Riley Grabau's most memorable moment of that magical 2015 Mountain West Tournament Championship didn't involve anything that he did.

It's what his teammate Derek Cook did that he'll most remember.

In the championship battle with San Diego State at Las Vegas, the Cowboys were ahead by two with seven seconds remaining.  After a missed shot, the Aztecs immediately fouled DC, certainly one of the poorer free throw shooters in the game. 

"I went up to him and told him to relax and make them," Riley recalls.  "He said, 'I got this' and calmly stepped up and made them both giving us a four-point lead.  In fact, he went five-for-five in that game.  I was so happy for him, and for us.  It was just one of those special moments.  He and I stay in touch and are close to this day.

"Of all the great things that happened during my playing career that is the one moment that stands out in my mind more than any other."

Five years later, Grabau is an assistant coach on Jeff Linder's Cowboy basketball staff and Derick is still playing the game. 

Grabau downplays his basketball career, but he was the catalyst for the Cowboys' great 2014-15 run.  Not only was he an outstanding shooter, especially at the free throw line where he was great, and a distributor at the offensive end of the floor, but he was a great defender.

"I tried to pattern my game after my favorite player, Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns," Riley says.  "He was an amazing scorer and passer.  He had a terrific energy and a mindset to make everyone around him better.  That's what I tried to do.  Plus, if you saw him on the street, you'd never believe he was an NBA player.  I know I had people look at me and say, 'you played Division I basketball?'"

"That team was made up of a bunch of battlers.  But through my first three seasons, every time we seem to be getting close to breaking through, something would happen to prevent us from achieving our goals.  But during my senior season everything clicked.  When we got to the tournament, we were an extremely confident team.  With each win, first Utah State, then Boise State, that confidence grew. We were going to be tough to beat in the championship. None of us will ever forget that feeling."

On successive nights, the Cowboys defeated Utah State (67-65), Boise State (71-66 in overtime) and San Diego State in the championship (45-43).  It was a marvelous, nail-biting, edge-of-your seat run that no Cowboy fan will ever forget.

"Through our time together we had gone through so much.  Our sophomore and junior years it seemed like every time it looked like we were getting it going, something happened, and we'd get knocked down.  That senior season, we had some bumps, but nothing bad really happened.  We kept on fighting and things finally worked out for us.  

"All season long we never really blew anybody out, so when we were facing those close games in the tournament we knew how to win them.  It was something that few get a chance to experience.  Our families were there, the games were great, and we were cutting down the nets!" 

Since that special time Riley has played in Glasgow, Scotland, and has been an assistant and head coach at Boulder High School (his alma mater). Now he's an assistant on his collegiate alma mater for new Cowboy Head Coach Jeff Linder's staff.

"Not many get an opportunity to coach at their alma mater, let alone their high school and college alma maters.  So it's really cool.  I'm learning from outstanding individuals, and I'm putting my heart into it.

He graduated from UW in Criminal Justice, and wanted to be a parole officer or a probation officer. "I wanted to influence, I wanted to help. But in the back of my mind, though, I knew I wanted to coach at some point.  After one year in Glasgow, I wanted to get on with life.  So I took some time off for myself. I had been playing since I was 13 years old, and I wanted to take a break.  So I visited family, spent some time with my brother and friends.  That really helped me, and the Boulder opportunity came along so I was ready to get back into basketball. I was definitely ready to coach."

Did he run the Shyatt offense while at Boulder High School?  "No, we ran a motion offense with a lot of spacing," he admits.  "But, I can tell you we used a lot of his defensive concepts.  I really demanded a lot at the defensive end, and my guys played their tails off.  It was amazing how much basketball I learned under that Wyoming coaching staff."

Grabau relates a story during his senior year that planted a seed for a career in coaching.  

"I had injured my hamstring early in my senior year.  They kept me out of the game.  But rather than sit by the players that night, Jeremy (assistant coach Shyatt) asked me to sit next to the coaches.  I saw everything from a different perspective, the coaching perspective.  I loved it, and realized that's what I wanted to do with my career."

Riley's family means a great deal to him, especially his dad who passed away a couple of years ago.  He and his brother (Chase) are very close.  While Chase was three years older, they did get to play against each other collegiately.  Chase was at Idaho State when Riley was a freshman at Wyoming.  "It was really cool, I was a young freshman and Chase was a senior.  Shy (Coach Larry Shyatt) said to me, 'go guard your brother', which was huge for me.  I really appreciated him doing that for me, and I had a great time playing against him.  We played twice, and we won twice by the way," he laughs.

"Our Dad (Craig) was a great man, and taught us so much.  He always told us to work hard, and chase your dreams. He did not miss many of our games even while we were both playing at different schools.  Once my brother was done, I don't think Dad missed one of my games, home or away."

Riley is quick to credit his Dad for his amazing ability to shoot free throws. He's still number one in UW school history for career free-throw shooting percentage (.882) and single-season (.939).  In his senior season of 2014-15, he made 92 of 98 free-throw attempts for the season.

"It was all about repetition," he says.  "Focus on nothing else but you and that shot he would say.  You are surviving on an island." It was very definitely a family thing. Even my grandmother would call me on the phone, and ask if I'd shot my 300 free throws for that day.   She was right, the more I shot the more confidence I had."

Can he still make them?  "I don't know about that, I haven't shot a basketball on a regular basis in quite awhile," he smiles.

Obviously Riley is thrilled with the opportunity to return to his alma mater. "I got to know him a little bit when I took our Boulder teams to his summer camp in Greeley.  I've always been impressed by him, and I'm very grateful to him for giving me this chance. 

"He's terrific to be around because he's so dedicated to the game. He is one of those guys who's all about basketball, constantly watching film of other teams, constantly learning.  He is so detailed and efficient, it's impressive to watch." 

As Riley talks about Wyoming, the pride is in his voice.  "There are places with more fans, but there is no place with fans who care more than they do here.  They really do care, and experiencing that pride had a great impact on me.  Knowing what they go through with the weather, and distance to watch us play is a very special deal.  It's difficult to match that kind of pride."

Fortunately for Riley, he has the opportunity to experience that pride once again.