Seven Mountain West games to watch this season

Dave Rice and the UNLV Rebels will likely face the conference’s biggest challenge of the season when they take on the Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse.

Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

 Sunday, January 4: UNLV at Kansas, time TBD

With the start of the new year, the Mountain West will make its network debut when UNLV heads to Allen Fieldhouse to take on Kansas on CBS. This will be the conference’s only opportunity to leave cable TV behind until the championship game, which will also be aired on CBS.

Last year, the normally impenetrable Allen Fieldhouse gave the conference its best win of the season, when San Diego State knocked off the Jayhawks 61-57. While a young UNLV team is unlikely to have the same success that San Diego State did last season; the game will allow the Rebels’ stellar freshman trio of Rashad Vaughn, Goodluck Okonoboh and Dwayne Morgan to show off their skills against a Jayhawk team that features its own crop of great freshmen, as well as returning starters Perry Ellis and Wayne Selden.