Maldonado a ‘game-time decision’ against Bulldogs

LARAMIE -- Jeff Linder joked that Hunter Maldonado could use the rest anyway.

The Cowboys point guard took Friday off after having his eyes dilated, according to Wyoming's second-year head coach. Whether he'll play against Fresno State Saturday after taking an inadvertent finger to the left eye Wednesday night, remains to be seen.

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"His status is it's a game-time decision," Linder said during his weekly press conference Friday afternoon. "So, we'll see what comes up over the next 24 hours, but my guess is he'll be ready to go. But also you're just kind of waiting to see."

With 14:34 remaining in the first half, Maldonado went up for a rebound under the hoop and was accidentally hit in the face by a UNLV defender. In obvious discomfort, the redshirt junior attempted to take the ball out on the end line but was forced to leave the court in Las Vegas.

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He missed more than eight minutes of playing time before returning to finish with a team-high 22 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in the 64-57 loss to the Rebels. Maldonado also passed Sean Dent for the single-season assist record Wednesday night and now has 184 through 30 games.

Dent dished out 183 during the 1986-87 campaign.

Linder said Maldonado went through a CT scan in Las Vegas following the game just to "double check" things. During his postgame press conference, Linder said the Colorado Springs product was in a "bad way" and suffered a lesion on his eye.

"He can't see much right now, but hopefully by tonight he'll be better," Linder said.

Maldonado is averaging 19 points, 5.8 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game. He also leads the team in minutes played, averaging more than 37 per night.

If he can't got against the Bulldogs Saturday in Laramie, it's likely true freshman Noah Reynolds will handle point-guard duty as the Cowboys (23-7, 12-5) look to close out the regular season with a victory to solidify their NCAA Tournament chances.

Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. inside the Arena-Auditorium and the game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.