LARAMIE, Wyo. (Nov. 10, 2024) – The Cowboy defense grinded out an 81-66 win over Tennessee State in the Arena-Auditorium on Sunday afternoon. The win marked the 50th for head coach Sundance Wicks, as guard Obi Agbim recorded 24 points in the win for the Pokes.
“Great test for us to go against a really competitive team in Tennessee State,” Wicks said. “I thought early on tempo was right for us, but the unnecessary fouls put them at the line. We wanted to get them at altitude, and it became a slow game. On nights like this we must find the lineup of tightness. We did a good job defending the three-point line and we did a great job on ball screen defense.”
Agbim was 10-of-13 from the field for the night and 4-of-4 from behind the arc. Jordan Nesbitt added 15 points for the Cowboys with a team-high seven rebounds. Guard Kobe Newton added 11 points off the bench with a career-high five assists to lead the team.
The Pokes shot 53 percent from the field for afternoon and shot 50 percent from behind the going 9-of-18. The Cowboys held Tennessee State to 37 percent from the field for back-to-back contests, holding the opposition to under 40 percent. TSU held a 40-38 advantage on the glass and scored 15 points on second chances.
Neither team could find the basket in the opening two minutes, but Agbim opened the scoring with a three-pointer. After TSU found a quick lead, Agbim added another three, followed by a slam by Nesbitt for an 8-4 contest near the 16-minute mark of the half.
Touko Tainamo would add a pair of freebies and a three-pointer for a 19-12 lead for the Pokes with under 12 minutes left in the opening frame. Agbim added a fast break alley-oop and gave Wyoming a 23-14 lead at the 9:31 mark. He added another slam a minute later, and Wyoming would lead 28-16.
The Cowboys got into foul trouble and went scoreless for three minutes, but Newton added a pair of triples for a 38-22 lead with under three minutes left in the opening half. UW would take a 43-28 lead into the break, holding TSU to 30 percent from the field.
Agbim got hot to open the second half, pushing the lead to 20 points at 52-32 in the early goings of the second half. But Tennessee State went on a 9-0 run over two and a half minutes to make it a 56-46 game for the Pokes with under 14 minutes left. A slam from Scottie Ebube ended the run for TSU.
TSU made it a six-point game at 58-52 with 11 minutes left in the contest. The lead went down to as little as six, but the Cowboy defense fueled a 6-0 run for a 65-53 lead with under nine minutes remaining.
Tennessee State made it a nine-point contest at 67-58, holding Wyoming scoreless for over two and a half minutes. A layup made it a seven-point game, but an and-one play from Nesbitt fueled a 10-0 run for a 79-62 lead for the Pokes in the final two minutes of play. The Pokes would walk away with the 81-66 victory.
Tennessee State was led by Brandon Weston with 18 points. Amir Langlais added a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Wyoming heads to Texas Tech on Wednesday, November 13, for a 6 p.m. start on ESPN+.
*UW Press Release
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