UNLV basketball preview: Rebels head to Wyoming seeking 4th straight win

UNLV MEN’S BASKETBALL AT A GLANCE

■ Who: UNLV at Wyoming

■ When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

■ Where: Arena-Auditorium, Laramie, Wyoming

■ TV: CBSSN

■ Radio: KWWN (1100 AM, 100.9 FM)

■ Line: Wyoming - 3½

■ About UNLV (7-6, 2-0): Despite being even more short-handed than usual, with Al Green and Nas Cunningham out with the flu Saturday, UNLV defeated Air Force 67-39. The Rebels have won three straight games.

Now, UNLV will play its first road conference game Tuesday at Wyoming. The Rebels have won both of their true road games played outside of Southern Nevada, 92-78 at Memphis Nov. 16 and 75-74 at Stanford on Dec. 7.

Against Air Force, Tyrin Jones led UNLV with 14 points. Jones has finished in double-figure scoring in five of the past six games.

It’s unclear if Green or Cunningham will be available Tuesday against Wyoming, which will be the first Mountain West team UNLV will face with a winning record.

Tuesday’s game begins one of the tougher remaining weeks of the season, with a game at Colorado State on Friday awaiting the Rebels.

“Wyoming’s good. … They’ve got some really good players, talented guys,” UNLV coach Josh Pastner said Saturday after the Air Force win. “The elevation (7,220 feet above sea level), I told our guys you got to start hydrating today (Saturday). We’ll have to play at a really high level against a really good team and be the same way defensively on Tuesday.”

■ About Wyoming (10-4, 1-2): Wyoming is coming off a 78-58 road loss to New Mexico on Saturday. The Cowboys, who went 12-20 last season, have shown steady improvements under second-year coach Sundance Wicks.

Wyoming has two scorers averaging in double figures with Leland Walker (13.6 points per game) and Nasir Meyer (13.1). Walker leads Wyoming in assists (3.8), and Meyer is its top rebounder (4.9).

Wyoming is 8-1 at home and has a deep roster, averaging 39 bench points per game.

Alex Wright Review-Journal