Mountain West men’s basketball update: Surging New Mexico takes command of conference race

New Mexico may be the hottest men’s basketball team in the country.

The Mountain West Conference-leading Lobos (20-4, 12-1) have won six straight games and 13 of their last 14 overall. New Mexico’s only blemish in two months was a 71-70 road loss at San Jose State on Jan. 14 that came on a last-second shot.

“I’ll enjoy it for a couple of hours when I fly home tonight,” head coach Richard Pitino said of the Lobos’ recent success following Saturday’s 88-53 drubbing of Air Force (3-21, 0-13). “But it’s stressful, man. All of these programs are really good. They are tough to go against.”

The Lobos, who are up to No. 36 in the NCAA NET Rankings, host reeling Wyoming (11-13, 4-9) Wednesday night before a big Sunday matchup with Utah State (21-3, 11-2) at The Pit. Earlier this month, New Mexico put together a dominant second-half performance in an 82-63 win at Utah State.

“I think we’re playing a high level right now,” Pitino said. “I love our approach. They don’t seem to be complacent in any way, which is good to see.”

Utah State bounced back from the New Mexico loss with road wins at Wyoming and Fresno State (5-19, 1-12). The Aggies, who host Colorado State (15-8, 9-3) at 9 p.m. Mountain time Tuesday night, hold a 9-1 record in single-digit games in MWC play.

“You’ve just got to figure out how to win,” Utah State coach Jerrod Calhoun said after Friday’s 89-81 victory at Fresno State. “You can never be comfortable in this business. You can never be comfortable as a team. You’re two bad weeks from being eliminated, one bad week from really putting yourself behind. … So you have to be on edge. Everybody says ‘Oh, you’ve got to relax.’ There is no time to relax.”

Colorado State regrouped from a blowout loss to New Mexico with an impressive 68-63 home victory over San Diego State (15-6, 8-4) last weekend. The big win gave the Rams sole possession of third place in the MWC standings with a half-game cushion on Boise State (17-7, 9-4).

The Broncos have won four straight games entering Saturday’s 8 p.m. showdown with San Diego State at Viejas Arena. The Aztecs won the first meeting between the teams in Boise, 76-68.

Boise State, which routed San Jose State (12-13, 5-8) 79-52 at home last weekend, is 0-4 against the top half of the MWC and 9-0 against everyone else.

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