Cowboys to face Rams in MWC

Aaron Ontiveroz photo

Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer argues with an official.

Cowboys, Rams in pigtail game

By Richard Anderson
Wyomingsports.org

Both teams are where they never wanted to be -- the play-in game.

Yet, the Wyoming Cowboys and Colorado State Rams will approach Wednesday’s Mountain West Conference Tournament game with the idea of moving on and not moving out.

The Cowboys, 5-11 and the eighth seed and the Rams, 0-16 and the ninth seed, will tip off at noon at the Thomas & Mack Center.

“We’ve had a lot of ups and downs this year, but we definitely don’t feel like we belong in this play-in game,” Cowboy senior guard Brad Jones said after the Cowboys final home game on March 1 against Utah. “Since we are, we are going to go out there and play hard and try to win it. We just need to play hard on every possession for 40 minutes. That’s going to be our mindset.”

The winner will meet top-seed BYU Thursday at 1 p.m. in the quarterfinals.

For the Cowboys, it’s a chance to win three games against their rivals after stopping the Rams 73-58 in Laramie and 77-67 in Fort Collins.

Will it be thrice as nice for Wyoming or will it be the third time is a charm for Colorado State?

“It’s harder than heck to beat a team three times in a row,” CSU head coach Tim Miles said.

Wyoming head coach Heath Schroyer, another first year head coach in the MWC, said it is always tough to win three games against an opponent.

“I think it makes it really hard, especially when you are playing your rival for the third time,” Schroyer said. “Trying to beat a team three times, in any league, in any circumstances, is really, really tough to do.

“I think we were very fortunate when we were at Fort Collins, to get out of there with a win. We’re going to have to play very well for us to repeat that performance.”

The Rams are expected to go without 7-foot senior Stuart Creason, who had to be carried off the court last Saturday against New Mexico after re-injuring his foot. Creason missed nine games, including the Wyoming game in Laramie, with a stress fracture, before coming back and playing fairly well.

Averaging 12.7 points and 5.7 rebounds a game this season, Creason scored 15 points against the Cowboys in Fort Collins.

“I would say he is highly doubtful for the game,” Miles said. “We’ll just see.”

Regardless, Schroyer said they are preparing to see Creason play.

“That is how we prepared all week,” Schroyer said.

Even with Creason, the Cowboys inside game dominated in the second game, with senior Joseph Taylor scoring a career 21 points and junior Tyson Johnson adding 17.

Miles said they can’t let that happen on Wednesday.

“What do you do? I think we have to adjust defensively, there is no question about it,” Miles said. “We’ll go more zone. We have to flat-out find a different way to attack them because they hurt us in a man. We have to make an adjustment, because the same ‘ole, same ‘ole is not working.”

With or without Creason, Schroyer said he has plenty to worry about, namely junior guard Markus Walker, the league’s leading scorer at 17.2 points a game. In the two games against Wyoming, Walker is averaging 20 points a game.

“They do a lot of really good things to get him shots. Motion is really hard to guard,” Schroyer said. “They get Creason and their post guys are good angles with their motion. Their guards are very good off the dribble. They have a lot of people who have a lot of things that worry me.

They’ve had some bad luck; but they are a good basketball team and are very well coached. We’ll have to play extremely well.”

The Cowboys are led by junior guard Brandon Ewing at 16.8 points. 3.7 assists and 4.1 assist a game. On Monday, Ewing was named to the MWC All-Conference second team for the second straight year. Jones follows at 12.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists and sophomore Ryan Dermody is scoring 9.6 points a game and 5.1 rebounds a game. Taylor comes off the bench at 7.2 points and 6.8 rebounds a game. Johnson, although averaging just 7.0 points per game, has scored in double figures in 10 of his last 11 games, averaging 13.0 per game.

After closing the regular season last Wednesday at BYU, the Cowboys, 12-17 overall, took Thursday and Friday off, before getting back to work on Saturday.

“Hopefully, that will help us, but once you get into league play, you are used to having a rhythm,” Schroyer said. “We haven’t played for a week, so we obviously have to try and get the rust off, so to speak.”

For the Rams, 6-24 on the season, Miles said they have nothing to lose.

“I think there are some things you have to do to try and be the aggressor and get them on their heels,” Miles said. “We’ve been practicing some things to give us the best chance for a victory.”