Gear up for gameday: Utah Valley

OREM, Utah -- The Cowboys have won three straight games for the first time since 2018.

They didn't accomplish that feat one time last season.

Can Wyoming (4-1) win two consecutive road games? That hasn't happened since 2018, also.

Jeff Linder's team will take on Utah Valley today in Orem, Utah, Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. These two squads met last December in Laramie. The Wolverines forced a turnover and laid the ball up off the glass for a 69-67 win at the buzzer.

Hunter Maldonado was the player on the wrong end of that sequence.

"The play wasn’t open and I didn’t want to force anything,” he said after the loss. “It was a mental error at a critical time …

“It falls on me.”

Boy, doesn't that seem like a lifetime ago?

The Cowboys aren't solely dependent on Maldonado anymore. Freshman point guard Marcus Williams has been the Pokes' offensive leader through the first five games of the season, averaging 19.6 points per game.

Hunter Thompson, Kenny Foster, Williams and Maldonado have all finished as the team's leading scorer this season. Last year, 17 times Maldonado was that guy. He carried the offensive load most nights.

Those days are over.

The Cowboys are two points and a blown 19-point halftime lead against Texas Southern from being unbeaten. What a difference a year makes.

The Wolverines

Utah Valley enters today's contest 2-2 overall. They are coming off a 10-point setback against in-state rival Southern Utah last Wednesday night.

UVU's other loss came up the road in Provo. That was an 82-60 loss to another in-state nemesis, BYU.

Guard Jamison Overton has paced the Wolverines so far this season, netting 19.7 points per outing. He's shooting nearly 64 percent in the three games he's played. He's also leading UVU in steals.

Fardaws Aimaq, a 6-foot, 11-inch, 245-pound junior, has been a bulldog at the center spot. He is averaging 14.8 points per game and leads the Wolverines with nearly as many rebounds per outing. He is coming off a 20-point, 14-rebound night against SUU.

Guard Trey Woodbury is also netting 18 points per night. The junior from Las Vegas also leads the team in three-point shooting, connecting on 55.6 percent of his shots from deep.

UVU is dishing out 21.3 assists per game, which is good enough for seventh in the country.

Here is all you need to know about today's tilt in Orem:

WHO: Wyoming (4-1) at Utah Valley (2-2)
WHEN: Saturday, Dec. 12 at 2 p.m. MST
WHERE: UCCU Center, Orem, Utah
TV: None
RADIO: Wyoming affiliates
STREAMING: WAC Digital Network
TICKETS: None
BOX SCORE: gowyo.com
ROSTERS: Wyoming / Utah Valley
VEGAS ODDS: Wyoming -7, O/U 144
HISTORY: UW leads the all-time series 3-1 (Wolverines won the last meeting in Laramie in 2019, 69-67)
HEAD COACHES: Jeff Linder / Mark Madsen