Cowboys Open NIT Run Tonight at Wichita State

LARAMIE -- As Sundance Wicks got adjusted in his chair and peered into the camera for his Monday morning Zoom call, he noticed his scribbled notes were still legible on the whiteboard behind him.

"The good coaches are sneaking to watch this stuff, man," Wyoming's head coach joked.

Get our free mobile app

It was a scouting report. The first words, in bright blue marker, read: "Giles."

That is in reference to Kenyon Giles, Wichita State's leading scorer, who nets better than 19 points a night. The senior transfer from UNC Greensboro is coming off a dismal  offensive performance in Sunday's 70-55 setback against South Florida in the American Athletic Conference tournament championship.

That's a rarity.

Not only has the 5-foot-10 Virginia product reached double figures in all but four outings this winter, but he has eclipsed the 20-point mark 17 times. Giles, who led his team to a 22-win season and a tilt with the Cowboys in the opening round of the National Invitational Tournament, was last week named a First Team All-AAC selection.

He was also a unanimous pick for the league's All-Newcomer Team.

Those titles tend to come when you lead the conference in made three-pointers (113) and attempts (299). Giles, in the process, also broke the single-season school record from beyond the arc.

"He's one of those guys that, if he was in March Madness, people would fall in love with him," Wicks said. "He took 27 shots in the semifinal game against Tulsa. He's a high-volume guy, kind of like Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn down at UNLV. They've relied a lot on him to provide massive scoring outbursts, and he's a tough guard to control.

"I mean, you just got to be able to corral, contest and be there with every shot to disrupt him. But, he's an explosive guard who really wants to hunt the threes ... He's going to hit some shots that are going to make you just scratch your head a little bit."

The Cowboys and Shockers will square off Tuesday at 5 p.m. Mountain Time inside Koch Arena. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

This will be Wyoming's ninth trip to the NIT and first since 2003. The overall record in this tournament sits at 7-8 with four of those victories coming in a run to the championship game back in 1986. The Cowboys, led by Fennis Dembo, fell to Ohio State 73-63 inside Madison Square Garden.

The Cowboys and Shockers have met on the court 13 times with the latter holding a 10-3 advantage in the overall series.

WSU appeared in the NIT last season, dropping an 89-79 decision to Oklahoma State. Overall, the program is 11-13 in this tournament, winning a national title in 2011 with wins over Nebraska, Virginia Tech, College of Charleston, Washington State and Alabama. The Shockers made it to the semifinals in 2019.

About The Teams
Wyoming heads into the contest with an 18-14 overall record after falling Wednesday to UNLV 73-70 in the first round of the MW Championships.

The Pokes average 77.1 points per game while allowing 73 on the defensive end. Wyoming is connecting on 45.3% of its shots from the field. The opposition, 46%. Wyoming is shooting 33% from behind the arc with 8.2 makes per game. UW allows only 6.5 threes per game. The Pokes grab 35.6 rebounds per game for the season and are plus-4.4 on the glass this season.

The Shockers head into the contest with a 22-11 overall record after dropping the American Championship game to South Florida 70-55 on Sunday afternoon.

WSU finished second in the league and has had only one loss since mid-February. The home team scores 77.6 points per game while allowing just 70.4. WSU shoots 44.2% from the field and holds opponents to 42.1. An excellent rebounding team, the Shockers grab 41 per game, which is ninth overall in the nation. They also haul in nearly 15 offensive boards an outing, which is fourth out of 365 Division-I programs.

About The Players
Wyoming is led in scoring this season by Leland Walker at 13.7 points per game. That's good enough for 10th in the MW. He also adds a team-high 3.7 assists per game and is nearing 500 for his career.

Naz Meyer adds 12.8 points per game this season and adds 4.8 rebounds per game for second on the team. Khaden Bennett chips in with 10.4 points per game and owns the team lead with 4.9 rebounds per night. Damarion Dennis nets 11 points per game for the season and is shooting 51 percent from the field.

All four of Wyoming's leading scorers are guards.

The Shockers are led by Kenyon Giles at 19.2 points per game. He earned All-American Conference honors and was the league’s Newcomer of the Year. One of the nation’s top three-point shooters, he has 113 makes on the season.

Karon Boyd was Third-Team All-Conference at 10.8 points per game with 5.9 rebounds. Will Berg, all 7-foot-2 of him, was the league’s Sixth Man of the Year at 8.8 points to go with 8.3 rebounds per game.

About The Series
Wyoming trails the all-time series against the Shockers 10-3 in a series that dates back to 1948. It marks the first postseason meeting between the two schools. The two teams opened the season against each other in four-straight seasons from 1960 to 1963.

Up Next
The winner of Tuesday’s contest will head to the Round of 16 against either Oklahoma State or Davidson with date, site and time to be determined.

* A UW press release contributed to this report

- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players