The Wyoming Cowboys triumphed over the highly ranked Nevada Wolf Pack Saturday night, scoring 74-64.
“For our guys to come back from the rivalry game the other night at Colorado State and have the necessary mindset to play well against a very good Nevada team on a short turnaround was really impressive,” Head Coach Jeff Linder said.
The victory was decisive, with Wyoming leading the entire game save the first minute of play. Both teams played with speed and ease, but the Cowboy defense won out and held the Wolf Pack to only 37% shooting.
“There are certain things our guys know they have to do to finish things off right this year,” Linder said. “We hold them accountable as coaches, and our players know to win a championship the defensive end is where it starts.”
While the first half of the game only saw Wyoming foul seven times, the second half had 10 fouls from the brown and gold, compared to Nevada’s 10 in the first and six in the second.
This gave the Pokes 15 chances at the line, 11 of which were good for points, resulting in a free throw success rate of 73%.
10 of those were taken by Graham Ike, who led the team in penalty shooting with a record of 7 for 10. The Wolf Pack had an overall free throw percentage of 78% and a record of 11-14.
Scoring was more evenly spread across the team than in previous wins this season, a sign of a strengthening team overall.
All five starters for the Cowboys scored more than eight points over the course of the game, and all five made at least one shot within the first five minutes of play.
This trend was led by Xavier DuSell, who took the lead from Nevada for the first and last time with a three-pointer, the first of nine for the entire team.
Five players shared the three-pointer workload for the night, with four scoring two three’s each, including Hunter Maldonado and Jeremiah Oden (both 2-5), Drake Jefferies (2-6) and DuSell (2-7).
Overall scoring was led by Ike, who had 23 points and 15 rebounds. Maldonado was in close second with 22 points and 9 rebounds.
Ike nearly doubled the result of the Wolf Pack’s top scorers, Grant Sherfield and Desmond Cambridge Jr. who were tied with 12 points each.
Wyoming scored 13 points from second chance baskets, compared to Nevada’s 7 second chance points. This was the 15th time the Pokes scored double digits from second chances this season, and they have done so in six of the last seven games.
“We played a bit faster, played a bit freer, more like how we practice in the summer and fall,” Linder said. “Our guys are really connected, and we’ve been stressing to them that everyone needs to strive to do everything a little bit better.”
Saturday night’s win elevated the Pokes to a 13-0 at home winning streak this season, and a 14-0 win record overall. They have not lost a game in the Dome of Doom in more than a full calendar year.
Another chance for the Cowboys to lengthen that streak will come Monday night, when they take on the San Diego State Aztecs at 7 p.m. in the Arena-Auditorium.
