Stingy D leads Complimentary O in 80-63 victory

LARAMIE – Sundance wicks said last year's turnaround at Wisconsin-Green Bay hinged on one main factor: defense.

Wyoming’s first-year head coach called it a “weapon.”

However, that 15-win improvement, the ninth-largest in NCAA history, was also aided by a complimentary offensive attack. Wicks said he planned to tear out a page Larry Shyatts Playbook that slows the game to a crawl. Shot selection is crucial, he added.

Wyoming showed glimpses of all that in its 80-63 win over the College of Idaho on Friday night.

The Cowboys limited the number of visitors shooting from the field to just 25% in the first 20 minutes. Thanks to 14 turnovers in the first half, there were 12 fewer shots, Wicks' team shot nearly 63% from the floor and added five 3-pointers while taking a 38-24 lead into the locker room.

This is what this operation should look like.

“They were 2 of 11 from three, and our goal was to hold them to five three-pointers,” Wicks said after the game. “They shoot 30 a game and make 10, 11, 12. We wanted that to be a separator for us. I think shooting can be a separator for us. We shot the ball well tonight. I hadn’t seen that much in practice lately.”

Kobe Newton was a perfect 3-for-3 from deep and Northern Iowa transfer Cole Henry sank all four of his shots and grabbed five rebounds. Former Mr. Kentucky Dontaie Allen finished the first frame with seven points and Touko Tainamo scored six goals.

More importantly, the guards like it Obi Agbim, Jordan Nesbitt and Newton limited last season's Yotes leading scorer to just four points on 1 of 9 shooting. Samaje Morgan averaged 24.6 per game and led the College of Idaho to a 32-4 overall record and a trip to the NAIA Final Four.

In fact, these starting five players combined to score just nine goals in the first half. Each of these guys averaged better than 19 last season.

“In any case. I mean, we held a very good offensive team to just 24 points,” said Newton, who finished his night with 12 points on four made three-pointers. “They didn’t score for the last 3:48 minutes of the half. We really emphasized that in the last game. We just keep holding on, defensively, and then everything else will take care of itself.”

“…I just thought we fought hard. And I thought we played really hard as a collective unit.”

The second half was a different story, especially the first four minutes. The Yotes went on a 16-8 run to make it a six-point contest.

Wicks said the team's “secret battle” against Northern Colorado started the same way. He called it too “casual” and added that the response was poor. That's the difference tonight.

Although College of Idaho shot at nearly 45% and made six shots from distance, Wyoming limited its turnovers to just six and got a 12-point second-half performance from Denver transfer Tainamo.

“I wanted to repeat the first half in the second half,” Wicks said. “Of course this is a dream, isn’t it? To be able to sit there and say it's 48 points and the rock fight is on for the night… I think when we have the right lineups defensively, we're really good defensively. But we're not very good offensively either, if we have a good offense, we're not really good defensively.

“So I told our guys: Do you want to play 40 minutes? Guess what you have to do? Play both ways.”

Tainamo, a 6-foot, 220-pound Finn, led all scorers with 18 points and added five rebounds.

Allen finished his Cowboys debut with 13 points, six boards and a plus-31 when he was on the court. The Western Kentucky transfer also didn't turn the ball over once in more than 26 minutes. Forward Cole Henry also finished the game with nine assists and added a team-high four assists. Agbim scored nine goals and distributed three helpers. The former Fort Lewis guard also turned the ball over six times.

“There are things we need to work on and improve on to make it better for the next game, but at the end of the day we won,” Allen said. “So it’s always a positive dynamic.”

Wyoming opens the regular season next Monday night against Concordia-St. Paul in the Arena Auditorium. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.

Here's some randomness to top this off:

* In the final seconds of the first half, Agbim pressured — and ultimately rejected — a 3-point attempt from Morgan. That's the kind of effort that will help this team stay in contention during a grueling stretch in the Mountain West.

* Henry, a transfer from Northern Iowa, has serious vision and instincts in the paint. Not only did he lead the Cowboys with four assists, he was also strong and elusive in blocking. The same applies to Tainamo. “I wasn’t surprised at all,” Allen said of that front-court duo, who combined for 27 points and 11 rebounds. “I mean, these guys do this every day in practice. They are both high-level players.”

* Can we expect Newton to hit 50% from distance? “I just shot the ball well,” he said. “I was ready to shoot.” The Oregon product grinned, adding that that was the percentage he shot last season. That's true. However, a staph infection limited him to just 20 games.

* Jordan Nesbitt finished his night with eight points and three assists. The 1.90 meter tall and 100 kilogram guard goes to his third school. He started in Memphis before moving to his hometown of St. Louis to play for the Billikens. He then spent the last two seasons at Hampton. This kid is really athletic. He can also score. He averaged double figures in his last two years at Virginia.

* It was a tough debut for the big man Scottie Ebube. The 6-foot-10 transfer from Southern Illinois lasted just four minutes. During that time, he grabbed a single offensive rebound and turned the ball over four times. “Our bigs need to take better care of the basketball,” Wicks said. Ten of the Cowboys' 20 giveaways belonged to this group, including three from Oleg Koyenets. “We wanted to play through our guys. I think we have a size advantage, but a size advantage is not an advantage when the ball goes back to their team. So you know we have to do better in this area.”

* Wyoming outscored the Yotes 47-26 in that game. However, the Cowboys only had a 34-32 lead in scoring.

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