RUNNIN’ REBELS SEEDED NO. 3 FOR MW
TOURNAMENT
UNLV men’s basketball team to face No. 6 seed Air Force on Wednesday at 12 p.m. in
quarterfinals
The UNLV men’s basketball team finished the regular season third in the Mountain West standings to earn the No. 3 seed for the Reese’s MW Men’s Basketball Championship, which will be held at the Thomas & Mack Center, Tuesday-Saturday, March 12-16.
The Runnin’ Rebels (23-8, 10-6) will face No. 6 seed Air Force (17-12, 8-8) in the 12 p.m. quarterfinal game on Wednesday, which will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
The Runnin’ Rebels are 1-0 vs. the Falcons in MW Tournament play, winning a 2011 quarterfinal meeting. UNLV holds a league-best 21-9 all-time record in the MW Tournament, while Air Force is 2-13. The Runnin’ Rebels are split this season’s series with the Falcons and lead the overall series by a 29-9 margin.
UNLV is 11-1 all-time in the quarterfinals of the MW Tournament, with its only loss coming in 2009 to San Diego State. The MW Tournament has been held in Las Vegas 10 times (2000-03, 2007-12) and UNLV has won the title on three occasions (2000, 2007, 2008). The Runnin’ Rebels have advanced to seven MW Tournament championship games (six in Las Vegas and one in Denver).
New Mexico enters the MW Tournament as the No. 1 seed for the second time in the league’s 14-year history. The Lobos captured their fourth MW regular-season title, which was their second outright, with a 13-3 record this year.
UNM (26-5, 13-3) will face the winner of Tuesday’s first-round game between No. 8 seed Wyoming (18-12, 4-12) and No. 9 seed Nevada, Reno (12-18, 3-13) on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. No. 2 seed Colorado State (24-7, 11-5) will play No. 7 seed Fresno State (11-18, 5-11) in the 2:30 p.m. quarterfinal game on Wednesday, while No. 4 seed San Diego State (21-9, 9-7) and Boise State (21-9, 9-7) will meet at 9 p.m.
The semifinals are scheduled for Friday, March 15 at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., while the championship game will be held Saturday, March 16 at 3 p.m. All quarterfinal and semifinal games will be televised by CBS Sports Network, while the championship will be shown on CBS. The winner of the tournament will receive the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The winner of UNLV vs. Air Force will play in the 8:30 p.m. semifinal game on Friday.
All-session and single-session tickets for the 2013 Reese’s Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championship may be purchased at the Thomas & Mack Center box office, online at UNLVTickets.com or by calling 702-739-FANS (3267). The Thomas & Mack Center box office will be open Monday, March 11 at 10 a.m.
The MW Tournament has produced six different champions in its 13-year history. UNLV (2000, 2007, 2008), San Diego State (2002, 2006, 2010, 2011) and New Mexico (2005, 2012) are the only current MW teams to have won multiple titles, while Colorado State (2003) has captured one crown.
The No. 1 seed has won the tournament just twice in 13 years. UNLV won the inaugural championship as the top seed in 2000, while San Diego State became the second No. 1 seed to claim the crown in 2006.
Teams seeded No. 2 through No. 6 have all captured tournament championships, while the No. 7 seed is 0-1 in title games. The No. 8 and No. 9 seeds have yet to appear in the championship game.
A MW regular-season champion has made it to the finals of the MWC Tournament nine times in 13 years, winning the championship six times. San Diego State is the only team to win both an outright regular-season title and the tournament crown in the same year (2006).
UNLV has played in the championship game in six of the nine years that the MW Tournament has been held at the Thomas & Mack Center and it was eligible to compete (2000, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2010) – UNLV was ineligible to compete in the 2001 tournament.
2013 REESE’S MOUNTAIN WEST MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Tuesday, March 12 (First Round)
5 p.m., No. 8 Seed Wyoming vs. No. 9 Seed Nevada, Reno, Mountain West Network
Wednesday, March 13 (Quarterfinals)
12 p.m., No. 3 Seed UNLV vs. No. 6 Seed Air Force, CBS Sports Network
2:30 p.m., No. 2 Seed Colorado State vs. No. 7 Seed Fresno State, CBS Sports Network
6:30 p.m., No. 1 Seed New Mexico vs. No. 8/9 Winner, CBS Sports Network
9 p.m., No. 4 Seed San Diego State vs. No. 5 Seed Boise State, CBS Sports Network
Friday, March 15 (Semifinals)
6 p.m., Quarterfinal #3 and #4 Winners, CBS Sports Network
8:30 p.m., Quarterfinal #1 and #2 Winners, CBS Sports Network
Saturday, March 16
3 p.m., Championship Game, CBS