MW resets with conference play starting

Saturday, December 20

Arena-Auditorium • Laramie, Wyo.

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Wyoming

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

12/17/2025 8:45:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro, Lopes Insider Blog

GCU's 1st Mountain West season surprised before it began

By: Paul Coro

When conference coaches and players gathered in Las Vegas for Mountain West Basketball Media Day in October, interviews tried to offer a peek into what the men's basketball season might look like.

Six weeks later, Grand Canyon has a real view into its competition for its first Mountain West season, one that started unexpectedly slow in nonconference play before a recent resurgence.

Conference play starts Wednesday night when Air Force plays at San Diego State with the Falcons having just two fewer wins than the unanimous preseason favorite Aztecs. GCU opens its Mountain West era Saturday at Wyoming, which is 9-2 after being picked ninth in the MW preseason poll.

Here is a Mountain West overview entering conference play:

Top 3 NET teams

No. 29 Utah State
No. 39 Boise State
No. 52 Wyoming

Utah State (9-1) holds the best NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking after taking its only loss at South Florida (NET No. 75), but its usually efficient shooting (51%) and uptempo play (17 fastbreak points per game) needed overtime to beat Montana State at home. Boise State's NET is misleading because its home loss to Division II Hawaii Pacific is not factored, but it will be factored by the NCAA Tournament committee. Since then, the Broncos nearly upset USC, won at Butler and beat Saint Mary's in Idaho. GCU ranks No. 121 in NET.

Top 3 MW upset wins

Fresno State 75, Utah Valley 74 (Nov. 15)
UNLV 75, Stanford 74 (Dec. 7)
UNLV 92, Memphis 78 (Nov. 16)

These were the top three upsets based on current NET differential between the teams. Both of UNLV's upset wins came on the road. Fresno State, which is 6-5 after going 6-26 last season, knocked off Utah Valley and Stephen F. Austin but has home losses to USC Upstate and CSU Bakersfield. Saturday's game at Wyoming is GCU's chance at its first upset win of the season.

Top 3 MW upset losses

Denver 83, Colorado State 81 (Nov. 21)
CSU Bakersfield 76, Fresno State 71 ((Nov. 30)
UC Davis 75, Nevada 71

These were the top three upsets based on current NET differential between the teams. Colorado State (9-2) stunned with a home loss to Denver because the Rams are leading the nation in field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, effective field goal percentage and free throw percentage. Colorado State's Saturday opener at Utah State is an enticing one. GCU's only upset loss this season came to Youngstown State in the second game.

Top 3 MW scoring teams

Wyoming, 87.9 points per game
Colorado State, 85.7 points per game
Utah State, 84.5 points per game

Despite Colorado State shooting better than any team in the nation, Wyoming still has scored more points per game because the Cowboys are relentless with 42.7 points per game from their bench. On Tuesday, Wyoming shot 54% to win at South Dakota State, which had been the Summit League's top defense before the Cowboys won 87-72. GCU is averaging 74.9 points per game after scoring 78 and 82 points in the past two games.

Top 3 MW defensive teams

New Mexico, 39.9% opponent shooting
Utah State, 41.0% opponent shooting
Wyoming, 41.3% opponent shooting

New Mexico boasts the lowest opponent field goal percentage because its defense packs the paint and lures teams into shooting 3-pointers far more often than the national norm. With no returning players, first-year Lobos head coach Eric Olen led a 98-71 victory over Santa Clara (8-3) on Dec. 6. GCU is not far behind this group with its in-season defensive improvement dropping opponent shooting to 42.9% on the season.

Top 3 MW scorers

MJ Collins, Utah State guard, 20.6 points per game
Colby Garland, San Jose State guard, 18.9 points per game
Jake Heidberger, Fresno State, 18.5 points per game

In this hard-to-predict era of remodeled rosters, all three of the Mountain West's top scorers were not selected for the Preseason All-Mountain West Team. MJ Collins, a 6-foot-4 guard, averaged 7.4 points last season at Vanderbilt after starting two seasons for Virginia Tech. He scored 40 points this season against Davidson. GCU's top scorer is senior guard Jaden Henley at 16.6 points per game.

Top 3 MW rebounders

Nana Owusu-Anane, GCU power forward, 9.6 rebounds per game
Tomislav Buljan, New Mexico power forward, 9.1 rebounds per game
Yaphet Moundi, San Jose State power forward, 8.2 rebounds per game

After missing last season for a shoulder injury, GCU graduate power forward Nana Owusu-Anane has grabbed a career-high 9.6 rebounds per game with three double-doubles. Nearly one-third of his boards have come on the offensive glass, and he snatched a season-high 15 rebounds against Stetson this month. The Lopes rank sixth nationally for fewest offensive rebounds allowed.