While most of the Wyoming men’s basketball team is concentrating on Wednesday’s game with Utah, Afam Muojeke has something else on his mind.

The sophomore forward undergoes surgery at 11 a.m. Wednesday morning in Laramie to repair the ruptured patellar tendon in his left knee. Muojeke suffered the season-ending injury in the Cowboys’ last game, an 81-66 loss at now No. 12 Brigham Young.

“I’m just trying to stay positive,” Muojeke said Tuesday night during a phone interview.

Muojeke said he had tendinitis in the knee prior to the injury, and he suffered an injury to the patellar region of that knee Nov. 25 at Denver that forced him to miss three games.

He said he was trying to block the shot of BYU freshman guard Tyler Haws in the first half, and as he went up to jump to try and block it the ligament ruptured.

“I was hoping (the injury) wasn’t serious, but it wasn’t long until I realized it was,” he said.

Muojeke is UW’s leading scorer (16.8 ppg), which is the third-best mark in the Mountain West Conference. He was the Freshman of the Year in the MWC last season.

Senior Ryan Dermody will likely start in place of Muojeke against Utah, but a host of others will be expected to play more minutes and more effectively.

“I think it starts with the guys who have been here,” Muojeke said. “Guys like (sophomore guard) A.J. Davis, (junior forward) Djibril Thiam and (sophomore center) Adam Waddell.

“The other guys fit in there, too, but it has to start there. I think the team will be fine. We have a deep squad.”

Muojeke isn’t sure if he will be on the bench for the Utah game.

“I will do what the trainers tell me, but right now I just want to get through this and start attacking the rehab,” he said.

See Wednesday’s paper for more on the game, and be sure to check out the live blog starting at around 6:30 p.m. at http://wyomingcowboysblog.com/2010/01/25/wyoming-vs-utah-live-blog-2/