Cowboys welcome red-hot Utah State to Dome of Doom Tuesday

LARAMIE -- The Cowboys return home to the Dome of Doom for a Tuesday night clash with Utah State in a contest slated for a 7 p.m. start on Stadium and the MW Network.

The Pokes are 10-0 at home this season and have won 11-straight home contests dating back to last season. UW is currently ranked 30th in the NCAA Net ranking and landed in the No. 26 spot in this week's USA Today Coaches Poll, earning 44 votes.

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Fans may order tickets online at GoWyo.com/tickets, by emailing tickets@uwyo.edu or by calling (307) 766-7220.

Fans can watch, listen to the contest, as well as follow stats on GoWyo.com. The contest will be broadcast live on radio over the 26 affiliate stations of the Cowboy Sports Network, as Reece Monaco will have the call with Kevin McKinney on color.

About The Teams

Wyoming heads into the contest with a 19-3 overall record and are 8-1 in conference play tying for the best start in MW play in school history with the 2001-02 team. Jeff Linder's squad is tied with top-ranked Boise State in the loss column with nine regular season-games remaining.

The Pokes have not lost a home contest in a calendar year. Wyoming ranks ninth in the nation in 3-point percentage defense at 28 percent. The Pokes are shooting 36 percent from behind the arc to rank third in the conference.

UW has cleaned up the glass in the last seven games winning the battle on the boards. Wyoming ranks first in the conference with 28 defensive rebounds per game.

The Aggies are the hottest team in the Mountain West having won their last five games. Those victories have come by a combined 105 points.

That has vaulted Utah State from a 1-5 beginning to conference play to a 6-5 league mark and back into the NCAA Tournament at-large discussion. The Aggies rank second in the Mountain West, hitting 48.6 percent of their field goal attempts, while they allow their foes to hit 41.7 percent of their shots from the field.

MORE UW HOOPS NEWS:

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* PODCAST: Pokes have sights set on first place

About The Players

Wyoming is led by scoring this season by Graham Ike at 20 per game to rank second in the league. He also leads the team in rebounds at 8.9 per game for third in the MW. He is one of three players in the nation to average over 20 points per game and 8.9 or more rebounds.

He, along with Hunter Maldonado, are the nation’s top-scoring duo, as Maldonado adds 19.3 points per game to rank third in the MW. He leads the conference and ranks fourth in the nation with 6.4 assists per game.

Drake Jeffries adds 10.9 points per night and ranks fifth in the nation shooting 47 percent from behind the arc. Xavier DuSell averages nearly nine points per night, and Jeremiah Oden adds 8.4.

In Wyoming's 61-59 victory at Fresno State Sunday evening, Brendan Wenzel netted 12 points on 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc and Hunter Thompson added a pair of 3-pointers to give the Cowboys their ninth road win of the season.

The Aggies are paced by Justin Bean who nearly averages a double-double per outing. He puts up a stat line of 18.7 points -- good enough for fifth in the Mountain West -- and 9.9 rebounds per game, which is tops in the league.

Brandon Horvath adds 12.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per contest, while Sean Bairstow chips in 10.3 points per game. Three other players average between 8.2-8.8 points per game. Rylan Jones leads the team with 4.9 assists per contest, and that ranks fourth in the conference.

During the current five-game win streak, Utah State has knocked off San Diego State, Nevada, Air Force, San Jose State and UNLV.

About The Series

Wyoming leads the all-time series with Utah State 52-33. These two have battled since 1926. The Pokes won the first meeting this season, 71-69, Logan, however, the Aggies had won six meetings in a row.

Ike scored with 3.3 remaining in regulation to give the Cowboys a 71-69 victory inside the Spectrum on Jan. 15. The Aurora, Colo., product finished with a game-high 23 points and Maldonado chipped in with 21. Wyoming shot 52.2% from the field in the win and connected on 6-of-16 from deep. Jeffries knocked down four triples and finished with 14 points.

Rylan Jones and Bean both led the Aggies with 19 points.

Up Next

Wyoming takes to the road, traveling to San Jose State on Saturday for a 7 p.m. tip time inside the Provident Credit Union Event Center.

* University of Wyoming Athletics media relations release contributed to this report

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