LARAMIE – The Cowboys are off to a 5-1 start and are undefeated at home as the Arena-Auditorium is gradually being transformed back into the Dome of Doom.
 
Wyoming has four players averaging double figures in scoring, and 10 players are averaging between 4.8 and 12.0 points per game. The Pokes have had five different leading scorers in their six games.
 
Leland Walker is starting to play like a solid Mountain West point guard. UW produced the first two MW freshmen of the week homorees in Nasir (Naz) Meyer and Gavin Gores.
 
Which means head coach Sundance Wicks was in a great mood after the Cowboys' 75-67 victory over Norfolk State on Sunday?
 
Well, that's a half-truth.
 
Wicks was pleased with the execution of the game plan when UW built a 39-23 lead at the intermission and a 24-point lead with 16:28 remaining.
 
Instead running the Spartans – who played Friday night and traveled from Virginia to Laramie on Saturday – out of oxygen at 7,220 feet, the Pokes let the visitors back into the game.
 
"We respect the process, and the nightmare of a coach is when the result is right, and the process is wrong," Wicks said. "That was (Sunday's) tale. The process was wrong in the second half. It was right in the first half, but you have to play two halves."
 
Wicks parked some talented players on the pine and went with a short rotation down the stretch.
 
Adam Harakow was rewarded for his hard work leading into the game with 25 minutes off the bench. The junior forward led the team with 18 points and grabbed five rebounds.
 
Walker (15 points), Damarion Dennis (15 points) and Khaden Bennett (13 points, six assists) also played well as UW bounced back from its disappointing 78-70 loss at Sam Houston State.
 
"It's just about being consistent," Harakow said. "Whether that team goes on runs or we go on runs, we can't get too high or too low. So, just being able to stay poised is going to be what we need to focus on."
 
The Cowboys must execute for 40 minutes against Denver on Wednesday at the Arena-Auditorium (6:30 p.m., MW Network).
 
The Pioneers (2-4) already picked up a big Front Range road win last Friday at Colorado State, holding off the previously undefeated Rams, 83-81. Carson Johnson scored 18 points on 7-for-13 shooting and Zane Nelson added 17 points off the bench during DU's 103-73 loss at No. 2 Arizona on Monday night.
 
"What they needed was a wake-up call," Wicks said of his team following the Norfolk State game. "DU is coming in on Wednesday. Smacked CSU. I've known (DU head coach) Tim Bergstraser for a long time. He's a hard-nosed fiery competitor as a coach. …
 
"That is a well-coached, well-trained team that is going to get better as the year goes on. I'm thinking about DU and what they just did, and our guys are worrying about themselves."
 
Bergstraser posted a 75-22 record in three seasons as the head coach at Division II Minnesota State Moorhead, leading the Dragons to three-consecutive 25-win seasons for the first time in program history, before taking the DU job.
 
Arizona stormed out to a 13-0 lead and led 56-28 at the intermission. However, the Pioneers finished 16-for-32 from the field, including 7-for-14 on 3-pointers, in the second half.
 
"Our energy level went down," Walker said of UW's second-half performance against Norfolk State. "We can't let that happen anymore."
 
This will be the first meeting between the programs since the Cowboys' 77-64 win in 2021. UW leads the series 107-52, including a 66-16 record against DU in Laramie.
 
"I'm not happy at 5-1 right now, I'm sorry," Wicks said. "You guys want me to be this ray of sunshine and this ball of hope for everybody, but I'm not happy at 5-1. That probably is a good thing because if I was happy at 5-1, we're probably going to get knocked off the pedestal real quick."

Follow Ryan for more stories on Wyoming athletics on X at @By_RyanThorburn on Facebook at Wyoming Athletics and Instagram at wyoathletics. Also follow him at Pokes Insider at Gowyo.com/pokesinsider.
 
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