Defense, rebounding keys again for Cowboys against Rebels

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

At first glance, the UNLV Rebels appear to be a good matchup with the Wyoming Cowboys. The Rebels don’t have a dominating big man in the middle and the Cowboys might even have an advantage in the physical department.

At second glance, though, the athletic Rebels are exactly the team that has given the Cowboys fits this season. The two teams will meet Wednesday night at 8 p.m. in the Arena-Auditorium in a game that is being televised by The Mtn.

The cowboys’ biggest problem this season defensively has been guarding the dribble … especially their four man guarding the dribble. At times, the Rebels have five players out on the court who can all shoot.

“They are a matchup problem for a lot of people,” Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer said. “We’re going to have to collectively be able to defend the dribble and defend the 3 because they are very good at getting to the lane, making two people helping and kicking, making one pass to guys who can shoot. They are tough to guard.”

Another Achilles Heel at times this season has been rebounding. In the first game between the two teams this season, the Rebels held a big 44-33 rebounding edge, with 22 offensive boards for 24 second-chance points in the 83-66 loss.

“We are going to have to do a really good job of rebounding the ball,” Schroyer said. “They had (two) guys (Joe Darger and Rene Rougeau) who each out-rebounded our whole front court. We just have to continue to try to get better at it. It’s been a weakness of ours all year. We’ll continue to emphasize it and continue to work on it.

“There is no question that if you go back and watch the Vegas game, the second chance points and points off turnovers are the two things that cost us the game. They are also the two things that really cost us against San Diego State. We out-shot our opponents on the road, but they just got more shots than we did.”

Two at home
It doesn’t happen much any more in conference season, but the Cowboys will be home twice this week, also hosting TCU at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Wyoming opened with five of its first eight league games on the road and will finish with four of six at home.

“I think the last six games are really big for us,” Schroyer said. “This is the time of the year that you hope to make some hay, so to speak. We’ve had the toughest part of our schedule and obviously playing Vegas isn’t easy. It is nice to know that you have four of your next six at home and you are going to be in your region the last three weeks of the season.”

At 3-7 in league play and 14-10 overall, a strong play could put the Cowboys in some sort of postseason possibilities.

“We went through a tough stretch; we have to regain our confidence and regain our swagger, so to speak,” Schroyer said. “Hopefully, we’ll play well in these last few weeks because this is the time of the year that you want to make hay with four of your last six at home.”