For the first time in a month, the Cowboys will be staying at home for a consecutive set of games. Those games? A pair of Mountain West conference games against two of the toughest teams in the league, Nevada and Boise State. The Cowboys, who have already played and lost a conference matchup against an 11-1 Utah State team on the road, hold an 0-1 record, and picking up a pair of conference wins on their homecourt–where they are undefeated this season–will be crucial towards their success in the Mountain West conference race.
Get to know Nevada
The Wolfpack come to the Arena-Auditorium after taking a devastating two point loss just an hour south of Laramie in Fort Collins. The Wolfpack have impressed throughout this season, though, with an 8-4 record and have been one of the best three point shooting teams in not only the conference, but the nation.
Currently ranking fifth nationally in three point percentage–shooting 41.56% from deep–the Wolfpack’s impressive shooting percentage has been aided by a familiar name for Cowboys’ fans and head coach Sundance Wicks–Xavier DuSell.
DUSELL.#BattleBorn | #PackParty pic.twitter.com/NHqiolNLq8
— Nevada Basketball (@NevadaHoops) December 15, 2024
“He’s probably the only player in Wyoming history to wear three different jerseys inside the Arena-Auditorium,” Wicks said of DuSell, cracking a smile. “I love him, [but] we’re going to treat him like an opponent and we’re going to take away what he does best.”
“That’s the part about knowing a guy, you know what he does and you try to get him to do the things that he can’t.”
DuSell, however, only ranks fourth on this Wolfpack team in scoring. A hefty amount of their scoring comes by the hands of Kobe Sanders and Nick Davidson, who both average just around 15 points per game. Sanders, the 6’9” point guard for the Wolfpack, will be a tough guard as he shoots just around 45% from deep and 48.3% from the field.
Three point percentage isn’t the only thing the Wolfpack are highly ranked in nationally, as their roster is as deep rooted with experience as they are lengthy.
“They are the seventh oldest team in college basketball, [with] three years average experience. That’s rare to have that much experience on a roster,” Wicks said of the Wolfpack. “Then. they’re the fourth tallest team in the United States of America. So, they’re long, they got experience, they’re old and they got length. That’s a tough battle.”
While many analytics might point towards the Wolfpack taking care of the Cowboys on their homecourt, history tells a much different story. The Cowboys have had the Wolfpack’s number of late, winning seven of the last eight matchups in the series history.
Get to know Boise State (at a glance)
After doing battle with Nevada on the 28th, the Cowboys will have to turn their heads quickly with the Broncos coming to town on New Years Eve. The Broncos will come to Laramie after matching up with San Jose State on the road and currently hold a 1-0 conference record with a win over Air Force.
The Broncos are led by the preseason Mountain West Player of the Year, Tyson Degenheart, who currently averages 17.6 points and 5.8 rebounds.
Wicks’ “cultural conduct” paying dividends
Several players this season have been a victim of Wicks’ famed disciplinary action he deems “cultural conduct.” The typical punishment for violating his cultural conduct–which includes being a good person, teammate and showing up to practice on time–is sitting out for one game. Kobe Newton and Scottie Ebube have both had to sit due to cultural conduct violations this season, and it seems to be an effective measure by Wicks.
After being restricted to the bench against Southeastern Louisiana, Newton went on, just two games later, to nearly lead the Cowboys to a big road upset over Utah State, hitting five threes on the way to a 17 points outing.
Back & forth all day.@KingKobe360 with some style. pic.twitter.com/n8dt2aAzr9
— Wyoming Cowboy Basketball (@wyo_mbb) December 5, 2024
Ebube, who sat in the Cowboys’ opening thriller in the Cancun Challenge against Tulane, went on to not miss a single shot in his next outing and put together one of his best defensive efforts of the season against LMU.
While Wicks did not specify whether Dontaie Allen–who has struggled immensely this season, shooting 24.6% from the field and averaging 4.8 points–did or did not violate his conduct, the senior transfer’s playing time has significantly–and noticeably–decreased over the last two contests.
Still, when Allen’s number was called in crunch time against Cal State Fullerton–even after sitting on the bench for the entire game–Allen was able to come up with a massive three to put away the Titans and give the Cowboys their first road win of the season.
While Wicks likely doesn’t want to dish out anymore cultural conduct punishments, they have certainly reaped some positive results on the individuals they have been imposed upon.
How will the Cowboys’ bigs match up in the Mountain West?
While players like Obi Agbim, Kobe Newton or Jordan Nesbitt have (rightfully so) garnered much of the praise in the Cowboys’ success this season, the Cowboys’ bigs have quietly cemented themselves as some of the deepest, and most consistent group of players on this roster.
With the impact of Matija Belic being inserted into the lineup seeming to bring a new element to this Cowboys’ squad, this Cowboy front court has a real chance to assert themselves as one of the best in the Mountain West.
Now, all they have to do is prove it–and it certainly won’t be easy against the talented backcourts of Nevada and Boise State to open things up.
“That’s the beautiful part of having all of these different five men and these four men that are five men, is that you can play them in different spots and you’re trying to find the right combinations,” Wicks said. “All of our bigs are extremely efficient, for the most part, in field goal percentage. So, that means they’re taking the right shots in a lot of ways.”
“We’re about to play some true bigs…we’re going to need that size out there to go compete with them on the boards.”
