LAS VEGAS -- New Mexico senior guard Dairese Gary was a part of Mountain West Conference regular season championship teams each of the last two seasons.

Admitting that he probably won't be part of a third before his college career is done was tough to accept following Saturday's wild, mistake-ridden 63-62 loss at UNLV, which dropped the Lobos to 1-4 in the league.

"It's tough trying to come from a deficit like that, especially in a league like ours, with a lot of good teams," he said. "Right now, I don't know if we're even thinking about a conference title anymore."

He's probably right, as San Diego State and BYU continue to blitz through their respective league schedules still without a loss.

The bigger question on everyone's mind is: Will the Lobos even make it back to the NCAA tournament after returning three starters and several more key pieces from a team that was a 3-seed last March?

"I'm sure that's in a lot of people's minds, especially mine, being a senior," Gary continued.

What did Utah Valley get as a reward for winning its four-overtime, 107-96 marathon at North Dakota on Wednesday night?

A nice, long bus ride to Vermillion, S.D., the following morning.

"It's six-and-a-half hours, and with a team full of college kids, it means stopping twice to eat," Wolverines coach Dick Hunsaker said. "You're still kind of floating a little bit, and you're just hoping that your kids can get some rest."

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UVU — a Division-I independent — needed a miraculous rally at the end of the third overtime and three career performances to improve to 2-0 in the Great West Conference and 10-8 overall. The trek south gave the players an opportunity to reboot some for a match-up with defending league champ South Dakota on Saturday night.

The Wolverines started early on with the dramatics, when Justin Baker flipped in a 30-foot heave off of a deflection to end the first half down 30-23. They trailed the entire second half, and would need

It wasn't as miraculous as Carl Richard's game-winning tip-in from Sunday night, but it was just as thrilling.

For the second consecutive game, Missouri Valley Conference upstart Indiana State won at the buzzer. This time, it was senior guard Jake Kelly doing the damage.

Kelly pulled off a couple of filthy crossover moves before flipping in a game-tying lay-up while drawing a foul. Moments later, he hit the game-winning free throw, propelling the Sycamores to a 70-69 victory over MVC power Missouri State in Terre Haute, Ind.

Kelly took the inbounds pass with the Sycamores trailing 69-67 with just under five seconds left to play, but the ensuing free throw was made tougher by a lengthy delay as the officials reviewed just how much time should be put on the clock before he stepped to the line.

"I knew the bucket was good, I knew he had fouled me, I wasn't sure what they were reviewing," Kelly said. "I wasn't sure what they were reviewing. Once I got to the line, I was pretty confident."

Last February, in the closing moments of an 80-72 home loss to UNLV, Colorado State forward Travis Franklin cried on the bench after fouling out, beating himself up mentally over a woeful 3-of-14 performance from the free throw line.

Many of those misses were late, and could have put CSU over the hump in a game that was close all the way.

"He was devastated," Rams coach Tim Miles recalled. "In the locker room, the kid's eyes were swollen by the time I even got in there."

That night was symbolic of CSU's entire 2009-10 season when it came to playing against the Mountain West's 'Big Four' (UNLV, San Diego State, BYU and New Mexico): Good effort, no wins.

They were 0-8 against them a year ago with a couple of blowouts mixed in, and Miles knew that if his program was going to take the next step, beating them was a necessity.

The Rams did just that on Wednesday night, not only upsetting UNLV on the road, but running them out of the gym in 78-63 fashion.

"After last year, it was 'OK, we

And you thought Tennessee's season couldn't get any more controversial, huh?

Brian Williams hit a dramatic, awkward game-winner on Tuesday night to propel the Vols past Georgia, 59-57, in Athens.

The shot came after Tobias Harris missed a potential dagger of his own from the left corner. Williams snatched an offensive rebound away from UGA's Chris Barnes, then flipped it back up quickly, sending his teammates into a frenzy.

But should a foul have been called after Williams appeared to go over Barnes' back for the board? (Maybe.) Was it clean? (Probably not.) Was it a jump ball? (That sounds about right.)

Williams was noncommittal when asked afterwards.

"Call it how you want to," he told reporters, according to ESPN. "It might have been a foul, maybe not. I'm glad they didn't call a foul on that."

"I'm Kobe [Bryant] mixed with a little Dirk [Nowitzki]," Williams said of the game-winner, according to a tweet from radio personality Wes Rucker.

Other than maybe providing college

Jereme Richmond's week started with a statement denying rumors that the former McDonald's All-American would transfer from Illinois.

A day later, Michigan State probably wishes the 6-foot-7 freshman had left.

Richmond and sophomore guard Brandon Paul combined for 34 points in No. 23 Illinois' much-needed 71-62 victory over No. 17 Michigan State on Tuesday night.

Richmond was as efficient as ever, with a career-high 14 points off of 6-of-8 shooting, five rebounds, three assists and only one turnover in 23 minutes.

He scored on a few tough finishes at the bucket and despite his thin frame, brought some muscle to the dance with the Spartans, who are used to being the aggressors.

Illini fans may have been most pleased with Richmond's emotional presence, as he played with some swagger that had only been sparsely seen to this point. Richmond showed off a bit after two strong first half dunks and never backed down from MSU's bigs.

U of I coach Bruce Weber said afterwards that Richmond spoke