No. 9 seed Air Force (11-19, 5-13) vs. No. 8 seed Fresno State (11-18, 7-11)
Mountain West Conference Tournament First Round, Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas; Wednesday, 1 p.m. MST
BOTTOM LINE: Air Force is set to match up against Fresno State in the first round of the MWC tournament. Fresno State won both of the regular season matchups earlier this season. The teams last played each other on Feb. 19, when the Bulldogs shot 43.3 percent from the field while limiting Air Force to just 35.9 percent on their way to the nine-point victory.
SAVVY VETERANS: Senior leadership has been on display for both teams this year. . For Air Force, Lavelle Scottie, Ryan Swan, Caleb Morris and Sid Tomes have combined to account for 60 percent of all Air Force scoring, including 70 percent of the team’s points over its last five games.LEAPING FOR LAVELLE: Scottie has connected on 37 percent of the 81 3-pointers he’s attempted and has made 9 of 16 over the last five games. He’s also converted 66.1 percent of his free throws this season.
UNBEATEN WHEN: Air Force is a perfect 6-0 when it holds an opponent to 60 points or fewer. The Falcons are 5-19 when opponents score more than 60.
ACCOUNTING FOR ASSISTS: The Bulldogs have recently gotten buckets via assists more often than the Falcons. Fresno State has 42 assists on 70 field goals (60 percent) across its previous three contests while Air Force has assists on 45 of 76 field goals (59.2 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: Fresno State has made 9.2 3-pointers per game as a collective unit this year, which is second-best among MWC teams. The Bulldogs have averaged 10.6 3-pointers per game over their last five games.
