By Ernie Gonzalez (@superego1012):
Seeded last in the conference, the one-win Spartans will have to forget about the regular season and focus for 40 minutes of fundamental basketball to string together a win against No. 6 Wyoming in the first round of the Mountain West tournament.
The Spartans (4-25, 1-17 MW) earned their first win of the season at home Feb. 28 against Utah State by two points but failed to carry that momentum into the tournament as they fell by 22 to Air Force in their season finale.
The Cowboys (19-12, 10-8 MW) meanwhile ended the regular seasons with wins over Fresno State and Air Force, but fell by 8 to Boise State to close out the season.
With the chance of it being the final game of his collegiate career, Cowboys senior Hayden Dalton will be playing his heart out and the Spartans have to be prepared for that.
Dalton was held to just two points on 1-9 shooting the first time the Spartans and Cowboys met in an overtime battle back on Jan. 27 but woke up the next time both squads met three Saturdays later.
In the Feb. 17 meeting with the senior back on his home court, Dalton hit six threes and overwhelmed the Spartans with a 22-point, 10-board double-double.
As if the fourth scorer in the Mountain West isn’t enough to stop, the Spartans also will have to deal with the third leading scorer in the conference.
Junior Justin James, who finishes the regular season with a 19.1 point per game average will also be a hassle for the Spartans. The true scorer hit the 23 point mark in three of the last four games to close out the season.
As for the Spartans, its Ryan Welage, Keith Fisher, and the rest if they show up. Of the top ten scorers in the Mountain West, Welage, ranked No. 6, topped the other nine in minutes played.
Keith Fisher had a solid second half of the season and reached the double-double mark in 8 of his last 13 games.
The Spartans will need their role players to show up in and fill up the stat sheets because that is will Wyoming can do in a heartbeat: bench points. Jaycee Hillsman, Jalen James Oumar Barry and Isaiah Nichols all need to leave it all out there.
Tipoff from the Thomas & Mack Center is at 4 p.m.