GAME NOTES: The two teams sitting at the bottom of the Mountain West Conference standings get together at the Events Center on Wednesday night, as they San Jose State Spartans host the Air Force Falcons.

The Falcons are out on the road where they've come up empty this season, losing all seven true road dates. The team was last seen at home versus Boise State over the weekend and was handed a 77-68 setback. The loss was the fifth in a row and the seventh in eight tries for a squad that is 1-7 in league play and ahead of only SJSU in the standings entering the week.

If the Falcons thought they had it tough in recent weeks, they need only to look at the Spartans to see what true desperation is these days. San Jose State, which has been dealing with injuries and suspensions all along, is still searching for that first win of the season over a Division I opponent. Since defeating St. Katherine College (74-63) back on Dec. 9, the team has tumbled in nine straight.

The Spartans have had a full week to absorb the enormity of their latest loss, an incomprehensible 86-36 defeat at Boise State. The 50-point setback was certainly monumental, but the offensive output by SJSU was still not the worst of the 2014-15 campaign, that happened to be a dismal 33-point showing versus Utah State on New Year's Eve.

The series between the teams is knotted at three games apiece after the Falcons delivered a 78-56 win at home three weeks ago. In that contest Marek Olesinski led four players in double figures with his 16 points for the Academy, the program shooting a sizzling 61.1 percent from the floor, while Rashad Muhammad led all scorers with 26 points on 6-of-12 shooting behind the 3-point line for the visitors.

Against the Broncos, Air Force made good on an impressive 54.9 percent from the field, but at the same time the Academy allowed the visitors to convert not just 57.8 percent from the field but also 14-of-22 (.636) out on the perimeter. Olesinski led the way for the Falcons with 24 points and 10 rebounds, while Hayden Graham and Justin Hammonds chimed in with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Without leading scorer Max Yon, out of action due to an injury and personal reasons, the Falcons are having to replace 16.5 ppg in conference outings. Olesinski has been trying to make up the difference with 12.8 ppg, shooting not only 52.7 percent from the floor but also 42.1 percent behind the 3-point line, but still the squad needs more input. Defensively, the Academy is surrendering 70.8 ppg on 40.2 percent accuracy beyond the arc to the rest of the conference.

Using a rotation of just eight players, the Spartans were out of their league against an aggressive Boise State group this time last week, finishing with almost twice as many turnovers (20) as field goals (11). San Jose State shot only 25.0 percent from the field and a miserable 3-of-19 beyond the arc as Muhammad accounted for 13 points on 4-of-12 from the floor, the only player to reach double figures for SJSU.

Muhammad, who had his season high against the Falcons the first time around, has scored in double figures in three straight outings and eight of the last nine, resulting in his 12.8 ppg. It is bad enough that the Spartans are producing a mere 53.3 ppg overall on the campaign, but when it comes to league action that number dwindles to just 46.7 ppg. Players are shooting only 30.9 percent from the field versus the rest of the MWC, including 23.6 percent on the outside.

With so many missing pieces and being outscored by more than 25 ppg by the rest of the conference, the Spartans will again have a tough time breaking through this week, even with Yon being unavailable for the Falcons.