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PROVO — Gary Andersen is talking about winning football championships at Utah State, and BYU is getting ready for a basketball tipoff against UNLV.
But no, you didn’t fall into the Hot Tub Time Machine back to 2011.
But the Cougars’ relations with several former Mountain West opponents also seems to be thawing, as they embark on a three-game road trip that includes stops at UNLV and fellow MWC founding school San Diego State.
It’s a good time to reignite the two series, after the Cougars (8-4) put an end to a three-game losing streak with a three-game winning streak prior to Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. MT tipoff (ESPN3, KSL Newsradio).
“After Weber State, we really had to look at ourselves and decide who we are,” said junior guard T.J. Haws, who had a career-high 30 points in Wednesday’s win over Portland State. “I thought we bounced back really well. I think energy and passion has been our main focus of every game.
“I feel like the last three games, we have had great energy and hopefully that continues. We have had great energy in practice. If we can keep that energy high at all times, I think we are a pretty good team.”
BYU and UNLV (4-4) built up a rivalry in the old Western Athletic Conference before the two joined Utah and a handful of other institutions in forming the Mountain West back in 2001.
The relationship helped turned the Mountain West into a power in college basketball, culminating in the 2011 season, when BYU’s Jimmer Fredette and San Diego State’s Kawhi Leonard were both mentioned as national player of the year candidates.
But the Cougars’ move to independence in football changed the course of the old WAC rivalry series, which UNLV leads 18-16 all-time. No longer a football member of the Mountain West, BYU joined up with Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s and then-six other private, religious-based universities in the West Coast Conference — shortly after beating the Runnin’ Rebels, 78-64 on Feb. 5, 2011.
The results have been a mixed bag. While basketball has struggled to beat out the Zags and Gaels at the top of the league, the Cougars’ Olympic sports have dominated, paced by five-straight conference titles in women’s volleyball and four titles in five years in women’s soccer.
“I think we’ll have a good crowd of Cougar fans there,” Rose said of T-Mobile Arena. “There’s a new arena. Since it opened a couple of years ago, I’ve always tried to figure out how we could get a game in there. I’m happy it’s a return game, too.”
UNLV will likely play BYU next year at Vivint SmartHome Arena in Salt Lake City, though dates and tip times have yet to be finalized.
The Runnin’ Rebels are led by a trio of double-figure scoring threats in senior guard Kris Clyburn (11.3 ppg), senior forward Shakur Juiston (10.8 ppg) and sophomore guard Amauri Hardy (10.4 ppg).
Eleven of the Cougars’ 16 wins over UNLV have come in the Marriott Center. Saturday will be the first-ever neutral-site game between the two, though T-Mobile Arena — home of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights — is just three miles away from the Rebels’ home floor of the Thomas & Mack Center.
UNLV is rated No. 138 in KenPom’s predictive metrics, while BYU is back up to No. 63 in the metrics.
In a lot of ways, UNLV reminds Rose of the team his Cougars just beat, Portland State, which ranks 234th in KenPom.
“They’ve played a lot of home games,” Rose said. “From their stats, they look like they’re kind of bigger, stronger, athletic version of this team here.”
