GAME NOTES: A couple of Mountain West programs with matching overall records get together at Taco Bell Arena on Tuesday night, as the Boise State Broncos host the UNLV Runnin' Rebels.

Even though the teams have the same overall marks, there is a clear difference between them when it comes to conference play. While UNLV has won just one of three league bouts, the Broncos are one of two teams (San Jose State) which has yet to break through against another member of the Mountain West.

The Broncos have come up short against Colorado State, Utah State and, most recently, Wyoming by a score of 65-54 on Saturday. With the setback to the Cowboys, BSU has now dropped four in a row after winning six straight in non- conference play last month.

After shocking third-ranked Arizona just before Christmas it was expected that the Rebels would be more of a player in the MWC but that's not how it began. The team dropped the first two league outings against Wyoming and Nevada, with a double-digit defeat against Kansas in between. The team did finally break through against San Jose State on Saturday night, 74-40, but it should be noted that the Spartans have yet to defeat a Division I opponent in 2014-15.

UNLV leads the all-time series by a 6-3 margin, with four of those wins coming after the Broncos came over from the Western Athletic Conference. However, Boise State has won the last two battles played in Idaho.

Rashad Vaughn recorded a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds as the Runnin' Rebels crushed San Jose State by 34 points in Mountain West Conference action at the Thomas & Mack Center last weekend. Also scoring in double figures for the Rebels was Dwayne Morgan with 10 points in 14 minutes off the bench. Christian Wood made his only field goal attempt of the meeting and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds, adding three blocked shots, before fouling out. The Rebels survived 17 turnovers by producing a 40-32 rebounding advantage and shooting 55.6 percent from the floor.

The leading scorer for the Rebels in the last two outings, Vaughn is the top offensive performer overall with 17.3 ppg, although his 64.6 percent shooting at the free-throw line could certainly show some improvement. Wood had a poor offensive performance versus SJSU, but luckily the Rebels did not need him to establish himself as a threat in that manner. Still, he is the only other double-digit scorer with 14.9 ppg and is averaging a double-double with his 10.0 rpg. He and Goodluck Okonoboh have formed a deadly defensive duo with their 93 blocked shots, nearly twice that of all the opponents to this point combined.

Few teams are able to invade Arena Auditorium these days and come away with a win, so it wasn't unusual for the Broncos to come up short versus Wyoming over the weekend in Laramie. Derrick Marks, who shot only 1-of-5 behind the 3-point line and turned the ball over four times, tallied a team-best 16 points for the visitors, followed by James Webb III with 15 points, but beyond those two there was little hope for success as the team secured only 19 rebounds, five at the offensive end of the floor.

Marks continues to lead the Broncos in scoring with 17.1 ppg, slowly rising to sixth on the school's all-time scoring list now with 1,530 points. Against the Cowboys he moved ahead of teammate Anthony Drmic (1,528), someone he would love to have back in the lineup in order to take some of the pressure off, but Drmic will be missing the rest of the season following surgery to left ankle. Without Drmic and his 15.0 ppg, the Broncos will be lucky to even approach their 70.7 ppg, a mark that has been steadily dropping since he went to the sidelines.

The loss of Drmic is huge for the Broncos because he was capable of doing so much, particularly at the offensive end where he could convert from 3-point range but also hit the glass effectively. Expect to see BSU struggle in this outing, and many more to come.