The Wyoming basketball team had no time for turkey as they had a busy week on the hardwood.
The Cowboys improved to 6-0 on the young season with wins over Florida A&M, Stetson and New Mexico State.
Wyoming’s toughest game this past week came on Saturday as they took on New Mexico State. The Aggies have qualified for the NCAA Tournament four of the last five years and is the favorite to win the WAC yet again this year.
“They are a very good team. Very well coached team,” head coach Larry Shyatt said. “We scheduled Colorado and New Mexico State on purpose because we thought they were once again NCAA bound team that would prepare us.”
It was a back and forth affair as no one owned more than a five-point lead for the majority of the second half. Senior forward Larry Nance Jr.’s scoring ability and free throw shooting down the stretch proved too much for the Aggies to overcome as Wyoming escaped with a 78-75 win.
“It felt like a conference game,” Nance said.
“There was a physical confrontation on every single possession whether it was offense or defense,” Shyatt added.
Nance showed the ability to take over the game as he finished with 25 points and eight rebounds. In the first half Nance was saddled on the bench in foul trouble while only scoring five points. But in the second half, when his team was down and struggling to break the press at times, Nance showed off all of his repertoire from going coast to coast with the ball, to posting up and sowing off his around-the-rim prowess to blocking shots and stealing the ball on the defensive side.
“For Larry to come out in a big game like this is huge,” junior guard Josh Adams said. “No one on this team ever doubted him and he did his job to perfection.”
New Mexico State consistently pressed Wyoming and was able to turn them over quite bit as the Cowboys recorded 10 turnovers. This marked the fifth game that Wyoming had double-digit turnovers and with the low possession games that the Cowboys like to play has Shaytt concerned.
“12 to 13 (turnovers) per game is too many,” Shyatt said in his weekly teleconference.
Prior to the game versus New Mexico State on Nov. 24 Wyoming took on Florida A&M who the Cowboys were able to defeat 66-45 behind the career night of redshirt senior Matt Sellers.
It was a collective bench effort for the majority of the game as the starters were able to jump on the Rattlers early, which enabled many subs to come in, hold the lead and log valuable minutes.
“That makes us a dangerous team,” freshman guard Jeremy Lieberman said. “If the starters come out and the bench guys come in and there is no drop off. It makes us hard to beat.”
Along with Sellers career high, redshirt sophomore guard Jason McManamen and Lieberman had a career highs as well with nine points apiece.
“Jason McMamamen, Jeremy Leiberman and Matt Sellers really did a terrific job from start to finish,” Shyatt said.
Then on Nov. 26 Wyoming, lead by Nance’s 15 points, claimed another victory as they beat Stetson 65-41.
The Hatters had no answer for Nance down low as he scored most of his points in the paint.
Grabau for the first time this year consistently knocked down the three as he went 3-for-4 from deep. Adams stacked the box score with 11 points, four assists and four steals. The starters were again able to jump out to a sizable lead, which allowed the bench to see a lot of floor time.
Wyoming took on Denver last night in search of a 7-0 start to the season.
