2024-25 Mountain West Basketball Power Rankings: December 30

Can you believe we’re already two days away from 2025? How times flies! Let’s dive into the last power rankings for the Mountain West men’s basketball slate, shall we?

1. Utah State

We have a new No. 1! Utah State wing Tucker Anderson drilled a season-high four 3-pointers Saturday, accounting for half of their makes from beyond the arc and nearly 30 percent of the game’s 14 made 3-pointers. Though his biggest came with seven seconds left, drilling the eventual-game-winning wing triple over Jared Coleman-Jones to reward Utah State with their first road win over an AP Top 25 team since 1991 … the Aggies keep on coming!!! What a comeback!

2. Boise State

As a result of San Diego State’s loss, Boise State moves up to No. 2 in this week’s rankings. They secured their first two wins of MW play last week with an 18-point win over Air Force followed by a narrow two-point win over San Jose State. Leon Rice secured his 300th career win and Broncos point guard Alvaro Cardenas dished out double-digit assists for the third time this season in his return to San Jose. Boise has now won four straight for the second time this season and will have Wyoming and SDSU on its slate this week.

3. San Diego State

San Diego State blew an 18-point lead and shot just 38.5 percent from the floor against Utah State, including a combined 10-of-31 (3-16 3PT) from Nick Boyd, BJ Davis, Myles Byrd and Magoon Gwath. It wasn’t the cleanest game, with both teams forcing a combined 23 live-ball turnovers. But Utah State’s dominant second-half—outscoring them 45-26 in the final 21:55—was the difference. They have a chance to bounce back this week on the road Saturday against Boise State—their second true road contest of the season.

4. New Mexico

The Lobos had a very good collective effort Saturday on the road against Colorado State, with four players scoring at least 10 points with zero scoring more than 14. Nelly Junior Joseph hauled down 11 rebounds for the third time in four games while Donovan Dent tallied six of the team’s 13 total assists—which is a very low number for a team that scored 76 points with a 54.8 eFG% on the road. It was one of UNM’s best all-around efforts this season, all things considered.

5. Colorado State

Colorado State coughed up the rock a season-high 17 times against New Mexico on Saturday, leading to 16 extra Lobo points. Colorado State fell behind 21 in the first half and couldn’t quite mount any sort of comeback in the second half. Saturday’s loss was their second loss at home this season, but they look to build momentum with their next three games coming against San Jose State, Fresno State and UNLV.

6. UNLV

It was a scary start to the second half for UNLV after leading by 18 on the break. But after a string of possessions where they were just shooting (and missing) 3s, it started getting back to what got them up ahead early: Generating paint touches. UNLV outscored Fresno by 22 points in the paint and shot 61.0 percent inside the arc compared to Fresno’s 48.3 percent, leading to their second-highest scoring output (87 points) since opening night against Alabama State, a fringe top-275 program.

7. Wyoming

Don’t look now, but Wyoming is now three games above .500 while climbing over 80 spots in NET over the last two-plus weeks. Every time that Nevada tried to mount a big run, Wyoming countered with an uppercut of its own, securing a massive 66-63 win. This was Sundance Wicks’ biggest win with Wyoming to date—Wyoming’s third straight win and its first Quad 2 win of the season. The Pokes look to keep their six-game home win streak alive Tuesday against Boise State.

8. Nevada

It’s been a consistently inconsistent trek for the Wolf Pack since their 4-0 start to begin the 2024-25 season. They are now 0-2 in MW play for the first time since 2012-13, when it went 12-19 (3-13 MW). Their bench was outclassed by Wyoming — 30-12 — who they have lost to six straight times on the road, dating back to the 2019-20 season. It doesn’t get any easier for Nevada, who host a surging Utah State team Tuesday followed by traveling to The Pit on Friday.

9. San Jose State

San Jose State nearly stole their first MW win of the season at home against Boise. Josh Uduje scored a team-high 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, but the rest of the team combined to shoot just 40.5 percent from the floor. They also got out-muscled on the glass (38-26), allowing 16 Boise State offensive rebounds that led to 16 additional Bronco points, which made the difference. No rebounds, no rings!

10. Fresno State

Fresno State’s rim protection has been bad all season, and it was at the forefront of its struggles Saturday against UNLV. Fresno State has allowed at least 80 points in all of their last seven losses, even though their offense has been more functional of late. Expect a track meet Tuesday against New Mexico, who’s 10th in the country in adjusted tempo, according to KenPom.

11. Air Force

Air Force did not play this week, but will host both UNLV and Wyoming this week.