College basketball is back in Las Vegas as the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels open their 2026-27 regular season at home against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks on Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Tip-off is set for 7:00 PM Pacific at the Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus.
The Runnin’ Rebels remain one of the most storied programs in the Mountain West, with a national championship banner from 1990 hanging in the Thomas & Mack rafters and a fan base that treats every home opener like a holiday. Northern Arizona makes the trip from Flagstaff as a Big Sky Conference program that has built its identity on guard play and three-point shooting — a classic early-season test of UNLV’s pace and depth before the nonconference schedule stiffens later in November.
Date, time and game details
What: UNLV Rebels vs Northern Arizona Lumberjacks — men’s college basketball
When: Tuesday, November 3, 2026 — tip-off 7:00 PM Pacific
Where: Thomas & Mack Center, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89154
Season openers at the Thomas & Mack come with the full pageantry: the band, the student section back in force and the first look at a retooled Rebels rotation. Doors typically open about an hour before tip, and arriving early is the easiest way to catch warmups and beat the Maryland Parkway traffic that builds on game nights.
Early November games matter more than they used to. With the Mountain West routinely sending multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament, every nonconference result feeds the resume math that decides seeding in March, and UNLV’s home floor has historically been worth real points — the Rebels protect the Mack with an up-tempo style built for the building’s sightlines and crowd noise.
The venue: Thomas & Mack Center
The Thomas & Mack Center has been the home of UNLV basketball since 1983 and seats more than 18,000 for basketball, making it one of the largest on-campus arenas in the country. Set on the UNLV campus at 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, just east of the Strip, the arena mixes a classic college atmosphere with Las Vegas production — it also hosts the National Finals Rodeo every December and hosted the 2007 NBA All-Star Game.
Tickets
Tickets for UNLV vs Northern Arizona on November 3, 2026 are listed through Ticketmaster’s event page for the Thomas & Mack Center. The listing is a resale marketplace page rather than the primary box office, so prices are set by sellers and change with demand — check the official UNLV athletics ticket channels for primary inventory and student ticketing information before you buy.
Getting to the Thomas & Mack Center
The Thomas & Mack Center sits at 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89154, on the UNLV campus near Tropicana Avenue, about two miles east of the Strip. Free and paid parking lots surround the arena off Maryland Parkway and Tropicana, and game-day lots fill from the east side first. RTC buses run along Maryland Parkway, and rideshare drop-off zones operate on campus roads around the arena — build in extra time, as Tropicana backs up before tip-off.
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