narrow defeat by Auburn. It was a valiant effort, but the Wolf Pack fell just short .
The Bad
UNLV
The Rebels were impressive in their opening round victory over UC Irvine; in the win, we saw one of their most well-rounded performances of the year. They followed that up with a dud against Tulsa. Like much of the season, the Rebels relied too heavily on Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, who had 29 points to keep the Rebels in the game. Gibbs-Lawhorn and Tyrin Jones combined to score 47 of the Rebels’ points while the rest of the team had only 19 points and shot just 30.7% from the field. This feels like a team on the brink. If Coach Pastner can hold on to his young talent, this team could make a run next season.
The Ugly
Utah State
The Aggies aren’t in the “Ugly” category for their loss to Arizona. They put up a valiant effort against, arguably, the best team in the country. Utah State showed a lot of grit and determination in their 78-66 loss. They gave up the fewest points to Arizona in the tournament and cut the Wildcats’ lead down to four on multiple occasions in the second half. It was the news after the game that head coach Jerrod Calhoun had accepted the head coaching job at Cincinnati after just two years with the Aggies that put them here. It was heartbreaking news for a program that has struggled to hold on to head coaches. Hopefully a move to the PAC 12 will help this team find continued success and give them the financial ability to hold on to a head coach.
How did you feel about Utah State’s performance against Arizona? Are you surprised Calhoun left for a job at Cincinnati? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
