Wyoming, NM meet in MWC tourney

No. 10 seed Wyoming (8-23, 4-14) vs. No. 7 seed New Mexico (13-17, 7-11)

Mountain West Conference Tournament First Round, Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas; Wednesday, 3:30 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Wyoming is set to match up against New Mexico in the first round of the MWC tournament. The teams split the regular season series at one win apiece. The teams last played on March 9, when the Cowboys shot 51.9 percent from the field while limiting New Mexico’s shooters to just 40 percent on their way to a seven-point victory.

VARYING EXPERIENCE: New Mexico has been fueled by senior leadership this year while Wyoming has leaned on freshmen. Seniors Vance Jackson, Carlton Bragg and Anthony Mathis have collectively accounted for 46 percent of New Mexico’s scoring this season. On the other side, freshmen Justin James, Trace Young and Trevon Taylor have collectively scored 49 percent of the team’s points this year and have accounted for 53 percent of all Cowboys points over their last five.

OFFENSIVE THREAT: James has accounted for 62 percent of all Wyoming field goals over the last five games. James has 49 field goals and 23 assists in those games.

ASSIST-TO-FG RATIO: The Lobos have recently converted buckets via assists more often than the Cowboys. New Mexico has an assist on 46 of 74 field goals (62.2 percent) over its previous three matchups while Wyoming has assists on 44 of 78 field goals (56.4 percent) during its past three games.

DID YOU KNOW: New Mexico has made 9.2 3-pointers per game as a team this year, which is second-best among MWC teams.