Kiani Saxon Living Up to Role as Wyoming’s ‘Culture Carrier’

LARAMIE -- Thanks, Diego Pavia.

While the Heisman runner-up from Vanderbilt is currently making headlines for all the wrong reasons, the eccentric quarterback did pave the way for many student-athletes, across all sports, to receive one additional year of eligibility at the collegiate level.

Kiani Saxon is one of those.

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After starting all 31 games last winter, the 6-foot-8, 226-pound graduate transfer from Missouri Western was all but resigned to the fact it was all over. Sure, he wanted to pursue a professional basketball career somewhere overseas, potentially even back in his home country of New Zealand, but he was also realistic.

Then, the phone rang.

Sundance Wicks was in search of a blue-collar guy. He wanted to add a veteran presence to his newly assembled lineup. Wyoming's second-year head coach needed a "culture carrier."

His new assistant, Will Martin, coached Saxon in St. Joseph the previous two seasons. He checked the boxes on each and every one of those characteristics.

"He's going to be the guy who's diving on the floor," Martin said back in October. "He's going to be the guy that makes multiple efforts every single game. He's going to be the guy that could potentially play zero minutes one game, and you're going to see him bring tremendous energy on the bench and be ready the next game, when he's called to play 20 minutes or 25 minutes.

"He's a kid that, if he starts, he's going to be the same guy. If he's the last guy on the bench, he's going to be the same guy."

Saxon hasn't disappointed.

Coming off the bench in the Cowboys' first eight games, the 24-year-old averaged 9.6 minutes a night. That has increased to 18.3 over the previous three outings. That's a perk of being inserted into the starting five.

That, of course, didn't just happen by accident.

While fellow forward Abou Magassa has struggled of late, Wicks said Saxon has stepped in and is consistently making winning plays.

He's only netted nine points in that timeframe, but in a lopsided victory over South Dakota, Saxon added a team-best nine rebounds and dished out four helpers. That performance earned him the "Big Buffalo" award, given to the player that night who runs through the storm.

What you see on the final stat sheet, Wicks added, is only surface level.

"The stuff that I see that nobody else sees when I watch film, is winning. He's a winner," he continued. "I think he has five times the amount of screen assists as our next closest guy, which then would be Matija (Belic). And his winning plays, his ability to go block shots, chase down plays, wall ups, smart, solid defensive pressure, great in the ball-screen coverage, able to communicate and talk to guys and he's an elite passer.

"... He is our culture captain, man. He carries the flag for us there."

The "Big Kiwi" or "Unc, as he's lovingly referred to, said the offer to come here was too good to pass up. One year of Division-I basketball -- and the gauntlet that is the Mountain West -- he said, can only solidify his future in this game.

Saxon has an engaging smile and the personality to match. His initial modest thought was he'd come to Laramie and become a "glue guy" in the locker room. He'd be less than honest if he told you his game at LSU-Eunice, Liston College and eventually Missouri Western, would translate at this level.

"I know this is a huge jump from where I was before," he said. "I've put in a lot of work in the summertime. I feel like I've got a place here. You know, at first, I was like, man, is this opportunity too big for me? Like, I know I'm gonna work hard in the summertime, but I kind of proved myself, and I think I proved to the coaches that I have a place to be here. Then, they give me confidence to go out and enjoy how to do it, as well."

During the preseason, Wicks gave his team what he calls a "foxhole test." This is a Wyoming team that returned just two players -- Magassa and Belic -- from last year's 12-win squad.

Who lives the culture best?

"He was head and shoulders above everybody else," Wicks said of Saxon. "... That's all the trust I need to have in him, is because of all the trust his teammates have in him. And that goes a long way. I mean, it's one of those things -- It's the X-factor, right? It's never going to show up in the box score. It's never going to look sexy, and he's just going to do the things that are winning."

Saxon, who is Maori, an indigenous Polynesian people and the second-largest ethnic group on his native island, picked up a pair of cowboy boots during his brief stint in Louisiana. He snagged the hat to match right here over the summer. He's living like a local, he joked, but there might be a deal breaker -- Rocky Mountain Oysters.

"I don't know if I'm open to that," Saxon said with a smile.

As long as he keeps doing the dirty work on the court, he'll always be embraced as one of Wyoming's own.

"There's something to be said about a little bit of that chip on your shoulder coming from Division-II and having something to prove, as well," Wicks said. "He doesn't have any sort of entitlement about him whatsoever."