Cow­boys End Sea­son on a Tough Loss

The Wyoming Cow­boys end the sea­son with a loss against the TCU Horned Frogs. The two teams were ranked at the bot­tom of the MWC and had to play in the play in game to see who would move on to play #1 BYU. The last game TCU won was against Wyoming on Jan­u­ary 12^th. Wyoming won the last meet­ing between the two so both teams were expect­ing a good game.

The game started slow but TCU got out to a two point lead then made it three points. It was almost two min­utes into the game before Wyoming got points on the board. A foul sent Lus­ter to the line where he went 1–2. TCU con­tin­ued to play tough not want­ing their sea­son to end yet. Wyoming started the game play­ing sloppy but it still looked like they wanted to win. TCU went on a run to give them a ten point lead and it was at this time that Wyoming started to clean up their play. Even with Wyoming play­ing bet­ter TCU still got out to a 21–10 lead. It was not long before Wyoming was back within seven and look­ing to close the gap even more. In the last two min­utes of the half Wyoming stepped it up and ended the half down only four points. The sec­ond half started with TCU mak­ing a jumper to increase their lead. For the first minute and a half the Cow­boys kept it close and got within two points. TCU started to pull away but then Hud­son hit a three to keep the deficit at two. Wyoming con­tin­ued to fight and with 13:26 Hud­son made a layup to give the Cow­boys a one point lead. They held that lead until the 12:04 mark when Hill made a three shot to put TCU back on top. For the next few min­utes it looked like Wyoming was try­ing too hard and was forc­ing shoots which gave TCU a chance to increase the lead. Wyoming con­tin­ued to bat­tle but it was too late and TCU already had a lead that would not be over­come. … Con­tinue Reading

Cow­boys Fall to #9 Aztecs

Tues­day night the San Diego State Aztecs were in town to face off with the Cow­boys. The Aztecs just came off an upset and were look­ing to take­out some aggres­sion. San Diego State’s top ten rank­ing did not intim­i­date the Cow­boys, they knew if they went in with con­fi­dence they could hang with them. The Aztecs got out to an early two point lead but it would only last 48 sec­onds. Amath got a layup to give the game the only tie it would see. Amath’s layup started a 10–2 run for Wyoming giv­ing them a six point lead. This run seemed to take every­body by sur­prise but the vis­i­tors were the only peo­ple not enjoy­ing it. The Aztecs were not happy being down and got back within two. At the 9:36 mark Des­mar hit a short jumper to give the Cow­boys their last lead of the game at 15–14. Under a minute later Franklin took the lead back for the Aztecs and they held on for the remain­der of the game. Although the #9 Aztecs were on top the Cow­boys kept it close for a few more min­utes. It was not until Rahon hit a three with 5:23 left in the half that San Diego State started to take over the game. After this point the Aztecs started to light it up show­ing Wyoming why they are ranked so high. They ended the half on a 23–5 run to be up 17 points. The sec­ond half started with tough play by both teams.  It was almost four min­utes into the half before the Aztecs were able to start increas­ing their lead. Wyoming made them work to increase the lead which caused it to go up slowly. The lead got up to 27 point but then the Cow­boys started to eat away at it. They got it down to 21 but the Aztecs were too much to han­dle and they got it back up to 27 by the end of the game.

Wyoming may have lost by 27 point but they put up a good fight. They had the lead for the major­ity of the first half which is impres­sive since the Aztecs are a top ten team. The Cow­boys went on an early run giv­ing them a lead which they held on to for around 11 min­utes. This proved Wyoming has the tal­ent to com­pete with really good teams. The Aztecs may have under­es­ti­mated the Cow­boys or Wyoming may have had a streak of bril­liance. Either way what the Cow­boys did dur­ing that time frame was noth­ing less than amaz­ing. They had the lead and held the Aztecs to only a few points. San Diego State did run away with the game to get a big win but that is only half the story. The Cow­boys held the Aztecs to 11 less points and scored one more point than in their last meeting.

The Aztecs can play with any team in the nation and the Cow­boys are a strug­gling team. These two facts make it no sur­prise that the Aztecs dom­i­nated most of the stat cat­e­gories. San Diego State cleaned the glass bet­ter than the Cow­boys, about 1.6 times bet­ter. On the bright side Wyoming matched the Aztecs with four blocks and seven steals. The Cow­boys only had two more turnovers and five fewer assists which are both pretty good. On the down side Wyoming was outscored by 20 in the paint, they had fewer points off turnovers and sec­ond chance points. The Aztecs spread their scor­ing over all play­ers that saw the floor giv­ing their bench 35 points while Wyoming’s scor­ing was more focused on the start­ing five. The Aztecs shot well for the whole game and that was one of the biggest fac­tors in their win. Wyoming shot the ball 27% in the first half which is bad no mat­ter what but even worse when the other team shoots 47%. The Cow­boys turned it around in the sec­ond half shoot­ing the ball 57% but even with how good that is they still suf­fered with the Aztecs still shoot­ing bet­ter. For a team that is search­ing for a direc­tion and a head coach this was a decent game.

The Aztecs may have had four play­ers score in dou­ble fig­ures but they did not have Des­mar Jack­son. Jack­son put up a game high 16 points while shoot­ing almost 50%. Thiam was the only other Cow­boy to score dou­ble fig­ure with 13. Amath lead the Cow­boys with seven rebounds all of which were on the defen­sive side of the ball. Des­mar was the star for the Cow­boys scor­ing 16 points, grab­bing six rebounds, two assists and two steals. Nobody really shot well form deep in this game and that goes for both teams. Only four play­ers made a shot from deep in the game; each team had two. Hud­son made one and Wad­dell made the other for the Cow­boys. It is kind or crazy that the cen­ter made half of the team’s deep shots but they will take them how­ever they can get them.

Cow­boys Take Close Game

The Wyoming Cow­boys faced the Air Force Fal­cons Wednes­day night for a matchup between the num­ber seven and eight teams in the MWC. Air Force entered the game look­ing to sweep the Cow­boys; the two teams faced on Jan­u­ary 22^nd where the Fal­cons got a 21 point win. Although that game was only a month ago in this game Air Force faced an all new team in Wyoming. The Cow­boys started the game with a fire that was not there in the begin­ning of the sea­son. The Fal­cons also started with fire but theirs came in the form of fouls. Just a 1:22 into the game Air Force picked their sec­ond foul send­ing Har­ri­son to the free throw line. He made both giv­ing the Cow­boys a two point lead and the first points of the game. The Fal­cons quickly responded tying the game for the first and last time. Wyoming went on a run that started at the free throw line. Strangely enough this was the same place the streak was ended with the Fal­cons mak­ing a free throw. Wyoming then strug­gled to make shots fall while the Fal­cons con­tin­ued to eat away at the lead. Just before the mid­point of the half Hud­son drained a three once again giv­ing the Cow­boys a lit­tle cush­ion. The Fal­cons had it in their minds that they were the bet­ter team and got the lead back down to one. Cruz fouled Tay­lor on a layup which got the Fal­cons back within one. It did not take long to make up for the foul as he hit a three right after. The final eight min­utes of the half was dom­i­nated by the Cow­boys. This dom­i­na­tion was not as good as the Cow­boys would have liked but it did give them an 11 point lead to end the half. With 4:04 left in the first half Arthur hit a three and the next two min­utes saw both teams strug­gle with­out scor­ing. With two min­utes to go Arthur ended the dry span with another three giv­ing the Cow­boys the 11 point lead and get­ting the last bas­ket of the half. Wyoming entered the half with the lead and wanted to keep it until the final buzzer. They came out in the sec­ond half look­ing to build on the lead but the Fal­cons still thought they could win. … Con­tinue Reading

Lan­g­ley Gets First Win

This week in Cow­boy bas­ket­ball has been really crazy. With Heath Schroyer being fired it is hard to know what the future holds for the pro­gram. The game against TCU was the team’s first home game with­out Schroyer on the bench. A num­ber of the play­ers have only known Heath as their coach hav­ing only played under him. Although the Cow­boys played in New Mex­ico on Feb­ru­ary 6^th this was the first time fans really got to see what the team will look like for the rest of the sea­son. When the Cow­boys took the floor against the Horned Frogs they were a new team. The sea­son may be near­ing the end but the Cow­boys saw this game as a new begin­ning. The play­ers seemed to like Heath but there is no time to dwell on the past. … Con­tinue Reading

UW fires Heath Schroyer, the Search is on for a new mens BB head coach

Heath Schroyer scrunches his nose at a call dur­ing the Wyo vs. BYU game. (John McK­night /LFP)

Mon­day Feb­ru­ary 7 was a dark day for Wyoming Cow­boys head bas­ket­ball coach Heath Schroyer.  Lis­ten to the Tele­phone con­fer­ence where Ath­letic Direc­tor Tom Bur­man explains the Uni­ver­si­ties Posi­tion going for­ward. Lis­ten Here. … Con­tinue Reading

Cow­boys Almost Upset BYU

Cow­boys head coach Heath Schroyer dis­cusses the final minute of the Cow­boys game­plan. (John McK­night / LFP)

In back to back games the Wyoming Cow­boys had to face top ten teams. BYU came into the AA ranked #8 and was look­ing for an easy win against a strug­gling Wyoming team. The Cow­boys may be strug­gling but they are not will­ing to lie down and die. The game started with Wyoming get­ting the first bas­ket. Not long after Wyoming had a 4–0 lead, this game started in the hands of the Cow­boys. Less than four min­utes into the game the teams saw the first tie of the game. The next two min­utes were filled with intense play but no scor­ing. This drought was brought to an end when Cruz drained a three; this bas­ket led to a six point Wyoming run but BYU answered with a run of their own. Emery started the run by mak­ing a layup and it came to an end after 15 points. Wyoming went from up six to down nine in six min­utes. Des­mar ended this run and took the game over. The Cow­boys got back into the game with team work and Des­mar who had eight points in the last six min­utes. The first half was a half of streaks where one team would take over and then the other team would. … Con­tinue Reading

The Cow­boys Fall a Lit­tle Short

Amath M’Baye looks for a clear shot against two UNLV defend­ers. (John McK­night / LFP)

UNLV came to Laramie look­ing to get another win and want­ing to get a top 25 rank­ing. The Cow­boys wel­comed the Rebels into the AA hop­ing to pull off another state­ment win. Both teams entered the game in need of this win. UNLV is look­ing to be nation­ally rec­og­nized to get up there with SDSU and BYU; Wyoming wanted to pre­vent them from achiev­ing this goal while gain­ing momen­tum before going on the road. On Sat­ur­day the Cow­boys take a trip to San Diego to play the #4 team in the nation and wanted a win going into that game. The game started good for Wyoming as they got out to an early five point lead. The Cow­boys then picked up a few ques­tion­able fouls let­ting the Rebels tie the game. The rest of the half was a strug­gle as both teams were fight­ing to get on top and stay there. There was about a three minute time frame where nei­ther team scored any points. Both teams were play­ing tough defense pre­vent­ing either team from get­ting open looks. With just under three min­utes to go in the half Cruz hit a three to tie the game and give Wyoming con­fi­dence. Des­mar then got three points the old fash­ioned way fol­lowed by a short jumper by Cruz to give the Cow­boys a five point lead. With ten sec­onds left Wyoming forced a turnover but was unable to score again before the end of the half. Even with­out a final sec­ond shot the Cow­boys entered the half with a 31–23 lead. … Con­tinue Reading

Cow­boys Con­tinue to Struggle

Wyoming went head to head with Utah on Sat­ur­day in hopes to get back to .500 in the con­fer­ence and on the sea­son. Wyoming entered the match up one game above Utah in hopes of increas­ing that lead. Utah came into the AA look­ing for their fist Moun­tain West win of the year. The Cow­boys expected to be matched pretty well with the Utes but they were over­whelmed early. Utah came out run­ning and Wyoming did not seem ready for the speed of the game. Utah built an early lead forc­ing the Cow­boys to play from behind the whole first half. In the sec­ond half Wyoming came out with some steam want­ing to get back into the game. After going on a run they had cut the lead down to ten and the crowd was on their feet. They then cut the lead to nine but the run was short lived for Cow­boys as Utah pulled away again. Both teams played pretty even in the sec­ond half but the Cow­boys were too far behind to catch up. … Con­tinue Reading

Upset at the AA

Moun­tain West play has begun and after a tough loss in the con­fer­ence opener at CSU the Cow­boys were ready for the home opener. Wyoming’s first home Moun­tain West game came Sat­ur­day against a really good New Mex­ico team. New Mex­ico came into this game with only three losses on the sea­son. The play­ers knew they would be in for a bat­tle but a lock down defense and a hot offense gave the Cow­boys an early lead. Seven min­utes in the Cow­boys were shoot­ing 71% while hold­ing the Lobos to 33% from the field. At the 9:57 mark, Har­ri­son hit a big three to give the Cow­boys a four point lead and a lit­tle momen­tum but New Mex­ico kept it close. The speed of the Lobos gave Wyoming some trou­ble late in the first half and shifted the momen­tum to New Mex­ico. These trou­bles saw New Mex­ico go on a run. A ques­tion­able block­ing foul called on Lus­ter added to the strug­gles Wyoming was fac­ing. Fol­low­ing the foul Jack­son had a block which sparked a fire for the Cow­boys. Wyoming put up a fight and Har­ri­son nailed a three as the buzzer sounded to give the Cow­boys a one point lead enter­ing the half. … Con­tinue Reading

MWC/MVC Chal­lenge

Jay Dee Lus­ter looks for an open­ing as he flies towards the bas­ket. (Jeremy Stegall/LFP)

Wyoming faced Indi­ana State in the Moun­tain West Conference/Missouri Val­ley Con­fer­ence Chal­lenge. The Cow­boys just came off of a three game los­ing streak on the road and was ready to get some­thing going. Both of these teams are off to a slow start this year. At the end of the game Wyoming got the much needed win. They ended up tak­ing charge of the game hand­ing Indi­ana State an 81–51 loss. This win put both teams at 3–5 on the season.

Wyoming had a slow start in this game but even­tu­ally got it going. This was an aggres­sive game; evi­dence of this comes from the fact that the first four points scored came at the free throw line. The Cow­boys tied the game at four but then Indian State went on a small run. Wyoming responded to the 0–6 run by going on a 9–2 run. With 11:20 left in the first half Afam hit a three point shot giv­ing the Cow­boys a lead that would only get larger. After that bas­ket the Wyoming never gave up the lead.

The Cow­boys have been work­ing on a zone defense that they used tonight. This new defense seemed to work well for Wyoming; it held the oppo­nent to only 51 points. The play­ers were reluc­tant to say any­thing about this crazy new defense. They do not want its secrets to get out, the less oppo­nents know the bet­ter it will work. Head coach Heath Schroyer chose not to say much about it either. He said they used it longer tonight than they had planned on using it. He said he has used it before at other schools and hopes it will work here. No mat­ter what they are will­ing to say it works. Wyoming came up with 16 steals and scored 32 points off of 22 turnovers.

The points off of turnovers shows the defense paid off. They were able to con­vert turnovers into points which was impor­tant to this win. The Cow­boys were led by Demar Jack­son with 17 points but there was enough points to go around. Five Cow­boy play­ers posted dou­ble digit point totals. Not only could they score but they could pass also. Wyoming had 11 assists and only gave up one steal. They shot the ball really well going 50% from the field, 33.3% from three point range and 75% from the free throw line. If they can keep up this team work and con­tinue to shoot this well they could really turn the sea­son around.

They all know they still have work to do. Even though they looked good tonight there is still room for improve­ment. After the game Afam Muo­jeke said, “We have go to bring it every game, we can’t just do it a home.” They play well at home but for some rea­son they strug­gle on the road. If they can fig­ure out how to take this kind of play­ing on the road they could be a scary team. Schroyer agrees with this say­ing, “We need to go out and fig­ure out how to win a road game.” He knows they have the skill to win big games he just needs to fig­ure out how to uti­lize this tal­ent on the road. Another prob­lem Schroyer found was rebound­ing. He made a num­ber of com­ments on how they need to rebound the ball bet­ter. They were out rebounded 30–40 in this game. They had a few balls that hit their hands but they could not hold on to. Schroyer wants to work on this so the team does not lose the rebound bat­tle. … Con­tinue Reading