Rebels win 3rd in a row

Defense holds the Cowboys to 16% shooting from three

A season that has been up and down to say the least, is now looking up. The Rebels dominated a Wyoming team that was coming in riding a 2 game win streak. The Cowboys had scored 83 and 79 points in those two wins, they got about half of that on Satuday. The Rebels defense swarmed, all night. “Kills” which is a metric the Rebels track when they get three consecutive stops, was at a season high. I counted 4 in the second half alone. There were plenty of ways to measure the Rebels defensive success but perhaps the best way to sum up the Rebels defensive dominance was during back to back possesions that saw Wyoming fail to even get a shot off. Some of the more traditional metrics were there as well, as they held Wyoming to 34% shooting, and only 16% behind the arc. It was a wire to wire performance for the Rebels, reminding people of just how good this team could be. They dominanted points of turnovers 21 to 3, won the battle in the paint, and got 14 points from their bench, which included 7 from freshman Brooklyn Hicks.

The Rebels now sit 5th in the conference and it’s difficult to daydream about where they would be if not for bad calls against Utah St, and whatever that was against Air Force. As it is this is a team that has a legit chance to finish top 4 in a league that as of today is projected to get 6 teams into the NCAA tournament. Let’s not kid ourselves, the Rebels will have to win the Mountain West Tournament to get into the NCAA tournament, but halfway through the conference schedule, one thing is clear, no one wants to come to Vegas to face this team in a single elimination game.

Improve your shooting with the Dr Dish Shootaway available now on Amazon