UNLV Men's Basketball Ousted From Mountain West Tournament by Utah State

The No. 6 seed UNLV Runnin' Rebels men's basketball team saw their run in the Mountain West Conference Tournament come to an end on Thursday night when the No. 3 seed Utah State Aggies knocked them out of the tournament.

Utah State won the game handily by a score of 70 - 58. UNLV made a valiant effort over the past month on the season and played far better than anyone expected after injuries took a toll and Dedan Thomas Jr went down; however, it was always going to be an uphill battle to make a deep run in the Mountain West Tourney.

Final pic.twitter.com/rjvk0ceNv7
— UNLV Men's Basketball (@TheRunninRebels) March 14, 2025

UNLV's head coach, Kevin Kruger, understood they were short-handed, but loved the heart and toughness this Rebels squad showed. "What an awesome 40-minute fight by our guys," Kruger said. "Obviously, we came up a little bit short, but going into a Utah State match-up, you know you're going to have to play incredibly hard for 40 minutes because of how hard they play and how together they play. With some of the mileage that we've asked the guys to put on their legs over the last couple of weeks, I thought it was just an absolutely awesome fight by our guys to compete and really do everything in their power to have a chance to win against a really good team."

What Kruger said is undeniably true, and we saw unlikely stars step up again in this game. Jaden Henley had one last big performance, leading the team with 19 points and chipping in with a career-high five assists and five rebounds. Who knows where this team would have been without him down the stretch at the end of the season after Thomas went down?

Jalen Hill had another big game as well, putting in 13 points of his own. The Rebels managed to cut a double-digit lead down to four in the second half, but in the end, the Aggies were just too much to overcome on this night.

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