The Colorado State University men’s basketball team just announced its 18-game Mountain West schedule for the upcoming 2016-17 season. The Rams will begin conference play at home against UNLV December 28.

Last year the Rams split the season series with UNLV 1-1, with each side pulling out a home victory.

UNLV will be under the tutelage of new head coach Marvin Menzies. Menzies spent the last nine years coaching at New Mexico State, leading the Aggies to a 198-111 record in that time.

Other home games for the Rams’ next season include matches with Air Force, New Mexico, San Jose State, Boise State, Utah State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Wyoming.

The Border War against Wyoming will be the final home game of the season on March 1. 

In 2015-16 the Rams finished conference play 8-10, but were strong at home at Moby Arena, holding a 6-3 record. CSU was less fortunate on the road last season during MW play, finishing 2-7. 

The toughest stretch of the Rams MW schedule will come at the tail end, as the last five games feature contests with perennial front-runners in Mountain West play. The Rams round out conference play with a home-and-home game with Wyoming, a road match-up with New Mexico, a home stand against San Diego State and a road contest with Nevada. 

The final game of the season against Nevada will be the only time the two schools play in the regular season. CSU will also play against the Air Force just once.

The Colorado State non-conference schedule will be released in the coming weeks.

Mountain West partners CBS Sports Network and ESPN will go through a selection process to determine national televised games from the Mountain West region. Regional televised games from ROOT SPORTS and Campus Insider’s Mountain West Network will be announced following the national schedule expected in August. 

The entire Colorado State Mountain West Schedule can be seen below:

Collegian Sports Editor Chad Deutschman can be reached by email at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @ChadDeutschman