Cowboys look to break skid

After spending their past two games on the road, the Wyoming Cowboys will return home, hosting TCU Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in the Arena-Auditorium. The game will be televised live by The Mtn.

The Cowboys (9-15 overall and 2-8 in the Mountain West Conference) will be looking to snap a four-game losing streak. TCU (11-14 overall, 3-7 in the MWC) enters Saturday’s game looking to rebound from a home loss to Utah this past Wednesday.

Saturday’s game will have major MWC Tournament implications, as a Wyoming win would place the Cowboys in a tie with TCU for seventh place in the league standings. With a win, the Pokes would hold the tiebreaker with TCU.

Earlier this season, the Cowboys traveled to Fort Worth and erased a big first-half deficit before falling to the Frogs, 62-59. The Cowboys had an opportunity to extend the game, but missed three field goals over the final 20 seconds of the game.

Freshman Desmar Jackson has emerged as one of the top freshmen in the MWC. In fact, he is currently the MWC’s fifth best scoring freshman with an average of 9.5 points per game. Over UW’s last five games, Jackson has really stepped up and has averaged 16.6 points a game.

Sophomore Adam Waddell is the Pokes top scorer and rebounder, with the absence of Afam Muojeke. Waddell is currently averaging 10.4 points and 6.3 rebounds a game. He ranks No. 5 in the MWC in rebounding.

Redshirt sophomore JayDee Luster is the Pokes’ leading assist man. He is currently averaging 4.7 a game and ranks No. 3 in the MWC. He has handed out at least four assists in nine of UW’s 10 MWC games. He is also averaging 8.3 points per league game.

The TCU roster features three players who are averaging double figures in scoring. They are led by sophomore guard Ronnie Moss (14.4 ppg), senior forward Zvonko Buljan (12.3 ppg) and senior guard Edvinas Ruzgas (11.3 ppg). Buljan is the Frogs’ leading rebounder with 8.9 per game. Moss leads the Frogs with a league best 6.5 assists per game.