It's Wyoming here on Saturday

Wyoming comes to town Saturday afternoon (2:00 p.m.) @ Walt McPherson Court and this is a team fresh off a 68-62 upset of San Diego State last Tuesday.

From Cowboy athletics:

Wyoming held SDSU to its third-lowest point total this season and is now one of only two schools (Wichita State) in the nation to not allow 75 points this season. For the season, Wyoming's 49 percent from the field leads the Mountain West and ranks 13th in the nation, while its 38 percent from deep is third and 65.9 points per game are 10th. UW's 73 percent at the free throw line is third. Defensively, the Cowboys rank second in the MW and 14th in the NCAA in scoring defense at 60.5 points per game and fourth in the league in field goal percentage defense at 40 percent. UW's 31 percent three-point defense is third in the conference and 51st in the nation.

Plus this:

Junior guard Riley Grabau and junior forward Larry Nance Jr. paced Wyoming in its upset of San Diego State. Grabau notched 17 points and four assists and has now his 17 threes over the last five games to average 11.3 points and 2.1 assists. He is shooting 92 percent at the free throw line and has made 35-straight attempts. Nance added 14 points, six rebounds and three blocks. He leads the Pokes at 15.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.2 blocks and 1.4 steals per game, while ranking 11th in the MW in points and fifth in rebounds. His 54 percent from the field is second. Sophomore guard Josh Adams and senior guard Nathan Sobey have gotten to the rim during MW play. Adams averages 11.6 points and a team-high 2.9 assists, while Sobey contributes 7.5 points and 2.8 rebounds. Junior forward Derek Cooke Jr.'s 5.6 rebounds are second on the team and he adds 5.4 points per contest. 

Here's our game report from the January 18 last meeting between these two teams:

The sense all along was that Wyoming was going to win this game and that became the reality with the final score of 67-56 but San Jose State University left another fine impression in its initial Mountain West Conference go-around.

This time it was D.J. Brown's turn to lead and he finished with 18 points, including 4-8 from long distance. Frontcourter Chris Cunningham finished with 10 points and six boards and Devante Wilson totaled 13 points. Rashad Muhammad didn't connect from the floor and finished with two points as SJSU shot 37% overall and garnered just four points from the Spartan bench.

It was a case of too much Larry Nance Jr. (how did they get him to come out of Ohio to Laramie?) as he concluded with 18 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots in 40 minutes of court time. Second-leading Cowboy scorer Riley Grabau missed each of his six three-point attempts but it was fellow guard Josh Adams stepping up and springing for 16 points plus seven assists (just one turnover). he had been close to 50/50 in assists-to-turnovers entering the matchup.

Wyoming doubled up the Spartans in the paint, scoring 34 points to 16 and posted a shutout with fastbreak scoring at 14-0.

This was another learning opportunity as Coach Larry Shyatt's guy played very physical. The Spartan youth know they must get bigger and stronger in order to turn around these final scores in MWC play. 

Gotta go with the Cowboys on this one  -- just a too tough physical and mental opponent. Wyoming might let down a bit after topping San Diego State but this is a coaching staff that will nip any lackadaisical play early on. That and the Spartans don't have a good matchup for Larry Nance.