Friday, March 13th, 11:30 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Thomas & Mack Center (18,500) -- Las Vegas, Nevada. Television: CBSCSN. Home Record: Wyoming 12-3, Utah 13-2. Away Record: Wyoming 3-9, Utah 6-7. Neutral Record: Wyoming 4-0, Utah 3-0. Conference Record: Wyoming 7-9, Utah 12-4. Series Record: Utah leads, 91-74.

GAME NOTES: With one upset already in their pocket, the sixth-seeded Wyoming Cowboys try to make it two in a row as they challenge second-seeded Utah in the semifinals of the 10th annual Mountain West Conference Tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. On Thursday night, the Pokes rebounded from a loss to New Mexico in the regular season finale on Saturday (74-73) by posting a 75-67 victory versus the Lobos and sending the three seed packing. As for the Runnin' Utes, the second seed in this year's event, they had a bit more trouble in their quarterfinal-round meeting with TCU, needing to hold on for the 61-58 decision. Just five days earlier, Utah had beaten the Horned Frogs by 19 points at home in Salt Lake City, so it appears as though TCU learned a few lessons from that meeting. Utah, which won this tournament back in 2004, won both regular-season meetings with Wyoming, which means the all- time series now stands at 91-74 in favor of the Utes. The winner of this contest will be pitted against the winner of the San Diego State/BYU battle to fight for the trophy and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.

Playing every minute of the contest against New Mexico on Thursday night, Brandon Ewing once again proved why he's a force to be reckoned with as he tallied a team-best 20 points, shooting 4-of-7 behind the three-point line and a perfect 8-of-8 at the charity stripe in the win for the Cowboys. But in this case, Ewing was just one of five players to score in double figures as Sean Ogirri (17 points), Tyson Johnson (16), Afam Muojeke (11 points, eight rebounds) and Djibril Thiam (10 points) all followed suit for a program that not only shot 52.6 percent from the field but also made good on 10-of-19 behind the three-point line. Obviously Ewing is the leader of this group with his 18.6 ppg and 164 assists over 31 games, but that hasn't stopped Ogirri from steadily growing into a reliable performer who is now more than a competent sidekick. In his 29 starts this season, Ogirri has knocked down 42.9 percent of his three-point tries en route to 14.9 ppg.

It shouldn't have come down to the final seconds, but that's how the meeting with the Horned Frogs played out on Thursday, the Utes getting a three-point basket by Lawrence Borha in the final seconds to put them over the top. Borha made just 2-of-7 shots out on the perimeter on the night as he finished with 10 points in a lackluster effort by the Utes. Also scoring in double figures for the squad was Luke Nevill with 10 points, adding five rebounds and three blocked shots, while Shaun Green accounted for a team-best 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting behind the three-point line off the bench. For Nevill, the effort was rather weak given the accolades just bestowed upon him by the conference. Nevill did well to know down a perfect 8-of-8 at the charity stripe where he has shown a deft touch, but the fact that he attempted a total of just two field goals is unacceptable. It shouldn't matter how tough the defense is, there's no way that someone like Nevill (16.7 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 85 blocked shots) should fall that far below a mediocre average of barely 10 shots per game.

Utah's first objective has to be getting Nevill established at the defensive end because if he has another weak outing as he did on Thursday, there's a good chance the Cowboys could continue their run of upsets.

Predicted Outcome

Utah 69, Wyoming 64