LARAMIE, Wyo. (Sept. 24, 2026) – Head coach Sundance Wicks and the Wyoming Cowboys will head north for the second-straight season to take on the Northern Colorado Bears on Sunday, October 11th at the Pronghorn Center in Gillette, Wyo. The exhibition contest is slated for a 2 p.m. start.
 
Tickets are available by visiting the link here, the two teams played in front a capacity crowd last season so get your tickets today.
 
"It was a great atmosphere last year, so we are excited to do it again," UW head coach Sundance Wicks said.  "We are looking for another sellout at the Pronghorn Center with standing room only crowd. It's going to be a fun environment. When you get a chance to go compete for the first game of the year, both Coach Smiley and myself get to see who our teams are becoming. The side story here is coach Smiley gets coach against his son Madden, which is going to be a cool moment. Both teams are going to be playing with their hair on fire and you're talking about a really good Northern Colorado team that's always at the top of their league every year in the Big Sky and we're looking to try to get to top of ours as well."
 
The title sponsors of the event are Campbell County Health, Cyclone Drilling, Inc. and M&K Oil Company.
 
Game sponsors include White's Frontier Motors, Summit OBGYN & Rodney Biggs MD, PC, Hand & Physical Therapy, First Interstate Bank – Gillette and Employment Testing Center of Wyoming.
 
Contributing sponsors include ERA Priority, Lubnau Law, Earth Work Solutions, Dental Care Center, Inc., Holiday Inn Express and Candlewood Suites – Gillette and the Prime Rib Restaurant.
 
Wyoming returns over 45% of its scoring and 40% of its rebounding from four returners.
Wyoming won 18 games last season and made the National Invitation Tournament for the first postseason action for the Brown and Gold since 2021-22. It was also the first time Wyoming has played in the NIT since 2003.