Pack opens year at Fresno State, ends it at San Diego State
Nevada and the Mountain West announced the men’s basketball conference schedule last Tuesday.
The Pack will look to defend both its regular season and conference tournament titles in the third year under head coach Eric Musselman, who signed a five-year contract with $1 million annually after the season. It is the richest contract in Wolf Pack athletics history by a wide margin. Nevada boasted a 14-4 conference record in the 2016-17 season, going 8-1 in Lawlor Events Center against Mountain West foes.
“Our Mountain West schedule is extremely challenging, beginning with our opening game at Fresno State and ending on the road at San Diego State,” Musselman said. “We feel like the league is very deep, one through 11, and every game is extremely important.”
The conference schedule is subject to change as games may shift a day to accommodate television broadcasts. The television schedule will be announced at a later date along with tipoff times.
The schedule features home-and-home series for eight of the conference matchups, while the Pack will only play New Mexico in Reno and Air Force on the road due the unbalanced schedule.
That means no return trip to Albuquerque for Nevada after pulling off a near miraculous 25-point comeback at The Pit this past season.
The Wolf Pack’s first conference game is set for Dec. 27 at Fresno State, while the conference home opener is set for Dec. 30 against New Mexico. Rival UNLV will visit Lawlor Events Center on Feb. 7 and the Pack will head to Vegas on Feb. 28. The first rematch of the regular season and tournament championship game will be on Feb. 3 when Nevada travels to Fort Collins to face Colorado State. The Rams will make the return trip to Reno on Feb. 25, the Pack’s only Sunday game this year.
Last year’s regular season title game down to the final game last year when Nevada hosted Colorado State. That could happen again this upcoming season as Nevada closes the regular season at San Diego State, which will be led by Brian Dutcher, who took over for the retired Steve Fisher.
The 2018 Mountain West Championship is set to begin on March 7 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas with the tournament winner being crowned on March 10.
Nevada’s 2017-18 Mountain West schedule
Dec. 27 at Fresno State
Dec. 30 vs New Mexico
Jan. 3 vs Wyoming
Jan. 6 at Air Force
Jan. 13 vs Utah State
Jan. 17 at San Jose State
Jan. 20 vs Boise State
Jan. 24 at Wyoming
Jan. 31 vs Fresno State
Feb. 3 at Colorado State
Feb. 7 vs UNLV
Feb. 10 vs San Diego State
Feb. 14 at Boise State
Feb. 17 at Utah State
Feb. 21 vs San Jose State
Feb. 25 vs Colorado State
Feb. 28 at UNLV
March 3 at San Diego State
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