LARAMIE – Members of the Wyoming men's basketball team, staff and players, showed up at the Arena-Auditorium last Saturday night to support the wrestling program.
 
What they experienced during UW's dual with No. 1 Penn State was the electric environment inside the venue when the fan base is engaged.
 
Sundance Wicks – whose Cowboys concluded non-conference play with a 9-2 record after an impressive 87-72 victory over South Dakota State on Monday night in Sioux Falls, S.D. – believes it is time for his team to feel what it's like to play in the Dome of Doom.
 
UW, which rocketed up to No. 52 in Tuesday's NET rankings used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee, hosts Grand Canyon in the Mountain West opener at 2 p.m. Saturday.
 
"Look man, don't take special for granted," Wicks said after the Pokes notched their first win of the season outside of Laramie in dominant fashion. "I don't know what we're going to be or how we're going to finish, but I know this: 9-2 is really hard to do. …
 
"We've got a big opportunity to start off conference play in the Dome of Doom, if everyone shows up to bring to boom to the Doom. We need Poke fans out there because this team, I'm telling you they're going to rally like no other around you. It won't always be perfect, but we need everyone to show up and show out for us."
 
Entering Monday's matchup, the Jackrabbits were statistically the best defensive team in the Summit League. UW's deep lineup finished 53.6% from the field with 10 made 3-pointers.
 
The Cowboys held South Dakota State to 40% shooting and had a 38-21 rebounding advantage despite the opponent's significant height advantage in the post.
 
"I'm getting a little tired of teams going to zone (defense) on us because they don't want to guard our man stuff because it's too dang good," Wicks said. "I'm just telling you that right now. That's what we've got to be prepared for because we're scoring 87 points a game and that felt like the dentist's office out there. It felt a lot slower than what it was, but we were very opportunistic."
 
Nasir (Naz) Meyer, who earned his third MW freshman of the week honor hours before the game, put on another shot-making clinic with 25 points to go with seven rebounds. Over the last two games, the dynamic 6-foot-7 guard has scored 51 points 21-for-29 (72.4%) shooting.
 
Even the loquacious second-year UW head coach is running out of words to describe Meyer.
 
"Holy cow, he's special," Wicks said.
 
Leland Walker (13 points, five assists), Khaden Bennett (11 points, nine rebounds) and Matija Belic (10 points, six rebounds) added to the balanced rotation with 11 players scoring and 12 players getting time.
 
"The job is done in the non-conference. Now I'm going to level this up, we've got to get ready for the conference. This is a big opportunity for our guys," Wicks said. "We've got real culture, real connection, real guys who care. Nobody cares who scores, nobody cares who's the man, they're happy for each other in that locker room. I appreciate that as a coach.
 
"Poke fans should appreciate that too, man. There's a lot of guys who care about winning and that matters."
 
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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