Yet another winnable game slipped right out from under the Cowboys.
How many times have we heard that this season?
Just last time out, the Cowboys led by eight points with seven minutes to play on the road at San Diego State before they conceded a baffling 20-0 run on their way to devastatingly close 63-61 loss.
You could also look to the last time the Cowboys welcomed a top two Mountain West squad to Laramie, when they raced out to a 32-18 halftime lead over the league-leading New Mexico Lobos, before watching that lead evaporate in a mere five minutes when the Lobos opened the second half on a 17-1 run. The Cowboys eventually went on to lose that one by a final score of 61-53.
That heartbreaking loss to the Lobos was without the likes of the Cowboys’ leading scorer, Obi Agbim. The Cowboys were again without the services of their electric transfer point guard tonight, and again they battled to the final whistle just to come out short of a signature victory.
The Utah State Aggies rolled into Laramie tonight fresh off just their third loss of the season, where they got trounced by New Mexico on their home court in a game that decided sole possession of first place in the Mountain West. Certainly the Cowboys would get an angry, determined effort from the Aggies, right?
Well, that certainly didn’t seem to be the case in the first half. While it was a relatively close battle throughout most the half, the Cowboys began to break away in the final few minutes of the half, as a Kobe Newton triple with 16 seconds remaining in the first half gave the Cowboys their largest lead of the night at seven. However–in a play that may have shifted the tides for the Aggies heading into the locker room–Dexter Akanno tipped in a last second heave by the Aggies to cut that lead to five heading into halftime.
That face says it all @_Scottiee pic.twitter.com/Es7VXwUJfy
— Wyoming Cowboy Basketball (@wyo_mbb) February 5, 2025
Despite that final play, the Cowboys seemed to be in good shape heading into the second half. They held the Aggies to under 40% from the field and just 16.7% from deep. The Cowboys themselves shot a blistering 58.3% from the field.
Unfortunately for the Cowboys, their defensive prowess did not transition into the second half with them, as they gave up a 15-2 run to open the half, quickly finding themselves down by eight. While the Cowboys would battle back to a one-point game multiple times in the half, they were unable to cross that one-point threshold at any point in the second half, as the Aggies would convert their free throws late in the contest to take the game by a final score of 71-67.
How can the Cowboys shake these second half jitters?
“I just think it comes down to executing, honestly, and that’s easier said than done,” fifth-year senior Cole Henry said postgame. “As a leader and as a captain, I think we have to start holding the line a little bit more when it comes to executing in the second half. We’re not a good second half team right now.”
“Our defensive communication kind of took a hit there, because our coaches do a really good job of telling us the scout and the scheme. Second half came around and we were away from our bench, and we didn’t execute as a team,” he added.
Cowboys & Aggies battling it out.
— Wyoming Cowboy Basketball (@wyo_mbb) February 5, 2025
Cowboys 46 | Utah State 47• 10:27 pic.twitter.com/zbGMiEXnV5
While the Cowboys’ defensive deficiency did show in the second half–the Aggies scored 41 points in the second half, as compared to 30 in the first–they still completely contained the Aggies from beyond the arc, as the Aggies finished just 3/19 from deep, right around 16%.
“You held a really good Utah State team to three made threes, [the Aggies] make a lot, right? I mean, holy cow, what a defensive performance from that side,” head coach Sundance Wicks said. “Now, you can play tough, but you got to play intelligent…you can’t be physical and foul.”
Just a game after allotting San Diego State to shoot 28 free throws–a big factor that sparked their 20-0 run in that game–the Cowboys gifted the Aggies 31 trips to the free throw line, which they converted at a 77.4% rate.
The Cowboys were also heavily outmatched on the glass, evident by multiple sequences where they gave the Aggies two to even three chances on a possession with their inability to secure defensive rebounds. Despite the game ending relatively even in the rebounding category–the disparity only favoring the Aggies by four rebounds–the Aggies’ second chance attempts hindered the Cowboys greatly, as the Aggies finished with 13 second chance points.
“Free throws and offensive rebounds are the reason we lost tonight,” Henry said.
Despite all the frustration that comes with losing so many close league games, Wicks came into his postgame presser elated–as he knows the ceiling of this team is so much higher than where it is set right now. All he needs now is for his roster–which he noted is built full of players who aren’t used to be “closers” in close contests–to find a way to win these close battles. And these devastatingly close losses is no better way to teach his band of misfits how to win when it comes down to crunch time.
“We have to take a bunch of guys who were, let’s call it as we see it here, role players on their previous teams, or backups to the backups, and telling them to become the guys to come and close games and to finish games and to be those guys. That’s usually a learned trait, freshman, sophomore, take your lumps. Junior year, become the guy. Senior year, become the guy.”
As the Cowboys only have eight games left in the regular season, his “closers” will have to become those guys very quickly–and he believes they can.
“If we double down on our competitiveness, we double down on our connection, we double down on our commitment to becoming the team we’re starting to become on the defensive side of the ball, and the way we’re playing with our pace, there’s an identity starting to form,” Wicks said.
“Then, come March, you can play forever if you want to.”
