GAME NOTES: For the final time this season the San Jose State Spartans will be playing in front of a hometown crowd, as they challenge the UNLV Runnin' Rebels in Mountain West Conference action at The Event Center on Saturday night.

The Spartans have had a season to forget, losing every single conference game (0-17) to this point and failing to take down even one other program from the Division I level. As of Friday afternoon, SJSU was tied with Grambling, Central Arkansas and Florida A&M for the fewest wins among all Division I programs with just two.

Since defeating St. Katherine College on Dec. 9, the Spartans have dropped 19 games in a row, the latest being a 68-51 setback to Boise State on Wednesday night. The skid is the second-longest in the country behind a 20-game slide by Grambling.

As for the Runnin' Rebels, who will be playing host to the MWC Tournament beginning next week, they are seventh in the league standings with a mark of 7-10 after losing a heartbreaker to San Diego State at home on Wednesday, 60-58. The defeat was the second in the last three outings for a squad that has just six active scholarship players due to injuries.

Not surprisingly, the Rebels won the first meeting of the season, pouncing on SJSU in a 74-40 decision at the Thomas & Mack Center the second week of January.

The Rebels held SDSU without a 3-pointer through the first half and only 5- of-14 for the game, which was one of the reasons the hosts were able to play to the end and just come up short. In a game that featured five ties and eight lead changes, Dwayne Morgan tallied a team-best 13 points in just 14 minutes off the bench, followed by Cody Doolin with 12 points, while Christian Wood responded with 10 points, 16 rebounds and three blocked shots, another four rejections coming from Goodluck Okonoboh.

Patrick McCaw, who took a shot to the nose and was later diagnosed with a concussion, has become one of the players to step up in the absence of leading scorer Rashad Vaughn (18.3 ppg in conference) with his 11.9 ppg on 43.0 percent from 3-point range. Despite his youth, Wood continues to prove himself game in and game out, averaging a double-double versus the rest of the MWC with 15.5 points and 10.2 rebounds per contest.

It was yet another loss for the Spartans in their home meeting with Boise State, but at least SJSU can take some comfort in knowing that they fell by just 17 points against the co-leader in the MWC standings. Rashad Muhammad posted a game-high 17 points for the home team, followed by Darryl Gaynor and Jaleel Williams with 11 and 10 points, respectively, although the former shot just 4-of-15 from the floor and 1-of-6 behind the 3-point line as the team finished 4-of-23 on the outside.

Again, the 17-point loss may sound lopsided, but against one of the premier programs in the league it was still quite impressive when you consider SJSU is being outscored by an even 20.0 ppg through 17 MWC bouts. Muhammad has done all he can to try and give the team something to cheer about, posting 14.9 ppg in conference play, but his 34.4 percent shooting from the floor overall takes away from his 35.4 percent out on the perimeter. Williams checks in with another 12.1 ppg for a group producing only 51.1 ppg.

The Spartans can't get this season over fast enough, as they struggle with just 32.8 percent shooting from the field in conference play, 28.7 percent accuracy beyond the arc. While there might be some hope for an upset, UNLV doesn't want to be the team that allows it to happen.