PREVIEW | MBB: Boise State (18-6, 8-3) vs University of Wyoming (7-16, 2-9)
Boise State University vs University of Wyoming
Date: Saturday February 11, 2023
Time:6:00pm MT
Stadium: ExtraMile Arena (12,644)
TV: CBSSN
Radio: KBOI 670 AM
Commentators: Bob Behler and Abe Jackson
Know Thy Enemy
Murphy’s Law strikes again as the battered Cowboys of Wyoming make a weekend trip to Boise to battle the Broncos in a Mountain West Showdown.
Both teams are coming into Saturday looking to finish the week off with a win. Wyoming is coming off a loss to UNLV on Wednesday and Boise State is looking to keep their title hopes alive as they try to bounce back from the 20 point drubbing they received at San Diego State last Friday. Boise State has had some extra time off this week not having to play the mid-week game. Hopefully the extra rest will help bolster the depleted health of the team.
Wyoming’s roster took another hit this week as the Cowboys lost their leading scorer, Noah Renynolds for the season after he suffered his third concussion of the year. As one writer put it, “Noah Reynolds was a bright spot during a dark season for the Pokes. That light has now been extinguished.” Wyoming is also still without Graham Ike who is still rehabbing a knee injury and won’t be seeing the floor this season. And to add insult to injury, Coach Linder told the Wyoming Star-Tribune that he has dismissed three more players, Ethan Anderson, Jake Kyman, and Max Agbonkpolo from the team on Tuesday. Linder said, “I know what right looks like and I know what wrong looks like. As we move forward, we just want to make sure we have the guys who want to be everyday dudes and who want to show up and work and put the time in and do the little things.” All three of those players were transfers from Pac12 programs this last offseason. The plug has officially been pulled on a season that has long been on life support. Coach Linder is left to pick up the pieces as start a total rebuild from the ground up.
After the dust has settled on a long week in Laramie the Cowboys are left with just seven scholarship players heading into Saturday’s feature with the Broncos. As Wyoming reshuffles the deck they will lean even more heavily on super senior guard Hunter Maldonado who is now the leading scorer on the team. The new starting five is rounded out with Xavier DuSell, Jeremiah Oden, Hunter Thompson, and Brendan Wenzel.
Wyoming is coached by Jeff Linder. Linder is in his third season with Cowboys and has a record of 46-34 and a career record of 126-84. Before coming to Laramie, Linder was the head coach of the Northern Colorado Bears. Linder led Northern Colorado to three straight winning seasons. In 2019 he was named Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year. Linder is very familiar with Coach Leon Rice and Boise State as Linder served as one of Leon’s assistants from 2010-2016.
Since 2011 when Boise State joined the Mountain West these two teams have played 24 times with Boise State leading the series 17-7. The Broncos have a 7-2 home record and are 9-1 in their last 10 meetings. The last time Boise State fell at home to the Cowboys was in January of 2014 and ExtraMile was called Taco Bell Arena.
What Happened Last Season
Five Broncos scored in double figures as Boise State used a high-powered offense to cruise to an 85-68 road victory.
The Broncos shot 50% from the field enroute to scoring 41 first-half points. The Cowboys made the game’s first basket, but Boise State took the lead with 17:33 left in the first half and would maintain it for the rest of the game. The Broncos made each of their final five shots of the half and took an eight-point advantage with them into halftime.
Boise State came out of halftime by knocking down three-straight buckets from downtown to create a 9-0 scoring run that stretched the lead to 15 before the first media timeout. A 7-0 run four minutes later put the Bronco lead into 20-point territory for the first time with 13:36 left on the clock. Boise State held its largest lead of the night at 24 with just two minutes remaining before Wyoming claimed the final seven points of the game.
Player to Watch
WYOMING
SR., HUNTER MALDONADO, G #24
The epitome of “Cowboy tough” Hunter Maldonado will go down as one of the all-time great Cowboys. The super senior scored 17 points during their loss to UNLV on Wednesday night and became the fifth player in program history to eclipse 2,000 career points. Wednesday was also his 100th game scoring in double figures at UW. Maldonado joked after the game, “Everybody jokes around that I’ve been here for six years, and anyone could score 2,000 in six years.” Maldonado is already the Cowboy’s career leader in assists and ranks second in Mountain West history. On top of that, with his two steals against the Rebels, Maldonado moved up to second all-time in steals with 176 career thefts.
BOISE STATE
JR., CHIBUZO AGBO, G #11
Agbo didn’t have the homecoming he was hoping to have last week against the Aztecs. Not only did the Broncos get blown out by 20, “Buzo” scored in single digits for the third time in the last five games. It's been an up and down season for the Texas Tech transfer, but all things considered it has been a solid season for a player who is seeing his first real consistent playing time in a number of seasons. Looking down the stat sheet it is apparent that when Agbo is on the Broncos are on. When he is off the team is off. Case in point, Agbo scored only 5 points against New Mexico and the team lost by 2. Then in the next game he scored 11 and the Broncos beat the Bulldogs by 10. Agbo led the team with 18 last time against Wyoming. He needs to have another performance like that so the Broncos can bounce back against the Cowboys.
PROBABLE STARTERS
BOISE STATE
WYOMING
Rev's Route to a Bronco Win
One Basket At A Time
There’s just one key to Saturday’s game. This game has all the ingredients for a blowout. The Broncos are facing a very depleted Cowboys team that are at the bottom of the standings. The Broncos are also coming off their worst loss in quite some time so you have to think they will be extra motivated to flush that. However, in order for them to do that they will have to just make one basket at a time and take it one possession at a time. Last time I checked there wasn’t an 80-point shot in basketball. If they just again “play their game” and not get ahead of themselves they should get back to their winning ways.
Editor Note:
There’s not much more to say about this game. The season is not over for the Broncos and that one game doesn’t define who they are. Yes it was a clunker of a game and a humbling loss, but the Broncos were not at full strength and were facing an uphill battle from the jump. Now it’s time to reset and for the final stretch of the season. Wyoming is coming off a tumultuous week in their program and coach Linder is trying to see what kind of grit his team has. Saturday will come down to who wants to be there more. The Broncos still have all of their goals ahead of them and need to get back to winning. The Cowboys really have nothing to lose.
This one has it’s moments, but the Broncos pull ahead in the end.
Broncos 75, Cowboys 57
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