Wyoming Cowboys vs. Colorado State Rams Prediction & Game Preview - 2/23/2022

Time: 9 p.m. ET

Venue: Moby Arena, Fort Collins, CO

Where to watch: CBSSN

DraftKings: Colorado State -6

BetMGM: Colorado State -6.5

Caesars: Colorado State -6

Wyoming: 22-4 (11-2 MWC)

Colorado State: 21-4 (11-4 MWC)

Welcome to the land the best team in the Mountain West Conference, facing off against the second best team in the Mountain West Conference. And what better way to celebrate both teams in the Mountain West Conference, than talking about how they recently lost games to teams that they absolutely, 100% should have beaten?

What has we've seen before, the Mountain West Conference really cannot be taken that seriously until they get to the NCAA tournament. But we will start with the Wyoming Cowboys who, despite coming off a eight point victory over the Air Force Falcons on Saturday, the glaring omission here is from four days prior. Wyoming lost 75 to 66 against New Mexico on February 15th sending the entire Mountain West into a state of frenzy that really we can only feel from California to Colorado.

But it is our job to focus on the positive when we can here, and Wyoming having defeated Air Force by eight points at home is at least somewhat serviceable of momentum with Wyoming heading into Fort Collins on this day.

Hunter Maldonado continued his conference player of the year campaign with 29 points and eight assists in the emphatic victory. Even though Wyoming only led by four points at halftime, scoring 45 in the second half is a pretty good way to offset that.

I've got to be completely honest and admit that I did not expect Wyoming to even come remotely close to being as competitive as they have been. Just last week, they were the 22nd best team in the country, and although that has quickly gone down the drain thanks to that bizarre lost a New Mexico, we are here to acknowledge the fact that Wyoming is a very good team, and is a very talented team, and can win games despite shooting just 17.6% from 3 point range. You tell me what kind of team can even come remotely close to that.

So the one thing that is surprised me the most about looking at this game is that the Colorado State Rams are as favored as high as they are against Wyoming.

I don't think we expected two points or even three, but six seems a bit high for a team that just got smacked by UNLV the other night. Colorado State lost by 21 points to UNLV, the second time this season the Rams lost to the Rebels.

UNLV forward Bryce Hamilton didn't need to score 45 points in this game to defeat Colorado State, but still put up 20 points and 10 rebounds for the upset. Isaiah Stevens finished with 14 points to lead Colorado State, but took 13 shots to get there.

I'm not entirely sure why UNLV has Colorado State's number but it is a very weird sight to see. And clearly Colorado State has not faltered as much after these losses to UNLV, but it is still weird knowing that the Mountain West tournament is going to be in Las Vegas in a couple weeks and if Colorado State has to go through UNLV one more time, I can only imagine what's going to happen.

The Rams are still probably the most talented team in this conference, but they need to be on their best game in order to make something happen. And for the most part, Colorado State has been able to do that. The question is now, can they do it against the team that is equally as good as them, has a superstar in Maldonado, and is on the same level as them? Time will tell, but this is going to be a fun game.

Colorado State being at home makes me want to pick the home team to get the outright victory, but I am definitely leaning toward Wyoming with the points. The Cowboys are about to show a lot of people around the country why they are considered to be the favorite in this conference, and even if they don't win, they're going to give Colorado State a run for their money. I think the Cowboys falter a little bit in the first half, regain some steam in the second and make it close, but ultimately the Rams pull it out. Colorado State by 3

Wyoming is 19-6 ATS as a road dog over the past three seasons.

Wyoming is 24-10 ATS on the road in the past three seasons.

Wyoming is 32-13 ATS after three straight conference games.

Colorado State is 21-9 ATS after a game with five offensive rebounds or less.

Colorado State is 1-7 ATS off a loss by 10 points or more to a conference opponent.

PG: Hunter Maldonado

SG: Drake Jeffries

SF: Brendan Wenzel

PF: Jeremiah Oden

C: Graham Ike

PG: Kendle Moore

SG: Isaiah Stevens

SF: John Tonje

PF: David Roddy

C: Dischon Thomas

Points: Graham Ike -- 21.1

Rebounds: Graham Ike -- 9.4

Assists: Hunter Maldonado -- 6.3

Points: David Roddy -- 19.4

Rebounds: David Roddy -- 7.5

Assists: Isaiah Stevens -- 4.9