Tuck’s Take: Better-Late-Than-Never Nesbitt Turns It On Late

LARAMIE -- Zero points. Three turnovers. An 0-for-6 start from the field, including three misses from deep.

Aside from corralling eight rebounds in the first 20 minutes, Jordan Nesbitt's night was turning into a forgettable one on the offensive end. The senior guard warned not to fret, he was simply feeling things out, seeing how he was being guarded, pressured.

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His head coach really wishes he would knock that off.

Nesbitt did just that in the second half, connecting on 5-of-7 shots for a team-high 13 points. He also tacked on six more boards and only gave the ball up once in an uncomfortable 64-61 victory over visiting Southeast Louisiana.

He was aggressive. He was opportunistic. He never left the floor once in that final frame.

"In the second half, that's when I know, OK, I know what to do," said Nesbitt, who was sporting the team's hardhat, a symbol given to the hardest worker of the night.

What really changed for Nesbitt after halftime?

"Me," Sundance Wicks said, flashing that trademark smile of his.

He's only half-kidding, too.

"This isn't a nine-round boxing match, OK? You don't get to go out there and jab, jab, jab, jab," he added. "You have to go immerse yourself, lose yourself in the fight. And when he loses himself in the fight is when J-Nezz becomes the junkyard dog, 15-rebound guy. He's got to go get lost in the fight. And too many times he just waits and waits and waits. I'm like, 'Well, you ain't a panther in the Amazon jungle looking to pounce, big guy. You're Jordan Nesbitt from St. Louis, you have to go take what you want.'

"When we have that conversation, he usually flips that switch."

He needed to in this one.

Playing without sharp-shooter Kobe Newton, who was benched for "Cultural conduct," and big man Cole Henry on the shelf with a lower-body ailment, this Wyoming team needed someone to step up on the offensive end of the floor.

That wasn't going to be Obi Agbim on this night.

The slippery guard, who averages 19 points per game, finished just 2-for-9 from the field after draining his first two shots of the contest from beyond the arc. The Fort Lewis transfer did finish with 11 points and drilled three clutch free throws late. He was also responsible for a team-worst four of the Cowboys' 16 giveaways.

Dontaie Allen was off, too, sinking just one field goal on seven attempts. Touko Tainamo had just two first-half points and 6-foot-10 Scottie Ebube found himself in early foul trouble.

Though Wyoming did get a nine-point performance from AJ Wills and Oleg Kojenets chipped in seven more, to go along with five boards, this was an effort that needed someone to take charge.

That was Nesbitt's role.

Better late than never, right?

"I was just trying to get downhill, you know, trying to do what I can to help my team win. That's it, really," he said. "I just saw the lane and was just like, I'm going to go."

Leading by just three with 12:54 remaining in regulation, Nesbitt hit a jumper from the top of the key. He followed that up with a spinning reverse layup.

Those pesky Lions, who outscored Wyoming 17-5 out of the halftime locker room, refused to go away, leading this one 52-51 with just under five minutes to go. A Nesbitt triple, his only make from distance, gave the Cowboys a late lead they wouldn't relinquish.

He steadied the ship when his team needed him most.

Wicks, in only the way he can, referenced a book by Tim Grover entitled Relentless. One chapter described what it was like getting Hall of Famer Dwayne Wade in the zone.

"He needed to see blood," Wyoming's bench boss said. "... He'd get to the dark spaces where you got to go. If you're a competitor, you got to go to the dark spaces, the blackout spots. Not the uncontrollable, but the place where you're not thinking. It's autonomous and you're just playing.

"So, I just got to help Jordan get to that dark space, you know, and that's my job."

Though it's still early, Nesbitt leads the Mountain West in rebounding with 54. This was the third time in five games he has reached double figures on the glass. He's second in the league at pulling down offensive boards with 16, just one shy of New Mexico's Nelly Joseph.

No one is better on the defensive end than the former Preseason Sports Illustrated All-American.

"It helps a lot," said Tainamo, a Denver transfer who capped his night with eight points and the same number of boards. "He gets every rebound that is up there for the taking. We can get the easy rebounds that come to us, but if it's going to the opposing team, you think that he will get it."

That will be a strength, but Nesbitt, who nets 11 a night, has proven he can take over a game offensively, too.

"I work on that every day," he said, referring to his key 3-point splash. "My guys believe in me. You know, Touko, he used to get on me a lot of times, like, 'Man, shoot the ball.' They believe in me and I believe in them."