Wyoming on a roll since losing to UNLV last month

Steve Guiremand

Friday, March 10, 2000 | 10:22 a.m.

To hear Wyoming head coach Steve McClain tell it, the UNLV Rebels may actually have done his team a favor by handing it an 87-60 whipping back on Feb. 12 at the Thomas & Mack.

"That game might have been the turning point of our season," McClain said after his team's 74-68 victory over arch rival Colorado State on Thursday night in the first round of the Mountain West tournament. "We walked out of here and went on a five-game winning streak. In reality, maybe Billy (Bayno) and his team woke us up."

The Cowboys (19-11) have only lost one game since that embarrassing loss. That was by just one point, 79-78, to the Rams (18-12) in Fort Collins last Saturday.

"We've had two knock-down, drag-out games with them," McClain said. "We knew we had to come out and play tonight. It wasn't anything magical."

But it did snap a four-game Wyoming losing streak to CSU. And it also was the school's first victory in seven tries at the Thomas & Mack. The Cowboys will try to make it two in a row tonight against UNLV at 9 p.m. on ESPN.

"We finally got a win in Vegas," said Cowboys forward LeDarion Jones, who finished with a team-high 18 points and seven rebounds. "Hopefully we can ride this emotional roller coaster into (tonight) and do the same thing."

Although Wyoming did beat UNLV, 109-98, in Laramie on Jan. 31, McClain knows his squad will be a big underdog tonight. But that suits him just fine.

"The nice thing about it is (tonight) when we walk on the floor, everybody in this room ... doesn't think we'll win," McClain said. "But you know what? That's what tournament play is all about. We'll go out on that court and play for 40 minutes."

Jones said he doesn't believe it will be tough for the Cowboys to come right back and play UNLV on its home court just 24 hours after their physical, grueling win over CSU.

"We came here on a business trip," Jones said. "You have to be ready to go to work. We've got one job done. Hopefully we'll go in and get the next one done, too."