‘It’s How You Finish': Pokes Looking to Cap Season With Road Win

LARAMIE -- This version of the Wyoming basketball program can accomplish something Saturday that hasn't been done in 26 years: win five of its last six regular-season conference games.

The last team to do that featured names like Marcus Bailey, Ugo Udezue, Josh Davis and even current assistant Chris McMillian, among many other impact players. That success would eventually launch a run of back-to-back league titles and a berth in the Big Dance in '02.

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It couldn't have come at a better time, either.

"You know, Larry Shyatt texts me after every game: 'It's how you finish,'" Current Wyoming head coach Sundance Wicks said. "We are trying to finish a certain way, to put ourselves in a position, as we talked about, to accomplish one of our goals, which is to play postseason basketball. You know, play deeper into March. Get this team accustomed to winning games in March."

The Cowboys close the regular season at San Jose State, a team that has just three league victories this winter. Tipoff is slated for 3 p.m. inside Provident Credit Union Event Center and the game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.

Wyoming scratched one goal off its list in last Tuesday night's 83-73 ouster of visiting Nevada. That result guaranteed a winning record for the first time since the 2020-21 campaign, the last time the Cowboys punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

That also equated to 14 home victories, tied for the most in the conference this season.

The Cowboys are all but locked into the No. 9 seed, heading into next week's Mountain West Tournament in Las Vegas. A much-improved Fresno State team could force a tie in the win column, but that will take an upset Saturday night at Grand Canyon.

Who Wyoming will face in Round 1 is still very much up in the air with four teams -- UNLV, Colorado State, Boise State and Nevada -- all sitting with 11-8 marks in conference play.

Wicks said he is solely focused on the Spartans. If the Cowboys can come away with a victory, it will be just the fourth away from Laramie this season.

"We've got to play better on the road, whether it's a neutral site, in Vegas or whether it's at San Jose," he added. "If you want to be a top-tier team, you have to be able to win on the road. We've talked about that a lot, the boys-to-men stuff. We're going to have to find a way to find some consistency on the road."

About The Teams
Wyoming heads into the contest with a 17-13 overall record and an 8-11 mark in conference play.

The Pokes average 77 points per game this season and allow 72.8 per night. Wyoming is averaging only 70.6 points per game in conference play. The Pokes are grabbing 35.5 rebounds, ranking sixth in the conference. The Cowboys are grabbing just under 12 offensive rebounds per game, which leads the MW.

Wyoming is hitting 8.3 three-pointers per game for the season and shooting 33.1 percent from behind the arc.

San José State is 8-22 overall this season and 3-16 in conference play after falling on the road at Fresno State by a score of 82-68 on Tuesday. The Spartans average 71.2 points per game and allow 77.9 per night. SJSU shoots 43 percent with opponents shoot 49 percent.

The Spartans shoot 36 percent from three with the opposition also connecting at 36 percent. SJSU grabs 30.1 rebounds per game.

"I think that's kind of been the biggest adjustment for those guys is they're starting to play a little bit more fearless and free in the open court with nothing to lose," Wicks said of SJSU, which has won two of its last five games. "They are really banking on threes, and when they hit a lot of shots, they're tough to beat."

About The Players
Wyoming is led in scoring this season by Leland Walker at 13.9 points per game, ranking 11th in the MW. He also adds a team-high 3.5 assists per game, which ranks eighth in the conference.

Freshman guard Naz Meyer adds 12.9 and 4.7 rebounds per game this season, which is second on the team. Khaden Bennett chips in with 10.6 points per game and owns the team lead with 5.1 boards a night. Damarion Dennis nets 10.8 points per game for the season and is shooting 52 percent from the field. He is adding 11.7 points per game in conference play.

The Spartans are led by Colby Garland at 20.1 points per game. He ranks in the top-three in the league in scoring. He is shooting 50 percent from the field this season.

What's most impressive about him?

"His aggression," Wicks said without hesitation. "He's a wired-to-score guy. He's a lot like Obi (Agbim), he's guy that just can go get a bucket. He can get a bucket at mid, he can get a bucket at the rack and he can get a bucket at three. I think he's best when he's kind of playing a little bit of both: He's assisting, setting guys up and getting other guys looks that can shoot it out there for him."

Yaphet Moundi adds 12.5 points per game and leads the team this season with 7.6 rebounds but has been injured. Jermaine Washington averages 11.1 points per game and leads the team with 49 triples.

About The Series
Wyoming leads the all-time series against San José State 23-6 and owns a 9-4 record in San Jose. The Pokes took the first meeting 66-62 in Laramie in January. SJSU has won three of the last four matchups.

Up Next
The Cowboys head to the Credit Union 1 Mountain West Championships on Wednesday against an opponent to be determined.

* A UW press release contributed to this report