December 8, 2023 |
Photo – Left to right – #5 Cam Manyawu, #13 Akuel Kot, #11 Koel Combs – Courtesy gowyo.com
Mountain West men’s basketball teams are burning through their slate of nonconference games. Conference play starts in three weeks for Wyoming. Five of the league’s 11 teams are ranked inside the top 36 of the NCAA rankings. Two Mountain West teams landed in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll, with Colorado State leading the way at No. 13.
San Diego State, last year’s NCAA Tournament runner-up, came in at No. 25.
In Fort Collins, CSU is one of the hottest teams in the country. At 8-0, the Rams are sitting No. 2 in the conference in scoring offense. At the beginning of this week, star point guard Isaiah Stevens was leading the Rams with 17.1 points and 7.9 assists per game.
San Diego State is sitting at No. 2 in the league. Jaedon Lee is the league’s leading scorer, averaging 22.6 points per game.
Spots 3-through 6, are filled with Nevada, New Mexico, Utah State, Boise State, Air Force and San Jose State.
Wyoming checks in at N0. 8 in the Mountain West.
The Cowboys started the season strong but sputtered with a pair of road losses at Texas and the University of Portland. The Pokes rebounded Tuesday night with an 80-59 win at home against South Dakota Mines.
Wyoming will be back at home tomorrow hosting Stephen F. Austin of the Western Athletic Conference at 2 p.m. inside the Arena-Auditorium.
Coach Jeff Linder has been leaning on freshmen, like forward Cam Manyawu from Kansas City, Missouri, who scored ten points in the win against South Dakota Mines this week. Manyawu has five double-doubles so far on the season.
Stephen F. Austin comes to Laramie after a 56-49 loss to Louisiana Tech on Tuesday night. The Lumberjacks are 5-4 overall and 1-1 in Western Athletic Conference Play.
The two teams have played only one other time, in the 1987-88 season. Wyoming won that meeting. Tip is set for two. Bigfoot 99 will be on the air with the pregame show at 1:30.
