Elijah Mitrou-Long injured in UNLV’s rout of San Jose State

UNLV picked up the expected convincing victory Saturday in San Jose, California, to cap a late-season flourish, but the Rebels also might have suffered a significant loss.

Senior guard Elijah Mitrou-Long, a key part of the season-ending five-game winning streak, left the floor with less than four minutes remaining in the Rebels’ 92-69 victory at San Jose State with an apparent leg or ankle injury.

UNLV coach T.J. Otzelberger said on the postgame radio show that he wouldn’t know the extent of Mitrou-Long’s injury until probably Monday. The Rebels most likely need Mitrou-Long, who scored 20 points against the Spartans, to make a serious run at the Mountain West tournament championship this week at the Thomas & Mack Center.

UNLV (17-14, 12-6 MW) will be the fourth seed in Thursday’s quarterfinals. The Rebels will play No. 5 Boise State (19-11, 11-7) at 2 p.m.

The Rebels’ 12 conference victories are their most since the 2007-08 season, and their winning streak is the longest since also winning five straight in December 2017.

“Our guys have really been focused every day in practice,” Otzelberger said. “Their energy’s been great, and they’ve played for each other. They’ve understood who we are as a team, our identity defensively, what we need to be and how that fuels our offense. I’m really proud as a coach to see our guys continuing to get better at the right time of the year. Hopefully, that’s something we can continue to carry forward.”

UNLV was in control nearly throughout against San Jose State (7-23, 3-15) in sweeping the season series and extending its winning streak over the Spartans to six games.

Four players scored in double figures for the Rebels. In addition to Mitrou-Long, Mbacke Diong had 19 points and 12 rebounds, Bryce Hamilton scored 18 and Amauri Hardy finished with 17 points and eight assists.

It was Diong’s first game in double-figure scoring since Jan. 15, also against the Spartans. That also was the date of his last double-double.

“He had tremendous energy,” Otzelberger said. “When he came in defensively, he shook that whole game up. His length and rim presence was really impactful to our defense and got us going. When he has that type of energy, we’ve got to have him on the court.”

UNLV shot 55.7 percent, including 50 percent from 3-point range, and held San Jose State to 39.6 percent shooting (30.8 on 3-pointers). Seneca Knight led the Spartans with 20 points.

The Rebels won the rebounding battle 41-28 and had 44 points in the lane compared with 14 for the Spartans.

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.