March 4, 2006
LAS VEGAS - The UNLV men's basketball team finished the 2005-06 Mountain West Conference season in fourth place and will be the No. 4 seed in next week's MWC Championship, which will be held at Denver's Pepsi Center, March 7-11.
2006 MWC Tournament Bracket in PDF
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The Runnin' Rebels (16-12, 10-6) will face No. 5 seed and defending MWC Tournament champion New Mexico (17-12, 8-8) in the 2:30 p.m. MST quarterfinal game on Thursday, March 9 televised live on ESPN+Plus.
UNLV, a No. 4 seed for the fourth straight year in the MWC Tournament, split the season series vs. the Lobos. This year's matchup marks the third meeting between the teams in the quarterfinals with UNLV winning both prior games.
The Runnin' Rebels, who own a league-best 10-4 all-time record in the MWC Tournament, are 19-12 all-time against New Mexico.
San Diego State enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed for the first time in league history. Air Force and BYU tied for second in the league standings, but the Falcons edged the Cougars for the No. 2 seed by virtue of the tie break.
Opening-round action begins Tuesday, March 7 with quarterfinals on Thursday, semifinals on Friday, March 10 and the championship Saturday, March 11 at 8 p.m. MST.
The Aztecs (21-8, 13-3), who captured their first outright regular-season conference championship since 1978, will face the winner of Tuesday's opening-round game between No. 8 seed Colorado State (15-14, 4-12) and No. 9 seed TCU (6-24, 2-14) on Thursday at noon (MST) in a quarterfinal game on ESPN+Plus.
No. 2 seed Air Force (24-5, 12-4), which set a school record for season victories, takes on No. 7 seed Wyoming (12-17, 5-11) in the 7 p.m. (MST) Thursday quarterfinal on ESPN+Plus.
No. 3 seed BYU (20-7, 12-4) faces in-state rival and No. 6 seed Utah (13-14, 6-10) in the 10 p.m. (MST) quarterfinal game Thursday on ESPN.
Tickets for the Mountain West Conference Basketball Championship are now on sale online at www.UNLVtickets.com or by calling 702-895-3679 starting Monday, March 6.
