GAME NOTES: While the SMU Mustangs were the team that was nationally ranked earlier in the season, it is Wyoming that is flying high with a perfect record as the two teams collide in non-conference play on Friday night.

The Pokes have won all seven games on their schedule to this point, but the competition has not exactly been stellar, with teams likes Western State and Stetson stopping by Laramie. Every game to this point for Wyoming has been at home in Arena Auditorium as well, the latest of those being a 68-42 thrashing of the Denver Pioneers on Tuesday night.

Of the early opponents, five have been held below 50 points, one of those limited to a mere 33 last month.

Meanwhile, the Mustangs find themselves just a game over .500 after seven games, even though they began play in 2014-15 as the 22nd-ranked program in the country. The squad has managed to win two in a row and three of the last four however, thanks in part to a 63-51 triumph over the Monmouth Hawks last Sunday at home.

Like the Cowboys, SMU has a long homestand early on in the campaign as well, with a seven-game run including UC Santa Barbara and UIC still to be played.

As far as the all-time series is concerned, the Cowboys own a 4-3 edge over SMU, although the Mustangs won the most recent meeting last season in Laramie by a 62-54 margin.

During their final game of the lengthy homestand to kick off the campaign, the Cowboys demolished Denver by holding the visitors to just seven field goals in the first half and eight after intermission, resulting in just 38.5 percent shooting from the floor for the Pioneers. Larry Nance Jr. took care of the Wyoming offense with 17 points as he knocked down all but one of his seven field goal tries. Josh Adams pitched in with 11 points and six assists, followed by Charles Hankerson Jr. with 10 points and five dishes for a squad that made good on an impressive 59.5 percent from the field.

Nance Jr. leads Wyoming with 15.0 ppg as he knocks down 62.1 percent of his field goal attempts, while adding 6.0 rpg and a team-high 12 steals at the other end. Adams is responsible for another 10.3 ppg and has handed out 30 assists for a very giving program that has assists on approximately three- fourths of all field goals.

The Pokes are putting up a respectable 67.4 ppg at the offensive end of the floor, but it is the defense that is grabbing the headlines these days as it permits a mere 50.3 ppg on 38.7 percent shooting from the field.

The defense for the Mustangs got after Monmouth the last time out, limiting the visitors to only 18 total field goals, just two more than the team had turnovers. At the offensive end, Nic Moore led the attack for SMU with his game-high 23 points, adding five assists and four steals as he shot 9-of-15 from the floor, including 3-of-6 behind the 3-point line. Reserve Cannen Cunningham accounted for 10 points and five rebounds as he tried to make up for the other four starters who combined to shoot only 5-of-19 from the floor.

One of three players to have started all seven games to this point, Moore is shooting 47.8 percent from the field as he puts up 14.4 ppg. Moore, who has also connected on 45.2 percent of his 3-point attempts, has made all but one of his 22 free throws and paces the program with 39 assists and 16 steals. Yanick Moreira (11.7 ppg) is one of the better rebounders for the group with six boards per contest as it beats opponents on the glass by an average of 4.3 rpg.

With the power the Cowboys have in the paint, SMU has to be prepared for a war on the glass, a war that Wyoming should win, which in turn will lead the visitors to the victory on the scoreboard.