Wicks in Search of ‘Competitive Resilience’ Down the Stretch

LARAMIE -- "Toughness is a talent"

Sundance Wicks said those very words following a disappointing 84-61 loss Tuesday night at Nevada.

Wyoming's first-year head coach also referred to that trait as a choice. One his team has been unwilling to make over the previous two outings.

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"That has hurt the soul a little bit," Wicks admitted Friday during his weekly press conference. "You know, that's where I think, like you talk about, don't go weary in this fight. Our staff doesn't grow weary but, as a player, you have to get up every day with a level of resilience about you, competitive resilience."

Fragile. Vulnerable. Defeated.

Those adjectives would be more appropriate over the last three halves of basketball for this Cowboy team.

San Jose State stepped on the gas over the final 20 minutes in Laramie, shooting nearly 56% from the floor. Josh Uduje netted 12 of his game-high 29 points. Latrell Davis added another dozen off the bench. The Spartans, thanks to their crop of physical guards, attempted 22 free throws in the final frame.

Nevada poured in 45 second-half points on 15-of-24 shooting. That equates to an eye-popping -- and concerning -- 62.5%. Kobe Sanders accounted for 16 of those. Tyler Rolison added another 13.

Couple those outings with a no-show at Colorado State, a blown 10-point halftime lead at front-running New Mexico and a lopsided home loss to UNLV. Wyoming has dropped eight of its last nine games.

Is there a white flag being waved?

Cole Henry says "no," emphatically.

"We love each other too much to do that," the senior forward said, following that 82-73 home setback to SJSU. "...  After a tough loss like this, we're brothers at the end of the day. You know, I live with Obi (Agbim) and JNes (Jordan Nesbitt) and we're going to talk tonight and hug it out. We'll be fine, wake up tomorrow, go to practice, I swear to God."

Mountain West bully San Diego State will pay a visit to the Arena-Auditorium this Saturday night. Wicks joked Friday he was pushed into a fence after scoring a touchdown when he was in elementary school in Gillette. The transgressor was named Josh.

Wicks shoved back, adding that was the height of his "meanness."

The Aztecs have played the role of schoolyard tormentor, with minimal retaliation from this Wyoming program over the last decade. In fact, the last win over SDSU came all the way back in December of 2017.

That was 2,620 days ago.

The losing streak now stands at 12 after a hard-fought 63-61 loss inside Viejas Arena, which also included a second-half meltdown from the visitors.

Barack Obama was in the Oval Office, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, was breaking records at the box office and Ed Sheeran was at the top of the Billboard charts.

"They're a model of excellence," Wicks said.

Don't let the record fool you. Despite currently sitting in fourth place in the league and with five conference losses under their belt, the Aztecs are still the standard -- especially on the defensive end of the floor.

They have allowed just 1,643 points through 26 games. That's a Mountain West best 63.2 per game. The next closest is Boise State, which has given up 1,855.

SDSU is atop the leaderboard in the entire country in opponent field-goal percentage (.371). Nearly six blocked shots per game has this team sitting in fifth. Seven-foot Magoon Gwath is responsible for nearly three of those. The relentless three-point defense, which has allowed just a 30% conversion rate (199-of-663), is currently at No. 23.

"What makes them a really good defensive team is, I think their team length, obviously ... and just the culture that they've established to become one of those top defensive teams in the country, year in, year out," Wicks said. "I know this, I really respect the heck out of (SDSU head coach) Brian Dutcher, because they win leagues, they win games and they win championships by doing it on a defensive end."

Wyoming didn't fight through screens in Reno. All the physicality was wearing navy. The hard things, Wicks added, weren't being fought for.

That won't fly against anyone in this league, let alone the Aztecs.

This is the last time at home for seven seniors to change the narrative.

"The one thing I tell our guys as we go down the stretch here is, these are choices," he said. "We talk all the time about choice over chance. The choices you decide to make, going down the stretch, that's going to determine what's going to happen here in the next couple of weeks. It's never too late to choose the path of least resistance, right, which is that tough, intense, intentional side of it -- all the things that you can control. You can't control shot making a lot of times, but you can't control how hard you play, the effort you play with, the enthusiasm and the energy. You can control those things.

"It'll be disappointing if we don't respond that way down the stretch here."

Tipoff Saturday is slated for 6 p.m. and the game will be telecast on CBS Sports Network.

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