Tuck’s Take: Wicks Said It all — ‘Not Good Enough’

LARAMIE -- Sundance Wicks quipped last Sunday that his team needed to head down to west Texas and get some "oil money."

The well was dry. Bone dry.

Wyoming turned the ball over an eye-popping 25 times, leading to 40 Texas Tech points in a 96-49 rout Wednesday night in Lubbock.

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It was as ugly as the score indicates. Just ask Wyoming's head coach.

"Not good enough. Terrible. Awful," Wicks said postgame. "You know, I'm a passionate guy. I told our guys in the locker room, I said, 'You know, if there's one thing you can learn from me is, you better show up every day with passion to do your job.' And I thought we were very passionless tonight.

"We didn't show up to the fight. We brought a butter knife to a gunfight."

I couldn't have said it any better myself.

Wicks laid the blame for those generous gifts at the feet of the players on this roster, too. Good. Obi Agbim, by far the best player in brown and gold tonight, still was too careless with the ball, handing that team six freebies. Kobe Newton did, too. Abu Magassa fumbled away four more.

It was a disastrous performance, one that made the Cowboys look like they never belonged.

"You have to do a better job of handling pressure," Wicks said. "Now, I'm going to have to do a better job of probably putting in more pressure-release stuff for them. But, it was good to feel those guys.

"That was a punch in the mouth."

A familiar foe dropped plenty of haymakers in this one.

Led by New Mexico transfer and last season's Mountain West Freshman of the Year, JT Toppin, the Red Raiders netted nearly 77% (20-of-26) of their second-half shots. That included a 22-2 run to cap this forgettable night.

Want some perspective? Wyoming hit just 19 buckets all night, five of which came in the first half.

The 6-foot-9 sophomore fell just two rebounds shy of a double-double in the first half. He capped this outing against the Cowboys with a game-high 24 points to go along with a dozen rebounds.

"JT Toppins is a pro," Wicks said. "Pros get to their spots when they want to and they finish. No matter if you wanted to take away his shoulder or not, you couldn't do it. He got to his spots when he wanted to, he finished. Then, he also did his job -- 1-of-2 from three. So, it's an inside-outside game. He's got length, he's got athleticism, he's got skill. He plays within himself.

"That's a good test. I don't know if there's a lot of bigs out there like JT Toppin that we'll play. I sure hope I don't run into him again anytime soon."

Chance McMillian hit double-figures in both halves, finishing the night with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting. He drained all four of his attempts from beyond the arc, too. Darrion Williams chipped in with 14. The athletic 6-foot-6 forward was perfect at the free-throw line and dished out three assists. Devan Cambridge netted 10 in the blowout.

Wicks said he wanted to see more out of his frontcourt after a lackluster outing from that unit against Tennessee State.

He'll have to wait a little longer.

Texas Tech outscored Wyoming 22-24 in the paint. The battle on the glass was, 35-29. It seemed a whole lot worse. The visitors actually edged the Red Raiders in that department, 17-14, over the final 20 minutes.

The foursome of Oleg Kojenets, Scottie Ebube, Cole Henry and Touko Tainiamo combined for only 14 points. The first two names on that list never even got on the score sheet. This group pulled down just 15 boards.

"Our frontcourt, they got to be able to go get the ball with two hands," Wicks added. "They have to go get it and bring it in. I'm going to count how many times we had our hands on basketball and didn't come away with it. There's a little bit of want-to there. That's the passion I'm talking about. That's the stuff where I'm like, It's between you and him -- you better go get it. You got to want that more."

Yes, Grant McCasland's squad is deeper and more talented. A majority of the teams the Cowboys face this winter will be.

Wyoming tonight, though, was out-toughed, out-hustled and out-classed.

San Diego State could easily do the same. So could New Mexico, Boise State and Nevada, among others. You get to see those programs twice each.

This needs to be the early wake-up call.

Wicks warned after this outing he will be keeping a close eye on the effort department with Utah Tech coming to town Saturday night. Anyone gets caught flatfooted, he insinuated, his bench will get a whole lot shorter.

Jeff Linder, who just happened to be on the opposing bench tonight inside United Supermarkets Arena, always put it best: The bench is the No. 1 motivator. During his brief four-year stint as the bench boss in Laramie, Linder rarely had the luxury of that ultimate teaching tool.

Wicks does -- and he should use it, at will.

"(I'll) play the guys who are willing to give us everything they got," he said. "That's the message that sends. This team is not a team that is supposed to lose by 50, in my opinion. We're too talented."