| San José State (9-4, 0-0 MW) vs. UNLV (11-1, 0-0 MW) | |
| When | Wednesday, December 28 | 7 p.m. PT |
| Location | Provident Credit Union Event Center, San Jose, Calif. |
| Broadcast & Statistics | Mountain West Network KTRB 860 AM Live Stats |
| Game Notes | San José State | UNLV |
| Rosters | San José State | UNLV |
After posting one of the best non-conference records in the past 20 years, the San José State men's basketball team opens Mountain West play Wednesday evening as the UNLV Runnin' Rebels come to the Provident Credit Union Event Center. San José State enters Wednesday night's game with a 9-4 record after defeating Cal Poly, 65-43, on December 20. Omari Moore led the team with 15 points and three assists, while Myron (MJ) Amey Jr. came off the bench to score 10 points. Ibrahima Diallo and Robert Vaihola each grabbed eight boards to lead the Spartans in the win.
Coach @CoachMiles was excited to get Mountain West play started after the team's victory over Cal Poly last week.#AllSpartans | #RunToTheFight pic.twitter.com/LDsAuO4t3H
— San Jose State Men's Basketball (@SanJoseStateMBB) December 28, 2022
ABOUT UNLV: The Runnin' Rebels enter Wednesday night's game with an 11-1 overall record, the best non-conference record by percentage in 32 years at the school. The team won their first 10 games of the season including a 60-52 upset of then-No.21 Dayton in November. The only loss for UNLV came against another Bay Area school as San Francisco won 75-73 on December 17. Head coach Kevin Kruger is in his second season at the helm of the program with a 29-15 record.
Series Record - 6-45 (UNLV won last 10) The two schools first faced each other in 1983.
Last SJSU Win - 76-74, Feb 11, 2017, Las Vegas - Terrell Brown made a contested jumper with 13.1 seconds left for the Spartan win and the season-series sweep over UNLV. Jaycee Hillsman led the team with 16 points, one of four Spartans in double figures including Brandon Clarke who had 13 points and five blocks.
Last Meeting - L, 70-62, Jan. 22, 2022, Las Vegas - Trey Anderson led SJSU with 19 points and nine rebounds, while Omari Moore added 17 points and seven rebounds in the loss at the Thomas & Mack Center. UNLV led from the first bucket which happened 30 seconds inot the game.
NET RANKINGS (as of 12/25): The Spartans are in the top-150 of the NET rankings, checking in at 127 after games played on December 25. After the win at Santa Clara, the Spartans jumped up for 191 to 132, with a Quadrant 2 win over the Broncos. The team has two Quadrant 3 wins (Ball State & Northern Colorado) and five Quadrant 4 wins.
MOST NON-CONFERENCE WINS SINCE 2010-11: With nine non-conference wins this season, the Spartans won the most since the 2010-10 season when SJSU won 10 non-conference contests. The last team to win nine non-conference games was the 1999-2000 team who finished the season 15-15.
MOUNTAIN WEST OPENERS: Since joining the Mountain West for the 2013-14 season, San José State has an 0-9 record in conference openers. The Spartans have opened the MW season on the road five times and faced Utah State in five of the nine games. Last year's MW opener was delayed until January 11 as the first three games were delayed due to COVID-19 concerns.
Jan. 1, 2014 H Nevada L, 62-50
Dec. 31, 2014 A Utah State L, 61-33
Dec. 30, 2015 H Utah State L, 80-71
Dec. 28, 2016 A Nevada L, 80-55
Dec. 27, 2017 A Utah State L, 86-72
Jan. 2, 2019 H Fresno State L, 73-56
Dec. 4, 2019 H No. 25 Utah State L, 71-59
Dec. 21, 2020 A Utah State L,107-62
Jan. 11, 2022 A Fresno State L, 79-59
CONFERENCE OPENERS: More notes on conference openers for the Spartans -
- The last time SJSU won the first conference game of the season was the 2012-13 season as a member of the Western Athletic Conference. The Spartans started the WAC season 2-0 with wins at Texas State, 72-55 (12/29/12) and at UTSA, 80-67 (12/31/12).
- The last home-opening conference game won was during the 2009-10 season. The Spartans won the home opener & first WAC game of the season with a 78-75 win over Idaho on January 4, 2010.
- Memorable home opener - 4-overtime loss to Boise State when both schools were members of the WAC. The Broncos won 102-101 on January 6, 2011. The Spartans came back from a 16-point second-half deficit and hit tough perimeter shots to go to the first, third and fourth overtimes. The game matched a 1985 win at Cal State Fullerton for the longest San José State men's basketball game. Justin Graham played all 60 minutes and had 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
CAREER RANKINGS: Omari Moore ranks among San José career leaders in three categories. He moved into fifth place all-time in assists at 319, passing Marmet Williams during the Cal Poly game. Moore is seventh in blocked shots at 74, needing just one move into sixth place with Darnell Williams. Moore is tied for eighth all-time in steals with 106 and needs three to tie with Chris McNealy in seventh place.
Moore is also nearing 1,000 career points, looking to become the 16th Spartans in school history to score 1,000 points at San José State. The last Spartan to score 1,000+ career points was Ryan Welage who finished with 1,258 points from 2015-18, good for sixth all-time at SJSU.
UP NEXT: The Spartans go on the road for the next two Mountain West games, finishing 2022 with a game this Saturday afternoon at Colorado State. Tip is set for 2 p.m. MT/1 p.m. PT. The team then travels to Boise State for a game on Tuesday, January 3, at 7 p.m. MT/6 p.m. PT. Both games can be heard on KTRB, 860 AM, and seen on the Mountain West Network.