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Taking a Look At Week Eights’s Mountain West Opponent’s Performances in Week Seven
Each Mountain West Teams Opponents for Week 8
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Take a look at each team’s opponents for this week and how they did last week.
Future Foes Week Seven Recap:
Air Force Falcons (6-7, 1-1)
None
Boise State Broncos (6-5, 1-1)
Sat, Dec. 28th
Cal-State Northridge Matadors:
We have seen Mark Gottfried and the Matadors twice this season against Mountain West opponents and a one point victory over Fresno State remains one of their three wins on the season (3-10), sorry Bulldog fans. There was a lot of hype around the program coming into the season in Northridge. Gottfried returned two prolific scorers in junior guard Terrell Gomez (22.2 PPG) and sophomore forward Lamine Diane (24.8 PPG in 18-19).
But is was announced early in the season that Diane had been suspended indefinitely due to being ruled academically ineligible for the first semester. His absence has been felt, and Gomez is keeping the ship afloat with help from sophomore guard Darius Brown II (10.6 PPG). This should be a shootout as the Matadors love to get up shots, ranking in the top-150 in the country for field goal attempts and averaging 36% from three which is good for 89th in the country.
Colorado State Rams (8-6, 0-2)
Sat, Dec. 28th
Doane Tigers:
The Doane Tigers are from Doane Univeristy in Crete, NE and play in the Great Plains Athletic Conference in the NAIA. They are 4-11 (0-6 in the GPAC) on the season and unlike most NAIA teams haven’t played a division one opponent thus far. Keep an eye on junior guard Anthony Laravie who is leading the tigers with 17.0 PPG and junior forward Miguel Lopez who is adding 9.7 PPG and a team high 7.5 RPG.
Fresno State Bulldogs (4-7, 0-2)
Mon, Dec. 23rd
San Francisco Dons:
The Dons haven’t missed a beat with the departure of head coach Kyle Smith to Washington State. Todd Golden who spent the past three seasons in the Don’s program as an associate Head Coach has the program at 10-3 with a nice win over Cal at home.
San Francisco takes and makes a lot of shots, as they rank in the top-100 in FG% and 3P%. They also have a well rounded scoring attack with junior guard Jamaree Bouyea leading the pack with 14.8 PPG, junior guard Charles Minlend chipping in 14.2 PPG and 7-foot senior big man Jimbo Lull in the post averaging 12.2 PPG and 7.5 RPG.
Sat, Dec. 28th
UC-Riverside Highlanders:
Another team we have seen a lot of this season is the Highlanders of UC-Riverside who are coming off of an impressive 80-65 win over San Jose State on Sunday. They are now 8-5 on the season with their best win still being an improving Nebraska team out in the Big Ten.
Sophomore big man Callum McRae (7-1 275) leads the team in scoring at 10.2 PPG and he just received some help in form of Washington State transfer Arinze Chidom, who through two games is averaging 12.5 PPG and 6.5 RPG. We thought the Spartans would give them a bit more of a challenge but this team played at a higher level with Chidom in the lineup.
Nevada Wolf Pack (8-5, 1-0)
None
New Mexico Lobos (12-2, 2-0)
Sun, Dec. 29th
UC-Davis Aggies:
Jim Les and crew are in a bit of a rebuilding year, with the Aggies at 5-9 and no quality wins to note. UC-Davis was picked to finish 8th in the Big West this season (and receiving one first place vote in the process) and maybe living up to that prediction thus far. Senior guard Joe Mooney is leading the Aggies in scoring with 16.0 PPG. The Aggies are a smaller team with only three players standing 6-7 or taller.
Their leading rebounder is 6-4 freshman guard Elijah Pepper with 5.1 RPG. The Lobos have trouble with smaller teams that can shoot it, and with Caldwell and Bragg Jr. out with unknown return dates we can expect to see the Lobo team of the foreseeable future on Sunday.
No. 15 San Diego State Aztecs (12-0, 2-0)
Sat, Dec. 28th
Cal Poly Mustangs:
The Mustangs are 2-10 on the season with an impressive win over Siena under their belt and another over NAIA school Simpson (CA). The Mustangs are led by sophomore guard Junior Ballard with 12.4 PPG, and he doesn’t receive much help. Cal Poly is 326th in the country in points per game averaging just 62.5 a contest. I don’t see the Mustangs ending the Aztecs undefeated streak but look for San Diego State to add to that win column on Saturday.
San Jose State Spartans (3-10, 0-2)
Sat, Dec. 28th
Pepperdine Waves:
The Waves were given the coveted 4th place predicted finish in the WCC behind the normal big three of Gonzaga, BYU and St. Mary’s. Pepperdine is 7-6 on the season but in a conference with six teams that have 10 wins or more thus far, they may need to adjust and step up their level of play to hold up to that top-5 predicted finish. They are riding a four game winning streak and should have no problem in San Jose on Saturday. Look out for dynamic scorer Colbey Ross (20.3 PPG and 7.2 APG) and low post presence Kameron Edwards (17.3 PPG) to make the Spartans night rough.
Nevada-Las Vegas Running Rebels (5-8, 1-0)
Sat, Dec. 28th
Eastern Michigan Eagles:
UNLV hosts Eastern Michigan this Saturday and the 9-2 Eagles shouldn’t be overlooked. This may be a matchup of the inconsistent this weekend as the Eagles like the Rebels have had some ups and downs all season. With wins against Valparaiso, UMBC and North Texas but coming off of a fresh 53 point loss to Michigan State in East Lansing this past Saturday.
Eastern Michigan is led by the hometown hero, junior forward Ty Groce (12.3 PPG and 5.3 RPG) with help from fellow juniors Noah Morgan (10.5 PPG) and Yeikson Montero (10.4 PPG). This could be anyone’s game and if the Rebels are knocking down shots and preventing penetration from the wing they could head into conference play with a winning streak and some momentum.
Utah State Aggies (12-2, 2-0)
Eastern Oregon Mountaineers:
Another NAIA opponent in the Mountain West this week, the Mountaineers of Eastern Oregon play in the Cascade Collegiate Conference out of La Grande, OR. The Mountaineers are 7-6 on the season and are led by junior guard Max McCullough (20.6 PPG) and 7-foot senior big man Jarek Schetzle (19.1 PPG and 9.8 RPG)
Wyoming Cowboys (4-9, 0-2)
Sat, Dec. 28th
Nebraska Wesleyan Prairie Wolves:
The Praire Wolves of Nebraska Wesleyan University are a division three school in Lincoln, NE. They play in the American Rivers Conference and are 10-2 on the season coming off of a 82-84 point loss to the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, which ended a six game winning streak for the Prairie Wolves. This technically counts as an exhibition for Nebraska Wesleyan but you can bet they are going to attempt the upset in Laramie. Watch out for senior guard Nate Schimonitz who is averaging 26.5 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 4.3 APG and 1.8 SPG.
Read:
Check out the latest edition of our Player of the Week series with all previous weeks included.
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