1989 – 90 UNLV Runnin ' Rebels basketball team represented the University of Nevada Las Vegas in NCAA Division I men 's competition in the 1989 – 90 season , and won the NCAA title under head coach Jerry Tarkanian . The team played its home games in the Thomas & Mack Center , and was a member of the Big West Conference ; it would join the Western Athletic Conference in 1996 and become a charter member of its current conference , the Mountain West Conference , in 1999 . As of the present , they are the last team from any of the non-major seven conferences ( AAC , ACC , Big East , Big Ten , Big 12 , Pac-10 , and SEC ) to win the national championship
Big East
Big East Conference (1979–2013)
1989–90 UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball team