You would think it would be difficult to recruit basketball players to Wyoming but veteran Coach Larry Shyatt has belied the brutal winters of Laramie and brought together a solid roster. Most of his guys are from very cold area hometowns (at least in winter) but two are from Miami so there must be an intriguing tale to be told about the signing on of that pair.
He has 6-foot-8 Larry Nance Jr., whose father played for the Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers for 13 years. The younger Nance hit the game-winning shot in the Cowboys recent 52-50 victory over and at Boise State. He is the leading scorer at 15.7 points per game and the junior owns six double-doubles on the season. Nance also tops his team in rebounding (9.1), blocked shots (29) and steals (23).
At 11.6 points an outing, 6-foot-2 junior guard Riley Grabau is the shooter from distance as 77 of his 106 shot attempts have been treys, with 52% accuracy.
6-foot-2 Josh Adams is the third Cowboy scoring in double figures with 11.3 points per contest and 47% accuracy.
6-foot-3 Nathan Sobey and 6-foot-9 Derek Cooke round out the starting five. The latter is second in boardplay at 6.6 each night.
So how is 10-6 (8-2 at home) Shyatt & Company doing it?
By shooting and defending well plus getting to the foul line.
Coach Shyatt's crew is lording it over opponents in shooting 49% overall and allowing 39% accuracy, 38% to 31% from long distance. The Cowboys are also +104 in free throw attempts.
One downside is being -29 in turnovers. The sophomore Adams, in particular, is 38-41 in assist-to-turnover ratio.
The Spartans are facing a squad that lost by three at Nevada and then another three versus New Mexico at home before the road victory in Boise.
The matchup has a 1:00 p.m. game time Saturday.
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