LARAMIE, Wyo. — For the second time this season — in fact, for the second time during Mountain West Conference play — the Utah basketball team finds itself in the midst of a three-game losing streak.

The Utes hope to end this one at three as they did last month's, with a convincing win.

However, as the Utes prepare to take on Wyoming today at Arena-Auditorium in a 2 p.m. contest, they have to be concerned that they are coming off a loss Wednesday to the same TCU team that they beat to end their last losing streak.

In that game, the Utes blew an 11-point first half lead before halftime and then couldn't make the plays offensively or defensively down the stretch. They also kept up their bad habit of missing key free throws with four misses over the final 6:09 of the game.

Despite the disappointing loss, coach Jim Boylen said his team is still keeping its head up and is motivated for the remainder of the season.

"We had a great practice yesterday and we keep grinding it out and working hard," Boylen said.

The Cowboys proved to be a tough matchup for the Utes last month at the Huntsman Center when they led throughout most of the game in a 69-64 victory. The Utes couldn't stop the Cowboy guards, Brandon Ewing, who scored 21 points, and Brad Jones, who scored 17 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

The scary thing for the Utes is that Ewing and Jones didn't play that well Wednesday night in Fort Collins, yet the Cowboys were able to overcome a 14-point first-half deficit and win by 10 thanks to their frontcourt players.

Forward Joseph Taylor scored a career-high 21 points and forward Tyson Johnson added 17 for the Cowboys in that victory.

"I think they have an improving team," Boylen said.

A loss today would leave the Cowboys just one and a half games behind the Utes in the MWC standings. That would mean the Cowboys could force the Utes into the play-in game at the MWC tourney with a win over BYU next week and if the Utes lost their final two games.

The Utes will play two more regular-season games next week, at home against Colorado State Tuesday night and at UNLV Saturday afternoon.

"This is a huge game for us," Boylen said. "Every game for us is big right now."

GAME NOTES: Assistant coach Marty Wilson will not be with the team for the remainder of the season. He has already left, with Boylen's blessings, for his new job at Pepperdine ... Tyler Kepkay sprained his ankle against TCU but is expected to play today, although he may not start ... Johnnie Bryant and Luke Nevill rank 23rd and 24th, respectively, on the Utes' all-time scoring list with 1,203 and 1,195 points, respectively ... This year, Nevill has one more point than Bryant, 371 to 370 ... After missing a free throw against TCU, Bryant dropped to 94.1 percent for the season.

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