Wyoming’s Zone Defense Exposed in 94-62 Loss at Utah State
LOGAN, Utah -- Uncle!
Outscored, outhustled and outclassed, Wyoming was on the receiving end of a lopsided 94-62 loss Wednesday night inside a raucous Spectrum in Logan, a building the Cowboys haven't won in since 2022.
It was an absolute clinic from the jump, aside from the 37 seconds the visitors actually held a lead.
"See you at the Border War."
Sundance Wicks repeated that sentence three times in his very brief post-game press conference with Learfield, referring to Wyoming's Saturday night matchup with rival Colorado State.
In other words: the head coach is flushing this one.
Good. It stinks.
Kolby King led all scorers with 20, drilling a team best four of the Aggies' 13 triples on the night. MJ Collins, the Mountain West's leading scorer, added 12 on 5-of-10 shooting. Garry Clark chipped in with 13 and Mason Falslev and Tucker Anderson both finished with 11.
Wicks warned on Monday the Aggies had a five-headed monster.
Senior guard Leland Walker again paced the offensive effort for the visitors, netting a team-high 24. Naz Meyer, who missed the previous two outings in concussion protocol, finished with 12. Khaden Bennett also scored nine.
Everyone else? 17.
The Aggies, who used a 13-0 run to build an early lead, dominated nearly every statistical category in this one, arguably the most impressive being 28 assists on 33 made baskets against Wick's newly-implemented -- and, on this night, ineffective -- zone defense. They also turned 13 Wyoming giveaways into 21 points.
Utah State's bench torched the Pokes to the tune of 54-13. They also owned the paint (38-24) and fast-break points (14-2).
The Aggies are now 17-3 and boast an 8-2 mark in league action.
"We put a plan in place that we were going to go zone for a full 40 and get them off early and it didn’t happen," Wicks told gowyo.com. "We were dying on that hill tonight and see if our guys could figure it out. Hats off to Utah State."
Wyoming has dropped five of its last six games and now sits at 12-9 overall and just 3-7 in conference play. CSU pays a visit to Laramie Saturday before a Tuesday trip to top-ranked San Diego State. If that isn't tough enough, the Cowboys get to see this same Utah State team -- and another against the Rams, this time in Moby -- in the next three weeks.
Uncle?
Wicks, this week, called Jerrod Calhoun's squad a "buzzsaw" over the last decade.
That's an understatement.
Though the bench boss said he was looking forward to this test, it was apparent early on that this one was going to be a laugher. To add insult to injury on a night where nothing went right, Utah State banked in triples, was fouled in the process and even a rebound opportunity for the Cowboys was inadvertently swatted into their own basket.
Wyoming, which trailed by as many as 38 in Logan, is still playing without its "heart," Matija Belic, who may have already played his final game in the brown and golf after having ankle surgery. Jared Harris is also still sidelined with a toe injury.
The Pokes and Rams are scheduled to tipoff Saturday at 7:30 p.m. inside the Arena-Auditorium.
POKES: The Seven Best Games In The History Of The Wyoming-CSU Border War Rivalry (Naturally, they were all Wyoming wins)
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