The season soon slipped away from the Cowboys. They finished the final six games with a 1-5 record. The Mountain West sleepers and the NCAA Tournament hopefuls were finished.
Junior forward Larry Nance Jr. has the ball near the baseline and starts his move to the hoop, which almost always ends in a highlight reel dunk.
On his way to the basket Nance cuts and goes down in a heap clutching his knee. Suddenly the Arena Auditorium is quieter than Coe Library during finals week.
Trainers hurry from the bench to address their star player. Fans watch, as their favorite Cowboy lies nearly motionless on the ground. Wyoming players observe precariously to see if their teammate – their friend – will rise to his feet.
But he does not. Fans bury their heads in sweaty hands as they see “Wyoming basketball” be helped off the floor and placing not an ounce of pressure on his right knee. Basketball seems minute at this moment. Players, coaches and spectators just hope that the young man is okay.
“I heard something pop in my knee,” Nance said. “I was hoping I just sprained it or something.”
But as the trainers and doctors assessed the situation they, and Nance, soon found out that this was not a minor injury. Nance had torn his anterior cruciate ligament.
“We lost a big brother out on the court that night and that was tough,” junior guard Josh Adams said.
The season soon slipped away from the Cowboys. They finished the final six games with a 1-5 record. The Mountain West sleepers and the NCAA Tournament hopefuls were finished.
“It was tough watching these guys compete night after night and come up short and knowing I could have helped,” Nance said. “We were right on the brink of making the tournament and seeing that slip away was really tough.”
Wyoming basketball, along with Nance, would move on. The team got bigger, stronger and worked on their game while Nance had begun the long arduous rehab process.
“The physical rehab was easy,” Nance said. “Seeing these guys play and practice and not be able to participate was tough.”
“As long as I can play November 16th versus Northern Colorado that is all that matters,” Nance said.
But Nance pushed forward. He stayed true to his rehab process and to his doctor’s orders and learned quite a bit about how much he loved and missed the game. The smell of the hardwood floor. How good it feels to have the basketball resting in your sweaty palms. How pleasing it sounds when that orange ball passes effortlessly through the net.
“It really made me realize how important basketball was to me,” Nance said. “I have built my life around it so much. It’s like coach Shyatt says you don’t know what you have till it’s gone.”
The progress on the knee was seen and Nance was slowly cleared to participate more and more as the months went on. Then a couple weeks ago the star forward got the news he had been waiting a long time for.
Nance’s hard work and painstaking rehab process had reached the finish line. He was medically ready to rejoin the large part of his life that had been painfully missing.
“It was like Christmas morning,” Nance said. “I was so hyped that first practice. I was trying to dunk everything and jump everywhere. I felt awesome.”
Nance and the coaches are still taking it easy though. The senior is not playing every minute of every practice or scrimmage, but he is not frustrated or fazed by it because he only has one goal in mind.
“As long as I can play November 16th versus Northern Colorado that is all that matters,” Nance said.
“I am hoping on November 16th that he is ready to play 30 plus minutes,” Shyatt added.
November 16th will be here before he knows it an when his brown and gold shoes finally breach the AA’s new surface he will not be thinking about that cold, fateful, February night that seemed so long ago.
“It’s in my past,” Nance said.
