Cowboys look to get one back tonight against Nevada

LARAMIE — When looking at the next opponent, University of Wyoming men’s basketball coach Larry Shyatt doesn’t see a big difference from nearly three weeks ago.

UW (10-9 overall, 3-3 Mountain West) hosts Nevada (10-7, 2-3) at 7 tonight at the Arena-Auditorium — 18 days after the Wolf Pack handed the Cowboys a 71-68 loss in Reno.

“They still have very balanced scoring, which has been the difference in their 10-7 record,” Shyatt said. “They can hit you with four or five different players that can reach double figures pretty easily on any given night.”

Four of Nevada’s five projected starters average between 10.5 and 17.9 points per game.

A fifth player — sophomore guard Eric Cooper Jr. — averages 9.9 points per contest.

UW allowed only two players to score in double figures in the first game, but senior guard and leading scorer Marqueze Coleman scored 23 points, including a 3-pointer with 22 seconds to play.

Coleman has increased his points per game by nearly 10 compared to last season.

In conference games only, Coleman leads the MW with five assists and 2.5 steals per game.

“He most certainly is one of the most improved players in the conference, and most improved players we’ve competed against this season,” Shyatt said.

“He’s improved in every single category that I see. The most impressive thing is his assist-to-turnover ratio with 70 assists and 43 turnovers.”

Seventeen of Coleman’s 23 points came in the second half. He’s scored 69 percent of his points in the second half this season.

“Marqueze, in our game, was spectacular in the second half and the difference late,” Shyatt added.

Better starts to both halves and ball security will be a key for UW.

Despite leading 37-34 at halftime against Nevada on Jan. 2, it started the game 2 of 10 from the field.

It also allowed Nevada to go on a 13-2 run over the first seven-plus minutes of the second half.

“We just have to come out each half ready to play,” junior guard Jason McManamen said. “There have been some games where we got down and then we decided to start to play, especially on defense.

“We have to focus on the defensive We know shots may come and go, but eventually they’ll fall.”

The Cowboys committed 17 turnovers in that first game — the second-most in a game this season — that led to 13 Nevada points. UW also missed eight free throws.

Despite its shortcomings, UW outrebounded Nevada 37-33. It has outrebounded only five teams this season.

The Cowboys gave themselves chances to tie or take the lead late in a game that featured six ties and eight lead changes.

UW is 5-6 this season in games decided fewer than 10 points, and all of the last six games with Nevada have been decided by single digits.

“We expect the same thing (tonight),” Shyatt said.

Difference from 3

UW enters the game 31st out of 351 Division I teams in the country with 9.1 3-pointers per game. Nevada averages 5.6 per contest, which is 289th.

The Cowboys shoot 36.1 percent from behind the arc. The Wolf Pack shoots 32 percent, but that figure dips to 28.6 percent in MW play.

In the first game with UW, Nevada was 5 of 11 from 3-point range. UW was 10 of 21, but was outscored 26-16 in the paint.

Free throws

UW has averaged 69.3 points per game, and allowed 69.2 this season.

Nevada is fifth in the nation with 6.5 blocked shots per game.

UW senior guard Josh Adams, coming off a career-high 38 points in last Saturday’s 70-68 win at New Mexico, is fifth in the country in scoring (24.7 points per game).

UW is 7-2 at home this season, while Nevada is 2-6 in road games.

Nevada is 310th out of 351 Division I teams in the country with 21.9 fouls per game.

It committed 26 fouls in the first game with UW.