New Mexico Basketball: Lobos look to bounce back against Wyoming

If the Lobos have proven anything this year it's that they have the ability to play fast, but they have also proven that they struggle against teams that either have elite bigs or are more athletic than the Lobos. On Tuesday the Lobos struggled against UNLV which is a team that has both Size and athletes which lead to the team's first conference loss of the season.

New Mexico will have the opportunity to bounce back against a scrappy Wyoming team that has a win over the Rebel's in Laramie but were also the team that ended San Jose State's 27 game conference losing streak. The game will be a showcase of contrasting styles as the Lobos look to get up and down the court while Larry Shyatt's Cowboys like to use pace and tempo to offset the talent deficit the Cowboys have with the upper tier teams in the conference.

The Cowboys are led by Josh Adams who is arguably the best player in the conference; he comes into the game averaging a league leading 23.9 points per game.  The 6'2 senior is an exciting player and is good for a few highlight dunks a game.

If the Lobos are going to beat the Cowboys they must understand that they cannot completely stop Adams they need to limit him to his season average while not letting the supporting cast beat them aside from Jason McManamen no player on the Wyoming team averages more than 7.2 points. The Lobos must avoid letting a player like Alan Herndon beat them.

This is a game the Lobos should win but if they cannot limit their turnovers the Cowboys are good enough to beat the Lobos. Elijah Brown, Cullen Neal, and Tim Williams will lead the Lobos but New Mexico must also get production off the bench, freshman Jordan Hunter, Dane Kuiper and Anthony Mathis have seen extended playing time recently but it has not translated to point production in the loss to UNLV UNM's bench was outscored 39 to 7.

This game is pivotal to the Lobos if they want win the Mountain West Conference as they key is to win your home games and split the road games.New Mexico has to bounce back and win in convincing fashion on Saturday to keep pace with Boise State and San Diego State at the top of the conference.