2019–20 Mountain West Conference men's basketball season

The 2019–20 Mountain West Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2019, followed by the start of the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play began in December 2019 and concluded in February 2020. This season marked the 20th season of Mountain West Conference basketball.

2019–20 Mountain West Conference men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Duration	November 2019 through March 2020
Number of teams	11
TV partner(s)	ESPN, CBSSN, CBS
Regular Season
Season champions	San Diego State
Tournament
Champions	Utah State
Runners-up	San Diego State

2019–20 Mountain West Conference
men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 6 San Diego State	17	–	1		.944			30	–	2		.938
Utah State †	12	–	6		.667			26	–	8		.765
Nevada	12	–	6		.667			19	–	12		.613
UNLV	12	–	6		.667			17	–	15		.531
Boise State	11	–	7		.611			20	–	12		.625
Colorado State	11	–	7		.611			20	–	12		.625
New Mexico	7	–	11		.389			19	–	14		.576
Fresno State	7	–	11		.389			11	–	19		.367
Air Force	5	–	13		.278			12	–	20		.375
San Jose State	3	–	15		.167			7	–	24		.226
Wyoming	2	–	16		.111			9	–	24		.273
† Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Preseason

Coaching changes

On March 15, 2019, UNLV head coach Marvin Menzies was fired after three seasons.^[1] On March 27, 2019, South Dakota State head coach T. J. Otzelberger was announced as the new head coach of UNLV.^[2]

On April 7, 2019, Nevada head coach Eric Musselman resigned after four seasons to become the head coach of Arkansas.^[3] On April 11, 2019, former UCLA and New Mexico head coach Steve Alford was announced as the new head coach of Nevada.^[4]

Media Day

The Mountain West Men's Basketball Media Day was held at Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, Nevada.

Preseason poll

Utah State received all 17 first-place votes in the conference media poll.^[5]

Place	Team	Points
1	Utah State (17)	187
2	San Diego State	150
3	New Mexico	141
4	Nevada	135
5	Boise State	128
6	Fresno State	103
7	UNLV	89
8	Air Force	76
9	Colorado State	59
10	Wyoming	36
11	San Jose State	17
(first place votes)

Preseason awards

Honor	Player	Team
Preseason Player of the Year	Sam Merrill	Utah State
Preseason Newcomer of the Year	Malachi Flynn	San Diego State
Preseason Freshman of the Year	K.J. Hymes	Nevada

Preseason All-Conference team

Position	Player	Class	Team
F	Lavelle Scottie	Sr.	Air Force
G	Derrick Alston Jr.	Jr.	Boise State
F/C	Nico Carvacho	Sr.	Colorado State
G	Sam Merrill	Sr.	Utah State
C	Neemias Queta	So.	Utah State

Watchlists

Player	Team	Watchlist(s)
Sam Merrill	Utah State	Jerry West Award[6] Naismith College Player of the Year[7] John R. Wooden Award[8]
Neemias Queta	Utah State	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award[9] John R. Wooden Award[8]
Nico Carvacho	Colorado State	Kareem Abdul–Jabbar Award[9]

Regular season

Conference matrix

	Air Force	Boise St	Colorado St	Fresno St	Nevada	New Mexico	San Diego St	San Jose St	UNLV	Utah St	Wyoming
vs. Air Force	—	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–1
vs. Boise State	1–1	—	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	2–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–2
vs. Colorado State	0–1	1–0	—	0–2	1–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	2–0	0–2
vs. Fresno State	0–1	1–0	2–0	—	0–0	1–1	2–0	0–2	2–0	2–0	0–1
vs. Nevada	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–0	—	0–1	1–0	1–1	0–2	1–0	0–1
vs. New Mexico	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	—	2–0	1–1	2–0	0–0	0–2
vs. San Diego State	0–1	0–2	0–1	0–2	0–1	0–2	—	0–1	0–1	0–2	0–2
vs. San Jose State	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	—	1–0	1–0	1–0
vs. UNLV	0–1	1–0	1–0	0–2	2–0	0–2	1–0	0–1	—	1–1	0–1
vs. Utah State	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–1	0–0	2–0	0–1	1–1	—	0–1
vs. Wyoming	1–0	2–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	—
Total	4–10	9–6	9–5	5–10	9–5	6–8	15–0	3–11	8−6	10–5	1–13

Postseason

Mountain West tournament

Main article: 2020 Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournament

All-Conference Teams and Awards

^[10]

Award	Recipients
Player of the Year	Malachi Flynn (San Diego State)
Coach of the Year	Brian Dutcher (San Diego State)
Newcomer of the Year	Jalen Harris (Nevada)
Defensive Player of the Year	Malachi Flynn (San Diego State)
Sixth Man of the Year	Nisré Zouzoua (Nevada)
Freshman of the Year	Isaiah Stevens (Colorado State)
First Team	Malachi Flynn (San Diego State) Jalen Harris (Nevada) Sam Merrill (Utah State) Matt Mitchell (San Diego State) Bryce Hamilton (UNLV)
Second Team	Yanni Wetzell (San Diego State) Neemias Queta (Utah State) Nico Carvacho (Colorado State) Justinian Jessup (Boise State) Derrick Alston Jr. (Boise State) Jazz Johnson (Nevada)
Third Team	Justin Bean (Utah State) Lavell Scottie (Air Force) Seneca Knight (San Jose State) Isaiah Stevens (Colorado State) Amauri Hardy (UNLV)
Honorable Mention	KJ Feagin (San Diego State) Hunter Maldonado (Wyoming) Lindsey Drew (Nevada) Nate Grimes (Fresno State) Orlando Robinson (Fresno State)
All-Defensive Team	Malachi Flynn (San Diego State) KJ Feagin (San Diego State) Neemias Queta (Utah State) Lindsey Drew (Nevada) Justin Bean (Utah State)

Notes and references

1. Anderson, Mark (March 15, 2019). "Marvin Menzies fired as UNLV basketball coach". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
2. Anderson, Mark (March 27, 2019). "UNLV hires T.J. Otzelberger as basketball coach". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
3. Borzello, Jeff (April 7, 2019). "Arkansas hires Nevada's Musselman as coach". ESPN.com. ESPN. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
4. "Ex-UCLA coach Alford hired to lead Nevada". ESPN.com. ESPN. April 11, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
5. "Utah State Picked to Win 2019-20 Mountain West Men's Basketball Regular-Season". themw.com. Mountain West Conference. October 15, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
6. "The Jerry West Award". hoophallawards.com. Basketball Hall of Fame. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
7. "Merrill Named to Naismith Trophy Watch List". Utah State Communications. Mountain West Conference. November 5, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
8. "Sam Merrill and Neemias Queta Named to Wooden Award Watch List". Utah State Athletics. Mountain West Conference. November 6, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
9. "Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award". hoophallawards.com. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
10. "Mountain West Announces 2019–20 Men's Basketball All-Conference Team" (Press release). Mountain West Conference. March 3, 2020. Retrieved March 3, 2020.