Wyoming Basketball Clashes With Boise State
The Wyoming Cowboys and Cowgirls will battle Boise State Saturday in Mountain West basketball action with the men’s game in Laramie and the women’s in Boise.
The Wyoming Cowgirls (15-4, 7-1) are trying to bounce back after their first conference loss at UNLV on Wednesday night.
Head coach Joe Legerski said after that loss during an interview from Learfield Sports,
“One of the things I talked to ‘em (the team) about was I didn’t expect to go 18-0 in conference play, and playing on the road is difficult.”
To back that up, Wyoming has only one victory in eight trips to Boise, ID. That was two years ago, Jan. 10, 2015, and the final score was 64-59.
Boise State (14-5, 4-4) has been very good at home this season. The Broncos are 10-1 at Taco Bell Arena. They are led by senior guard Brooke Pahukoa, who is averaging 14.1 points per game. Junior Shalen Shaw adds 10.7 points and team-leading 7.1 rebounds per game.
Tip-off is at 1 p.m.
The Wyoming Cowboys (14-7, 4-4) are seeking back-to-back wins in the Mountain West for the first time this season. Coming off a 1-point win over UNLV Wednesday night, the Pokes are alone in sixth place in the MW standings.
After the victory, Wyoming head coach Allen Edwards said he felt he was coaching “energy” too much in the second half.
“That shouldn’t happen with this group because I feel like on the practice floor, they bring it every single day… I thought that second half was not Cowboy basketball.”
That is something UW was addressing in practice leading up to Saturday’s game.
Boise State (12-7, 5-3) is in a three-way tie for third place in the conference race. The Broncos lost at home by 19 points to Nevada on Wednesday. Boise swept the two meetings last year, which included a 10-point, 81-71, win in Laramie.
The Broncos are led by guard Chandler Hutchison. He scores nearly 18 points a game and leads them at 8.8 rebounds per game. Both marks rank fourth in the conference. Paris Austin adds 11.1 points per game, while Nick Duncan is at 9.9 per game.
The game is set for a 4 p.m. start at the Arena-Auditorium.