The slumping Nevada Wolf Pack men's basketball team will get to prove Tuesday night whether or not the third time's the charm against the Wyoming Cowboys.
The Wolf Pack and Cowboys will meet in the Mountain West tournament play-in game Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Las Vegas' Thomas & Mack Center. The winner gets to meet the Mountain West regular season champion New Mexico Lobos on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
The Wolf Pack has lost seven games in a row and 13 of its last 16. The Pack finished last in its first Mountain West season at 12-18 overall and 3-13 in league play.
Wyoming finished at the eighth seed and was 18-12 overall and 4-12 in league play. They were 14-0 in non-conference games before injuries -- and tougher competition -- caught up to them in the Mountain West season.
Two of the Wyoming's Mountain West victories, though, were against the Wolf Pack.
The Cowboys beat the Wolf Pack, 59-48, in Reno on Jan. 12 on the strength of 16 points and 13 rebounds by Leonard Washington. The Pack then lost again to the Cowboys 68-48 in Laramie, Wyo., on Feb. 13 as Washington had 16 points and 12 boards.
Deonte Burton had 23 points but no assists in the loss in Reno and followed that up with 13 points and two assists in Laramie. Malik Story was 1-for-9 from 3-point range in the two games against Wyoming combined.
History, though, points to a Wolf Pack victory on Tuesday.
The last time the Pack went into a postseason conference tournament with a 12-18 record, they beat Fresno State 90-80 in their first Western Athletic Conference tournament contest in 2010-11.
The Wolf Pack also has not lost to a team three times in one season since the 2002-03 when they lost three times to Tulsa.
