Wyoming looks to extend 5-game win streak in Border War rivalry

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The next game on the Wyoming men?s basketball team?s schedule falls on Valentine?s Day, but there will be no love lost between the Cowboys and their opponent.

Wyoming will host the rival Colorado State Rams in the first Border War matchup this season.

The game will be Wyoming?s first against the Rams with Allen Edwards as head coach.

?I think back to my days of playing in the Kentucky-Louisville game,? said Edwards, who played for the Wildcats. ?That was a big game for us, but it was even bigger of a game for the guys that were from Kentucky. Like, that was like a you-can?t-go-home-if-you-lose type deal. I don?t know if this one is to that magnitude, but it?s a rivalry game to where it?s bragging rights.

?And I?m not saying it?s bigger than any other game throughout the year, but with us being so close to each other and the hatred both programs have for each other, that right there in itself should motivate both sides to go out there and compete to the best of their ability.?

The game will be the second ever between the rivals on Feb. 14. The Cowboys won the previous matchup 81-78 in triple overtime. Wyoming has won five straight in the series, though many of the players who were key to those wins have since departed.

?One of the things I?m going to hit our guys with today is it really hasn?t been them that has beaten (Colorado State),? Edwards said. ?We have a few guys on our team that have been through that, but the program, what they have on the front of their chest has been real successful here for I want to say the last five years.

?But we can?t as a program live off of what has happened. We have to continue to carry on.?

Senior Jason McManamen has more experience with the rivalry than anyone else on the Wyoming roster. He hasn?t spoken much with his teammates about the significance of the rivalry. He doesn?t feel he has to.

?They know,? he said. ?Most of the guys know what this game means and what the Border War is. We can say it?s just another game, but the Border War is a little bit more than just another game.?


Being a Torrington native, McManamen was familiar with the rivalry before ever donning the brown and gold.

?I?ve always known about the Border War,? he said. ?It?s always been a great rivalry in every sport. So to be a part of it is an awesome thing.?

Freshman guard Cody Kelley will be participating in his Border War, but the Gillette native remembers attending a Wyoming-Colorado State game when he was 8 or 9 years old.

?I just remember that there were plenty of people in the stands,? Kelley said. ?People were rowdy. People are definitely loud and obnoxious, and that?s how we want it to be.?

 

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Wyoming hopes strength in numbers pays off

Wyoming hopes strength in numbers pays off

Whether Wyoming will win on the scoreboard in Tuesday's Border War showdown with Colorado State remains to be seen, but there's little doubt the Cowboys will put up more lines on the stat sheet.

The Rams are playing with a rotation of just seven players, plus a converted track-and-field walk-on. Wyoming, meanwhile, utilizes a rotation that can swell to as many as 12 guys.

Still, Colorado State, which tips off against Wyoming , has managed well, sitting second in the Mountain West with a 9-4 conference mark.

How have they done it? Wyoming head coach Allen Edwards asked Utah State coach Tim Duryea that same question after the Cowboys' loss Saturday to the Aggies.

"Like, how are they doing it?" Edwards said. "Because you?d think with the loss of bodies -- not even in the sense of key guys, but they still lost bodies. But they?re still finding a way to win. I think that just goes to the credit of Coach (Larry) Eustachy and the kids that he has in his program."

Eustachy, who recently celebrated his 500th career win, lost three juniors in January when Kimani Jackson, Che Bob and Devocio Butler were deemed academically ineligible for the semester. The Rams (16-10 overall) have five other players who are sitting out the year as transfers.

That leaves seniors Gian Clavell and Emmanuel Omogbo, sophomores Braden Koelliker, J.D. Paige and Prentiss Nixon and freshmen Nico Carvacho and Anthony Bonner. Freshman sprinter Juan Sabino II joined the team as the eighth man after the suspensions.

"So they have enough," Edwards said. "They just don?t have a lot of bodies and now within that, they?re not up and down as much as they?ve been in the past. ... They understand that it?s only seven, so (Eustachy) has to be selective with opportunities in transition, and obviously I think, with them only having seven being the type of defensive team they are, that?s pretty impressive.


The Rams are allowing just 67.3 points per game, second in the Mountain West behind San Diego State.

"They?re not fouling either," Edwards said. "You would think guys would be tentative not to foul because if one or two of those guys get in foul trouble, it?s a whole different ball game. It?s amazing. It really is. But kudos."

 

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COLORADO STATE
Never mind that they?re down to just seven scholarship players.

The goal for the Colorado State men?s basketball team hasn?t changed, sophomore guard J.D. Paige said.

The Rams (17-9 overall, 9-4 Mountain West) are as determined as ever to win the Mountain West regular-season title, and they?re getting closer with every game they play.

Colorado State won for the sixth time in seven games last Saturday, beating visiting Fresno State 78-62 at Moby Arena. That victory, coupled with Nevada?s loss Sunday at San Diego State, leaves the Rams alone in second place in the conference standings, just a half-game behind Boise State (16-7, 9-3). Colorado State has five games remaining in the regular season and Boise State, which swept its two games with the Rams this season, has six.

Colorado State hasn?t won a conference title in men?s basketball since 2003, when the Rams got hot as a No. 6 seed and won the MW Tournament in Las Vegas. No Colorado State team has won a regular-season conference title since 1989-90 in the Western Athletic Conference.

?That?s the goal,? Paige said. ?We want nothing short of it.?

Coach Larry Eustachy is being a bit more cautious in his approach. He knows a regular-season title would be ?great for the fans and great for the players.?

But he also knows the standard college basketball programs are judged by has changed. Conference titles don?t matter nearly as much as getting to the NCAA tournament does, and the only way the Rams or any other team in the MW is going to get there this year is by winning the conference tournament March 8-11 in Las Vegas for the automatic bid.

That?s the priority for the Rams, he said.

?I think (a regular-season title) is important, but what really moves your program along is getting to the NCAA tournament and winning,? Eustachy said. ?We all know that; it?s all about the NCAA tournament.

?Wyoming went from a real average season to a great season when they won our conference tournament (in 2014-15), and we went from the best season in the history of the school (27-7) to everything went wrong; Larry made all these mistakes.

?It?s amazing that a few-game tournament can define your whole season.?





WYOMING
Lou Adams started both halves in the Cowboys? 102-100 four-overtime home win over Fresno State last Wednesday, but played only at total of seven minutes.

First-year coach Allen Edwards didn?t like the energy Adams showed on the floor, so he didn?t play him when it mattered most.

Adams, a junior guard in his first season with the Cowboys after transferring from Odessa College in Texas, got the message Edwards was conveying. He scored a team-best 16 points and three steals in 24 minutes in Wyoming?s 81-74 loss at Utah State last Saturday. The points were the most Adams scored in a MW game, and tied for the second-most minutes he?s played in a game this season.

?Lou came out with more energy, but at the same time, it has to be more of a consistent thing,? Edwards said. ?He seems to have figured it out, and we will go with that from there.?

Wyoming (16-10, 6-7) continued to show its lack of consistency as a team as it couldn?t ride the emotional wave of beating Fresno State. The Cowboys were down 70-68 with 4:18 to play at Utah State, but made only two baskets after that, while Utah State made all the plays ? offensively and defensively ? to win the game.

Wyoming hopes to find that consistency this week with a home game Tuesday against Colorado State and a road game at Boise State Saturday ? the top two teams in the MW standings entering the week. The Cowboys are a combined 1-4 against teams above them in the standings entering this week?s games.