The UNLV women's basketball team will take the court on Saturday for its biggest game of the season, with a share of the Mountain West title on the line in front of one of the conference's most raucous road crowds at Colorado State (12 p.m., Mountain West Network).
In other words, just another day at the office for Lindy La Rocque's three-time defending MWC champions.
That was the decidedly muted tone this week as the first-place Scarlet and Gray prepared for their matchup at second-place Colorado State. Another game with hardware on the line? Been there, done that.
La Rocque, who has coached UNLV in three NCAA Tournaments, set the table with a perfunctory amount of respect.
"Obviously this is a 1-2 matchup," La Rocque said. "They're a tremendous team, very well-coached, and I expect a battle."
The players are following La Rocque's cool, calm and collected lead.
Senior center Alyssa Brown, last year's Mountain West tournament MVP, knows a thing or two about rising to the occasion, but she made it clear the CSU game isn't going to quicken her pulse.
When asked if she and her teammates get up for important contests, Brown said they barely notice the stakes.
"We try to stay focused," Brown said. "We know that each game is big and we don't try to downplay anybody, regardless of the opponent. We try to stay motivated and focus on ourselves."
That attitude has been working. UNLV is 21-5 on the year with a sparkling 13-1 mark in conference play, and five straight wins have created some separation atop the standings. Colorado State is 2.5 games behind at 10-3 and UNLV already won the first matchup, 70-61, on Jan. 8. A sweep of the Rams would add another banner to La Rocque's collection and make a statement about who runs the Mountain West heading into the league tournament.
La Rocque has been encouraged by her team's demonstrated ability to win in different ways. In the first CSU game, it was ball security that sealed the deal as UNLV claimed an 18-5 advantage in turnovers. In a clutch overtime win against Wyoming (currently tied for second place), senior guard Kiara Jackson drove and dished to McKinna Brackens for a game-winning layup on the final possession. In Saturday's 64-50 blowout victory at UNR, the Scarlet and Gray won the rebounding battle, 34-23.
With a leadership core that has been around the block three times already, La Rocque trusts her team in pressure-packed moments.
"When you've got Kiara Jackson, four-year player, and Alyssa Brown, four-year player, they've played in so many big games that when you get a game like this, it's another game," she said. "They have the experience stay composed, poised and rely on our preparation to do whatever is needed to get the job done."
The current win streak has pushed UNLV up to No. 47 in the NET rankings, and some prominent bracketologists have the Scarlet and Gray projected as a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament -- not far off from last year, when they were seeded 10th.
La Rocque thinks her team can climb even higher.
"I think we're playing well right now, and this is the right time to play well," La Rocque said. "I think that gives us a lot of confidence. I wouldn't say we've played our perfect or best 40 minutes still, so honestly I hope we're saving that, but we are playing well."
Well enough to make earn a ticket to the big dance as an at-large team? La Rocque believes UNLV has to be considered, even coming from a Mountain West that has historically been a one-bid league.
"I do think we have a better résumé than we've ever had," La Rocque said. "In a worst-case scenario I do think we are very worthy of an at-large bid. I never like to leave those decisions to someone else and control our own destiny, but I do think we've put ourselves in a position where we should be playing in the postseason no matter what."
Before any tournament talk can commence, however, there is the matter of a big game at Colorado State on Saturday.
"I expect a really good matchup," Brown said, somewhat convincingly. "I'm excited."