(UW Media Relations Photo)
The Wyoming Cowboys came out with a zone defense in their road contest against Utah State, looking to catch the Aggies’ offense off guard. A 3-2 zone has slowly become a staple for Sundance Wicks to run in conference play, as his foul-prone team ranks amongst the top-six most fouling teams in the nation heading into the contest.
“We’re going to have to do some different things against them, not just allow them to have the game that they want to play,” Wicks said ahead of the matchup.
However, it took just four minutes and three straight made threes before the effectiveness of that zone defense was drawn into question. The Aggies quickly took a 15-4 lead, and the rout looked to be in front of a sold-out home crowd at the Dee Glenn Smith Spectrum that was certainly playing a factor early.
The Cowboys would battle back from the early deficit behind their efforts on the offensive glass, drawing as close as eight points multiple times throughout much of the first half. Leland Walker would be the only Cowboy to score any points in the last eight minutes of the opening half, though, as the Aggies raced out to a 22-point lead at the break.
The Aggies completely shredded the Cowboys’ zone defense in the opening half, finding the bottom of the net on 56.2% of their attempts from the field while making eight three pointers, all while assisting on 14 of their 17 made shots.
The Cowboys persisted in their zone defense after halftime, despite the Aggies scoring the second most points in a half the Cowboys have allowed this season in the first half.
The Cowboys’ start to the second half all but sealed their fates in a matter of mere minutes, as they turned the ball over on their first three possessions and gave up an initial 12-2 run as the lead extended to 32 points. That lead grew as large as 38 before the contest mercifully ended as a 32-point loss for the Cowboys, the final score favoring the Aggies 94-62.
“We put a plan in place that we were going to go zone for a full forty [minutes] and get them off early and it didn’t happen and we were dying on that hill tonight to see if our guys could figure it out and hats off to Utah State,” Wicks said postgame in a UW athletics press release.
The loss serves as the largest the Cowboys have suffered this season but just the third worst loss the Cowboys have endured in Mountain West play under Wicks, as the Cowboys lost by a margin of 41 points on the road to Boise State and 35 points on the road to Colorado State last season.
Walker put together a nice game for the Cowboys, finishing with a game-high 24 points. Freshman Nasir Meyer returned to action after missing two straight contests due to concussion protocol and was the only other Cowboy in double figures with 12 points. As a team, the Cowboys were 35% from the field and only 25% from deep.
The Cowboys’ next game will be against their Border War rivals, Colorado State–a game that feels dire for the Cowboys to turn their conference fortunes around.
