GAME NOTES: Mountain West Conference action is on tap as the two-win San Jose State Spartans will enter Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday night against a UNLV team coming off a its first home loss.

The Runnin' Rebels fell to rival Nevada, 64-62, on Wednesday in game that featured 16 lead changes. UNLV made good on only 33.9 percent of its shots and went just 5-of-17 from behind the arc. Rashad Vaughn provided a game-high 20 points, while Christian Wood supplied 17 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots as UNLV's skid reached three in a row.

The slump comes less than two weeks from the Rebels' stunning upset of then- No. 3 Arizona on Dec. 23. The defense that held the Wildcats to 26 second-half points has given up an average of 72 ppg over the last three.

Vaughn and Wood have been tasked with carrying the Rebels for better or for worse. Vaughn leads the offense with 17.5 ppg, while Wood is close to averaging a double-double with 15.5 ppg and 9.9 rpg, not to mention being responsible for 44 of the team's 113 blocked shots. Goodluck Okonoboh (5.1 ppg, 5.8 rpg) has come up with another 42 rejections.

San Jose State continued its disastrous season on Wednesday with a 78-56 drubbing at the hands of Air Force, which ended the first half on a 19-2 run and led by double digits the rest of the way.

Rashad Muhammad tallied a game-high 26 points as he converted 6-of-12 attempts from behind the arc for the Spartans, who fell to 0-3 in conference play and have dropped five straight overall. The Falcons won the rebounding battle, 32-22, and also outscored SJSU in the paint, 46-16.

Even more frustrating for San Jose State fans is the team's second and third leading scorers, Jordan Baker (10.6 ppg) and Frank Rogers (10.4 ppg), are both still serving an indefinite suspension for violating a team rule. Rogers has also been the top Spartans rebounder this season with 6.1 rpg.

Muhammad, who returned from his suspension last Saturday, is leading the team in scoring at 13.3 ppg.

As indicated by their 2-13 record, the Spartans have played poorly on both ends of the court, as they currently rank last in the Mountain West in scoring offense (55.6 ppg), scoring defense (67.3 ppg), field goal percentage (38.3) and free throw percentage (59.6). San Jose State also finds itself on the under in both the turnover margin (-2.53) and rebounding margin (-3.1).

UNLV has won 32 of the 36 all-time meetings against SJSU, and Saturday's outcome will most certainly add another in the win column.