The Wyoming Cowboys (10-10) welcome the Boise State Broncos (14-5), the Mountain West’s best team, to Arena-Auditorium. The game starts at 4:00 pm ET on Saturday, Jan. 23 and will air on ES3.
The Cowboys were beaten by Nevada 75-69 on Wednesday. Josh Adams finished with 23 points to lead the game. The Broncos, meanwhile, are coming off a 94-69 win over San Jose State on Wednesday. James Webb III played well and claimed his seventh double-double of the season, accumulating 24 points and 18 rebounds.
Over the last five games, Webb III has been on a tear for the Broncos. During that stretch, he has averaged 18.4 points, 11.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.4 steals, 0.6 blocks, and 1.0 three-pointer.
Wyoming is a four-point underdog in this game and the Over/Under (O/U) is 136 points. The Cowboys look to improve upon their records of 10-10 Straight Up (SU) and 9-6-1 Against The Spread (ATS). The Cowboys are a high-volume three-point shooting team with 9.0 made per game, one of the highest marks in Division I.
Across the court, Boise State has a SU record of 14-5 and an ATS record of 9-7-1. Boise State is one of the top foul-shooting teams in the nation, knocking down 17.0 shots from the line per game. Don’t expect Boise State to give away the ball much on offense, where its 11.2 turnovers per game ranks 39th in the country.
These conference rivals will be facing off in their first head-to-head clash of the season. When they last met the Cowboys were winners, bringing their SU record to 6-4 over Boise State in the most recent games. The Cowboys also hold the advantage ATS with a record of 7-3. When it comes to field goals, rebounds, and three-pointers, Boise State held the edge in all three of these categories once in the last five meetings. Wyoming never did so in those games.
Predictions: SU Winner – Boise, ATS Winner – Boise, O/U – Over
Notes
Wyoming is 3-6 SU in its last 9 games.
Wyoming is 19-6 SU in its last 25 games at home.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Wyoming’s last 5 games when playing Boise State.
Wyoming is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games when playing at home against Boise State.
Wyoming scores an average of just 70.9 points per game (ranked 230th). Boise State ranks 89th in points allowed, giving up 67.3 points per game.
Boise State won its last game by a 25-point margin. In games decided by a margin of 18 points or more, Wyoming is 1-0. Boise State is 5-0 in blowouts this season.
Ranked 52nd, the Boise State Broncos have an offensive rating of 112.7. The Wyoming Cowboys rank 158th with a defensive rating of just 101.6.
The Wyoming Cowboys average a field goal percentage of 43.0% this season. The Boise State Broncos have a winning 8-4 record in games where opponents have a FG% of 43.0% or greater.
The Wyoming Cowboys and the Boise State Broncos both rank higher in average effective field goal percentage when compared to their field goal percentages. Wyoming is 229th and 95th in the nation for FG% and eFG% respectively, while Boise State is 95th and 70th in these categories.
Boise State ranks 84th in the nation with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.23. Wyoming is ranked lower at 199th with an A/TO of 1.01.
On average, Wyoming forces a turnover rate of 17.7%. When Boise State turns over the ball at a similar or higher rate, the team has an outstanding 6-2 record.
