Wyoming senior Tyson Johnson was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Week.By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org
The Wyoming Cowboys finally get two straight home games on their schedule.
Yet, instead of being on the normal Wednesday-Saturday rotation, the Cowboys host Air Force Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the A-A against a Falcons team that has had a week to prepare.
At least Wyoming is at home. For the Cowboys, that is a good thing as they are 10-0 in the A-A this season.
“The scary thing is they have had about a week to prepare for us and we’ve had about a day and a half to try to incorporate a game plan against them, which is not very easy,” Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer said.
The Falcons haven’t been the same Air Force team as it has been in the past few years, as they lost a number of good players to graduation. Air Force is 0-5 in Mountain West Conference play and 9-9 on the season.
With that said, Schroyer is not taking the Falcons lightly.
“I think they are a pretty good team and they are very well coached,” Schroyer said. “They are somewhat similar to us; they are trying to incorporate a lot of new guys. They are very dangerous. They probably should have beat TCU at home. They are tough to play because it is something you don’t see every day. I have the utmost respect for Jeff Reynolds. He does a great job.”
Senior Anwar Johnson is currently leading the Falcons at 13.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. Seniors Matt Holland and Andrew Henke are also averaging double figures 11.9 and 10.9 points per game respectively.
“They are going to try to post our guards with Anwar Johnson and Evan Washington,” Schroyer said. “I think another thing that scares me is they are not going to shoot 27 percent from all year. There is no question that they are very, very capable and prepared to play. We’re going to have to play extremely well.”
It’s a two-headed monster when you try to prepare for the Falcons, Schroyer said, because you have to have the ability to score and also be patient against their structured offense.
“There is no question that they are going to come in with some different things offensively -- different sets, different backdoor cuts, different kinds of things," he said. “For us, it will be important to play on our toes and try to free their mind. You have a tendency to get so bogged down in every single movement -- especially in a day and a half, it is too hard to try to memorize everything they do.
“The other thing that we have to do is make sure you have the ability to score. People spend so much time trying to figure out how to defend them, their defense has caused people so many problems throughout the years. It’s a two-headed monster. For us, we’re going to have to be able to score and we’re going to have to try to defend them the best that we can.”
Johnson earns Player of Week honors
Quiet on and off the court, Wyoming senior Tyson Johnson spoke up last week to become the Mountain West Conference Men’s Basketball Co-Player of the Week.
Johnson helped lead the Cowboys to a 1-1 record on the week, losing an overtime battle at first-place TCU (78-79) and defeating rival Colorado State (83-74) at home.On the week, Johnson scored 37 points and pulled down 17 rebounds for a weekly average of 18.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Johnson finished the week shooting 70.6 percent from the field (12-for-17) and 92.3 percent from the free-throw line (12-for-13). Schroyer said the honor is another notch in Johnson’s belt because so many teams now have tried to scheme to take him away.
“He’s really been able to score and rebound without a lot of sets called for him," Schroyer said. “I think he is starting to flow in our motion offense the last couple of weeks more so than he has since he has been here. It is a credit to him. The thing that people really don’t know about him is that he us a superior kid, just a Class A individual. He is great in the locker room and he has been just an absolute joy to have here.”
At TCU, Johnson scored 18 points on 6-for-11 shooting and pulled down eight rebounds. With 13 seconds left in regulation, he knocked down only his second 3-pointer of the season to send the game to overtime.
In UW’s win over Colorado State, Johnson was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field and 7-of-8 from the charity stripe in scoring 19 points. He also grabbed nine rebounds, dished out two assists and blocked one shot.
Johnson shares the MWC’s weekly award with UNLV’s Tre’Von Willis.
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Wyoming Cowboys (2-3 in MWC, 13-6 overall)
Probable Starters Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown PPG RPG APG/BPG
F #11 Afam Muojeke 6-7 210 R-Fr. Jamaica, Queens, N.Y. 15.5 4.1 1.7
F #21 Tyson Johnson 6-7 245 Sr. Long Island, N.Y. 15.5 8.4 2.1
C #15 Adam Waddell 6-10 235 R-Fr. Cody, Wyo. 5.8 4.0 0.9*
G # 0 Sean Ogirri 6-3 200 R-Sr. Denver, Colo. 15.0 2.5 2.7
G #23 Brandon Ewing 6-2 190 Sr. Chicago, Ill. 18.5 3.3 5.1
Reserves
PG # 1 JayDee Luster^ 5-9 165 So. San Diego, Calif. Redshirting
G # 2 Arthur Bouëdo 6-2 165 Fr. Aix en Provence, France Hasn't yet played
F # 5 Ryan Dermody 6-9 205 Jr. Loveland, Colo. Hasn't yet played
G #12 Galand Thaxton 6-2 175 Fr. Laramie, Wyo. 0.5 0.3 0.0
C #13 Mikhail Linskens 7-0 260 So. Bredene, Belgium 3.2 3.9 0.8*
F #25 Djibril Thiam 6-10 205 So. Dakar, Senegal 5.3 6.8 1.1*
F #32 Mahamoud Diakite 6-7 225 Jr. Paris, France 1.6 2.1 0.5*
C #33 Boubacar Sylla^ 7-2 275 So. Paris, France Redshirting
G #51 A.J. Davis 6-6 195 Fr. Columbus, Ohio 2.8 2.3 0.8
*Indicates blocked shot average
^Luster and Sylla will have to sit out of competition during the 2008-09
season to satisfy NCAA transfer rules.
Head Coach: Heath Schroyer (Armstrong Atlantic State ‘95)
Overall Record: 60-71 (.458), Fifth year
Record at Wyoming: 25-24 (.510), Second year
Assistant Coaches: Fred Langley (Fresno State ‘87), Shaun Vandiver (Colorado ‘02)
and Anthony Stewart (Mount Union ‘93
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Air Force Falcons (0-5 in MWC, 9-9 overall)
Probable Starters Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown PPG RPG APG
F #31 Matt Holland 6-6 205 Sr. Dallas, Texas 11.9 3.4 1.3
F #42 Anwar Johnson 6-5 200 Sr. St. Gabriel, La. 13.6 4.0 2.1
C #50 Grant Parker 6-7 220 Jr. Aurora, Colo. 6.3 3.4 0.6
G #10 Andrew Henke 6-6 215 Sr Minnetonka, Minn. 10.9 4.2 2.4
G #35 Evan Washington 6-4 195 So. Columbus, Ohio 8.0 5.1 2.3
Reserves
G # 3 Brandon Provost 6-3 188 Fr. Houston, Texas 0.0 0.3 0.0
G #12 Jon Atkins 6-3 174 Fr. Las Vegas, Nev. 1.3 1.3 0.5
F #13 Trevor Noonan 6-9 215 Fr. Broomfield, Colo. 1.3 1.6 1.1
G/F #15 Taylor Stewart 6-5 190 Fr. Lexington, Ky. 3.8 2.1 0.8
F #20 Tom Fow 6-6 197 So. Scottsdale, Ariz. Hasn’t yet played
C #21 Phillip Brown 6-7 230 So. Jonesboro, Ga. 1.0 0.0 0.0
G #22 Avery Merriex 6-3 190 Jr. Denver, Colo. 1.9 0.7 0.4
G #32 Shawn Hempsey 6-1 186 Fr. Encinitas, Calif. 0.4 0.8 0.2
C #33 Mike McLain 6-8 235 Jr. Portland, Ore. 1.2 1.7 1.0
C #34 Sammy Schafer 6-10 205 Fr. Oregon City, Ore. 2.0 1.3 0.8
Head Coach: Jeff Reynolds (UNC Greensbro ’78)
Overall Record: 107-57 (.652), Sixth Season
Record at Air Force: 25-23 (.521), Second Season
Assistant Coaches: Dave Pilipovich, Steve Snell, Rob Pryor, Kevin Carroll and Capt. Tyron Wright
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