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Laramie • Chris Smith, Utah State's second-leading scorer, played 23 minutes Saturday at Wyoming, including only seven in the second half.

Point guard Shane Rector, who scored at least 10 points in each of the last six games, played only 14 minutes against the Cowboys, including one in the second half.

So what happened?

Why was coach Tim Duryea so stingy with minutes for two players who have been so productive?

"I just didn't think, in the second half, those guys either weren't ready to play or had the right mindset to play," he said. "And I'm just going to stand for any of those things.

"I don't care if we lose every game from here on out, we are going to stand for the right things. The program is going to be more important than the individual and that's not changing."

Asked about Duryea's unhappiness with Utah State's overall performance, junior forward Jalen Moore said, "We just want everybody to play hard when you're on the court. It's hard to play at this level and win when you don't play hard. That's what he mainly wants us to do."

"… If we had given [a good] effort — if we had played hard — the game would have been right there for the taking. And I feel that's what he's most mad about. If we play hard, I think he'll live and die whether it's a win or a loss."

Deep thoughts

Wyoming made 20 of its 38 3-point shots in game, tying a Mountain West Conference record.

"We're a driving, 3-point shooting team," Cowboy coach Larry Shyatt said. "Fortunately we were knocking them in today."

Duryea wasn't sure if Utah State's defense contributed to Wyoming's red-hot shooting.

"We'll watch the film to see if that was [the] game plan or if that was poor execution," he said. "But they made open ones, they made tough ones, they made guarded ones, they made hurried ones. I feel like they made every one of them."

Duryea credited Wyoming for playing well.

"They were the better team today and they were the better coaches today," he said. "They were the better everything today."

Honoring a pioneer

During warm-ups, Wyoming honored former player Kenny Sailors by wearing T-shirts with his No. 4 on the front and back.

Sailors is credited with inventing the jump shot. He died Jan. 30 at the age of 95. His funeral was held Friday morning in the Auditorium Arena.

Sailors led Wyoming to the national championship in 1943. He joined the Marines and, after serving in World War II, he returned to the state, finished his college career and played professionally for five years.

After Sailors died, Wyoming star Josh Adams wrote on Twitter, "Not only a great player and a legend but an even better man. Lucky I got to meet you. RIP #4."

Twitter: @sluhm