Dave Rice had hoped to win a Mountain West tournament championship on the Thomas & Mack Center floor as UNLV’s head coach.
He finally got his title Saturday in that venue, just not the way he imagined.
Rice, an assistant coach at UNR, will take it, though.
He and the Wolf Pack are headed to the NCAA Tournament after holding off Colorado State 79-71 to win the conference tournament before an announced crowd of 5,602.
“I’m just extremely proud to be part of it,” Rice said. “The guys have worked hard all season long.
“I have so many lifelong friends around Las Vegas, so many special people from my time in Las Vegas.