Sundance Wicks wasn’t too unfamiliar with this Texas Tech Red Raiders team heading into his second straight trip to Lubbock in the non-conference schedule. Wicks was a former assistant for previous Wyoming head coach Jeff Linder, who is now stationed on the sideline in Lubbock, serving as an assistant to Red Raiders’ head coach Grant McCasland.
Wicks’ first team as the head man in Laramie took on the Red Raiders in just their third game of the season a year ago–though that one was easily forgotten, as the Red Raiders completely dispatched of the Cowboys by a final score of 96-49.
The Red Raiders utterly dominated nearly every facet of that tilt a year ago, holding the Cowboys to just 34% from the field while forcing 25 turnovers against the Cowboys. The Cowboy defense had little answer to the Red Raider offense in that one either, as the Red Raiders shot a blistering 64% from the field and 56% from deep.
However, things were much different this time around. With 12 completely new faces on the roster to complement just two scholarship returners, this was practically an entirely different game than the one the Cowboys lost a season ago–and that showed in a wire-to-wire game the Cowboys would eventually drop by a final of 76-72.
“I’m proud of our guys’ effort. They were resilient on the road,” Wicks said in a UW athletics press release. “At the end of the day, I was really proud of how our guys battled on the road in a tough environment. This is a league environment. This is what the (Mountain West Conference) looks like.”
The Cowboys opened the contest with a 10-5 lead–their largest of the game. The Red Raiders would quickly answer with a 7-2 run, which would lock these two teams together for much of the opening half.
The Red Raiders, however, seemed poised to burst their lead wide open in the closing minutes of the first half, as they took their largest lead of the game at 10 with 2:49 remaining in the first half. The Cowboys’ starting point guard, Leland Walker, had other ideas. He would score six straight points while assisting on another make, and freshman Simm-Marten Saadi would cash in three free throws at the end of the half to make it a one-point game at halftime.
For reference, the Cowboys’ loss to the Red Raiders a season ago was a 26-point game in favor of the Red Raiders by the time the halftime horns mercifully rang.
The Cowboys wouldn’t go away in the second half, either, as the back-and-forth brawl ensued with neither team being able to pull away. The Cowboys were always threatening to overtake the Red Raiders on their home court in the second half, but could never quite run away with a lead after only hanging onto an advantage on the scoreboard for four total minutes in the second half.
The ultimate back-breaking play proved to be a shot-clock violation at the 1:12 mark of the second half, where the Cowboys had a chance to draw within a single possession, trailing 69-65. That costly mistake allowed the Red Raiders to extend their lead to six, and though Walker managed to cash in a triple to make it a three-point game nine second remaining, the Red Raiders would seal the contest with a made free throw to win by a final score of 76-72.
Walker proved to be a difference maker for the Cowboys, as the crafty senior transfer from Florida Atlantic finished just a point shy of his career-high with 28 points on 10/20 shooting. Walker also led the way on the glass, finishing with a team-high 5 rebounds. While eight other Cowboys scored in the contest, no other player finished in double-figures. Khaden Bennett was close, finishing with nine points while leading the way with a team-high three assists.
“KB [Khaden Bennett] and Leland [Walker] are two guys that have been on championship teams, have played championship basketball and know what it’s like to win,” Wicks also said in the press release. “Those guys, you have to have them down the stretch, and they’re going to be crucial for us going forward.”
The Cowboys will return to Laramie on Dec. 6 to take on the Dartmouth Big Green.
