Spotlight on Desmar Jackson: The Wyoming sophomore is coming off 23 points in a narrow loss to BYU. His season high (24) came in the first meeting against the Rams. If not for San Diego State’s Kawhi Leonard, Jackson would have been Mountain West freshman of the year last season. He leads the Cowboys with a 15.8 point-per-game average, fourth in the league. He is averaging 2.2 steals a game. The 6-foot-5 guard from Warren, Ohio, has been the steadying force in a season full of injuries.
Colorado State: This game opens the second round of conference play. . . . Wes Eikmeier didn’t score Wednesday in his 10 minutes upon returning from a foot injury, but his minutes helped give the other guards some rest. . . . Andy Ogide, who remains a contender for first-team All-MWC honors, has eight double-doubles this season. . . . Rams are looking for their third MWC road win of the year, but will need to improve on Wednesday’s 14-of-22 free-throw shooting.
Wyoming: The Cowboys are a far better team than their 1-7 league record indicates. Wyoming had a chance to stun MWC co-leader BYU on the same night CSU nearly upended San Diego State. In a game with seven lead changes, Wyoming held national scoring leader Jimmer Fredette below his 27.6 point average. He scored 26. . . . The Cowboys have three international players in the starting lineup — Amath M’Baye (France); Djibril Thiam (Senegal) and Francisco Cruz (Mexico). Cruz is second behind Fredette in conference minutes played with 37.2. With losses to San Diego State and BYU, Wyoming is coming off its first back-to-back games against top-10 teams since the 2002 NCAA Tournament (Gonzaga and Arizona).
