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Wyoming Takes on Wichita State in First Round of NIT

Mason Riding by Mason Riding0

(Zach Agee Photo)

For the first time since they competed in the NCAA tournament in 2021, the Wyoming Cowboys will be participating in a postseason tournament in March.

The Cowboys were selected to play in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) on Sunday evening after wrapping up their season with a narrow loss to UNLV in the opening round of the Mountain West tournament. The Cowboys last played in the NIT in 2003, where they were able to advance to the second round of the tournament before being eliminated by North Carolina.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to play in the NIT,” head coach Sundance Wicks said. “We will always accept an invitation if we don’t get an NCAA automatic qualifier bid or an at-large bid. We’ll always accept this because it is our civic duty as basketball coaches and basketball players to normalize playing basketball for as long as you can.”

The Cowboys were seeded into the Tulsa region for the 2026 iteration of the NIT, where they will open their tournament run with a first-round matchup against the No. 3-seeded Wichita State Shockers.

Get to Know Wichita State

The Shockers finished the regular season with a 22-11 overall record and 13-5 record in the American Athletic Conference (AAC). They finished as runners-up in the AAC tournament, falling to South Florida in the championship game.

The Shockers are led by 5-foot-10 senior guard Kenyon Giles, as he averages 19.7 points a night. Giles netted a career-high 33 points against North Texas in January, and has scored 20 or more points in 17 games this season while putting up an average of just under 17 shot attempts per game.

Giles plays an eerily similar type of game to UNLV’s Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, who the Cowboys were able to hold mostly in check in their loss to UNLV in the Mountain West tournament.

“He’s one of those guys that if he was in March Madness, people would fall in love with him,” Wicks said of Giles. “He’s a high-volume guy, kind of like [Gibbs-Lawhorn] at UNLV. They’ve relied a lot on him to provide massive scoring outbursts.”

Forward Karon Boyd is the only other Shocker that averages double figures on the season, as he pitches in an average of 10.9 points per game while also grabbing 5.8 rebounds a game.

The Cowboys will also have to find a way to contend with 7-foot-2 junior center Will Berg, as he leads the way for the Shockers on the glass with 8.4 rebounds per game.

“They rebound the glass really well, just kind of like us, we rebound too. I think it’s going to be a great matchup,” senior forward Kiani Saxon said.

The Shockers are also an extremely proficient rebounding team altogether, as they rank as high as ninth in the nation in rebounds per game with 41 rebounds per outing. The Shockers are especially effective on the offensive glass, ranking fourth in the nation in that category.

“That’s kind of the chess match there is, how much attention are you gonna give Giles? Are you gonna sacrifice, if he’s missing shots, giving up offensive rebounds to a team that does a really good job at getting them and finishing them,” Wicks said.

Postseason Dream Remains Alive

After losing their opening game in the Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas last Wednesday, Wicks was adamant about his team continuing their season beyond their first-round exit.

“We’re just not gonna shed any tears up here right now, because we’re gonna try to keep playing postseason basketball,” Wicks said after the Cowboys’ loss to UNLV. “Our number one goal is to try to play with this time for as long as we can.

“I just want this experience to go on.”

That wish was granted late Sunday evening when the Cowboys were announced to be in the NIT field.

The turnaround is a quick one for the Cowboys, as they have less than a day to prepare for their first-round matchup before they fly out to Wichita to play Tuesday night.

“The coaches were on the scout last night, so I’m sure they got maybe a wink of sleep,” Saxon said. “We have a practice this morning, weights this morning, go to film and get a scout in, then we’re on a flight over there.

“Preparation is a little bit quick compared to what we’re used to, so we just got to adapt to that and come out tomorrow running.”

The opportunity to open their postseason bout on the road also isn’t something that scares the Cowboys, as this team is focused on a simple mentality — that being the chance to play just one more game together.

“The chance to continue to travel with one another again and get more experiences with each other, we love each other and this team is super close, so I think that’s one of the most exciting things,” junior guard Khaden Bennett said.

The Cowboys will tip off against the Shockers at 5 p.m. Tuesday. If they are to win, they will either stay on the road against Oklahoma State or have the chance to host Davidson, pending the result of that game.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to coach these guys,” Wicks said. “Just seeing their growth and development from a really young team. For them to get rewarded in this fashion, I just think it means a lot to us.

“It’s a great blueprint for our program and stepping stone for where we want to go.”

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