They played their home games at the Thomas & Mack Center on UNLV's main campus in Paradise, Nevada and are a member of the Mountain West Conference.

They advanced to the championship game of the 2010 Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournament before losing to San Diego State.

Coach Lon Kruger signed a three-man class for 2008, including the #4 ranked prospect out of Nevada (#66 Rivals, #80 Scout, #85 ESPN), shooting guard Anthony Marshall of North Las Vegas, power forward Carlos Lopez of Henderson and shooting guard Justin Hawkins out of Woodland Hills, California.

As in the previous two games, UNLV's sloppy first half play allowed their opponent to jump to an early lead.

UNLV took control of the game quickly, sprinting out to an 18–4 lead within mere minutes of tip off and never looked back in a 67–53 victory.

[11] UNLV's offensive might that had helped them to big early leads against SMU and Hawai'i was silenced by a tough USC defense.

[15] The Runnin' Rebels had their conference home opener against San Diego State, a team that swept UNLV in their three meetings the previous season.