John Luke Fabian
Jfabian1@uwyo.edu
Twitter: @HouseFabian
On a record setting night, the Wyoming Cowboys blew the doors off the Utah State Aggies by hitting a team record 20 3-point shots made in a game in route to a 84-65 win.
“It was just one of those games where the ball was just going in the hoop,” guard Jason McManamen said. “Everyone was being unselfish, finding each other for open shots, and it was going in for everyone.”
The 20 three-balls tied the Mountain West’s single-game record and tied for most made in a NCAA game this year. This game also had McManamen knock down a career high six 3-point shots in a game.
“I thought we did a great job attacking and using the clock,” Head coach Larry Shyatt said. “I even thought we did a good job against their zone. We struggled against their zone a year ago.”
In the first 10 minutes of the game, Wyoming was 6-10 from 3-point range and led by 11 points. USU hung around and was able to fight their way back into it. UW led 38-37 at the half.
UW had 10 made 3-balls, coming from six different players. Uncharacteristically for the Pokes, they also had eight offensive rebounds, which lead to some open shots for them.
Coming out of the half, Wyoming began to suffocate USU on defense. UW held USU to one made basket on their first 13 shots. UW also forced four turnovers, which allowed them to set up their offense for some easy 3-point shots.
“I guess you could call Jason and I skill position players,” Alan Herndon said. “We can guard 1 through 5 when it is just me and him in there. I think it gives teams a different look.”
UW’s defense was able to feed into the offensive performance that they had. 60 of the 81 points UW scored came from beyond the arc.
“I enjoyed, not just watching them go in, but I enjoyed watching them find people and slide to open stops. We didn’t take a lot of crowded threes, we took a lot of open threes,” Shyatt said.
McManamen finished the game scoring a game high 20 points, with senior Josh Adams following closely behind with 19. Wyoming had four players score double-digit points and seven different players make a 3-point basket.
“It was a good performance I think that we were due for one,” Adams said. “We have struggled shooting here and there, where we shot pretty good some games, but we have a lot of good shooters on this team, a lot guys that work hard and it showed tonight.”
Wyoming will have a week off before returning back to action on Saturday. They will play at Boise State with tip off scheduled at 2 p.m.
