(UW Media Relations Photo)
This game between the Wyoming Cowboys and the San Jose State Spartans was one of the best games the Cowboys have played all year. The grit and determination of this Cowboy team in this game was impeccable, a true battle all the way to the end. The two teams never let their opponent breath in this game with the game coming down to the wire in a nail-biting victory for the Cowboys.
The Cowboys and the Spartans were locked in a head to head battle in the first half of the game, with both teams being separated only by seven percent from the field. The Cowboys ended the half shooting 37% from the floor, while holding the Spartans to 30%.
The Cowboys were playing a very disciplined game, with only five fouls to their name at the end of the first half while the Spartans had ten fouls to end the half.
Earlier this week we also saw and heard head coach Sundance Wicks begging his players to take more open shots.
“I’m probably the only coach in America telling my players to shoot the ball,” Wicks after the losing to Boise State earlier this week.
The Cowboys took his words to heart and responded by shooting for 10-27 from the field in the first half with only one free throw being missed in the first half. However, the Cowboys continued to struggle with their threes, going 2-12 in the first half. The Spartans ended the half shooting 8-27 from the field, 4-15 from three, and 3-5 from the line. The score at half was 31-23 Cowboys on top.
With a close game in the second half, the fans showed up to make it near impossible for the Spartans to concentrate on offense in a nailbiter. The noise in the dome was so intense the Spartans needed to burn a timeout with four minutes remaining in the game. Wicks was extremely pleased with how the fans impacted the game.
“Can’t win without them. Fear, panic, anxiety, stress you feel that when you go to other venues. Players can feel it, you still have physiological responses to an external stimulus as a player. So when our fans can get loud and force a guy into a turnover or a bad play or even make them burn a timeout because they can’t hear, that’s a home court advantage and it playes a massive part in just having a margin to help us win games and we needed a margin and they gave us one today,” Wicks said.
The Cowboys played a decent second half finishing 20-49 in the field, they continued to struggle with three pointers, finishing just 2-16, and concluded the game with a decisive 24-27 mark from the free throw line. The game was certainly a defensive battle, one that the Cowboys dominated on the glass having 44 rebounds while the Spartans could only muster 25.
“That’s impacting your will impact winning and that matters to me it might not matter to everyone else,” Wicks said.
“I think everybody says ‘oh they have value on how much they score’, what matters to me is can they impact the game if you’re not scoring that is winning.”
The game had come down to the wire with the Cowboys defeating the Spartans in a 66-62 victory.
“The game against San Jose is the superbowl for us,” Wicks said earlier this week with his players echoing the same message.
“Coach says its the super bowl, so we have to prepare like it is,” Gores stated after the defeat to Boise State.
The Cowboys played this game like it was the superbowl and it showed. They never lost sight of their end goal of a win, giving the team a much needed confidence boost before their next game against one of the top teams in the conference, Utah State.
