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Aggies and Lobos Off to Fast Start in Mountain West Race

> Stephen Vilardo's weekly column on the 2024-25 conference men's basketball season


  By Stephen Vilardo, SuperWest Sports

January 11, 2025



Mountain West Conference logoThe Mountain West men’s basketball season is in full swing.

In football, we saw the conference rank as the top non-Power Conference, and the same could be true on the hardwood.

Last season, the conference finished ranked higher than a couple of power conferences. This season, the MW is sixth in the conference NET rankings behind the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, Big East, and ACC.

The Mountain West currently has five squads within the top 70 of the NET rankings. Only seven conferences can make that claim so far this season.


Aggies and Lobos Off to Hot Starts
Utah State and New Mexico have opened fast with 5-0 conference records to sit atop the standings.

The Aggies are ranked 25th and have opened with impressive wins over Saint Mary’s and Iowa in the non-conference, and conference road wins at Nevada and San Diego State.

Jerrod Calhoun’s current 15-1 record in his first season at the helm is the fourth-best start to a season in USU school history through 16-plus games. And they can match last season’s 16-1 mark with a win over Boise State on Saturday.

The Aggies’ win over Iowa was one of 10 such wins the conference has posted over opponents from the ACC, Big 12, Big East, and Big Ten this season.

Utah State head coach Jerrod Calhoun | Denis Poroy/AP

The Lobos’ fast start (6-0 in conference play and 14-3 overall) is a product of their fast style of play. UNM currently ranks fifth in the nation with 18.0 fastbreak points per game.

That blistering pace is fueled by forced turners, which the Lobos are doing on 20.1% of their opponent’s possessions this season, resulting in a high-scoring offense that is 16th nationally, totaling 85.4 points per outing.

New Mexico blew out San Diego State 62-48 on Saturday in a key matchup of conference contenders.

Boise State and Utah State will meet in Logan in another pivotal January matchup that could factor in the championship race in a few months, especially if either of the road teams can steal a win on their opponent’s home floor.


Falcons, Spartans, Bulldogs, and Wolf Pack Struggling
On the other end of the standings, four schools are 0-4 in conference play: Air Force, San Jose State, Fresno State, and a bit surprisingly Nevada.

That number of winless squads will be halved at least by next week as the Spartans will visit the Falcons on Saturday just hours before the Wolf Pack visit the Bulldogs.

It’s the first of two games for Nevada next week against winless foes as they will host Air Force on Tuesday.

Another potential good one to watch as the first half of next week’s action concludes features Utah State heading to UNLV for a Wednesday night affair, giving the Runnin’ Rebels another crack at knocking off one of the contenders.


Player of the Week: Nelly Junior Joseph, New Mexico

The senior center from Nigeria has been a double-double machine this season and continued last week.

In a pair of wins over Nevada and Wyoming, he averaged 16.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks per game.


Freshman of the Week: Taj DeGourville, San Diego State

The freshman from Las Vegas has been productive off the bench for the Aztecs all season.

In two games since the calendar turned to 2025, he has averaged 8.5 points and 4.5 rebounds as SDSU picked up a big road win over Boise State and dominated Air Force at home.