Cowboys Welcome Northern New Mexico in Season Opener
* University of Wyoming press release
LARAMIE -- The Wyoming Cowboys will host the Northern New Mexico Eagles in the 2023-24 season opener on Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m. in the Arena-Auditorium. The Pokes look to move to 4-0 in season openers under head coach Jeff Linder.
Fans can listen to the contest, as well as follow stats on GoWyo.com. The game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network and will be broadcast live on radio over the 26 affiliate stations of the Cowboy Sports Network, as Keith Kelley on the call and Kevin McKinney commenting.
Ticket Information
Fans may order tickets online, via email or by phone at:
•Go to GoWyo.com/tickets
•Email tickets@uwyo.edu
•Call (307) 766-7220
•Stop by the UW Athletics Ticket Office on the West Side of the Arena-Auditorium on the corner of Willett Drive and 19th Street.
Fans can listen to the contest, as well as follow stats on GoWyo.com, as the contest will not be streamed. The game will be broadcast live on radio over the 26 affiliate stations of the Cowboy Sports Network, as David Settle will be on the call.
About The Teams
Wyoming hosted Metro State in exhibition contest on Oct. 27 earning a 79-67 victory. As a team, the Cowboys did a lot of their damage at the charity stripe, making 32 freebies. Overall, UW shot 38.6-percent from the field. The Roadrunners shot 36.4-percent and made 9-of-29 from beyond-the-arc. Wyoming scored 20 points off 15 Metro State turnovers. The Cowboys committed just seven turnovers of their own.
The Cowboys welcome back four players from last season’s team with two of those players as key contributors to the Wyoming’s NCAA Tournament team in 2022. The Pokes also welcome 11 new players to the roster with five transfers and six freshmen. The roster also includes international flair with three players with international ties. The transfers that joined the program are a veteran group that features a 1,500 point scorer, an NCAA Division II All-American and the NAIA National Player of the Year. The Pokes were picked to finish 10th in the Mountain West Preseason Poll released in October.
The Eagles are 1-1 overall and opened the season last Thursday evening against Florida College falling by a score of 78-67 and faced Oklahoma City University on Saturday earning a 72-66 victory. NNMC is shooting 40 percent from the field on the season and shooting 31 percent from behind the arc.
About The Players
Sam Griffin scored a game-high 24 points on 6-of-10 shooting while Akuel Kot added 22 on 5-for-14 from the floor. The duo also combined to make 21 free throws as the Wyoming Cowboys pulled away from Metro State Friday night in exhibition action in Laramie. Wyoming secured a 79-67 victory.
The Pokes welcome back one starter in guard Brendan Wenzel. He averaged 7.9 points per game last season along with 3.8 rebounds. Guard Kenny Foster returns and is a veteran presence for the Brown and Gold, but will miss the season with an injury. He added 4.8 points per game along with 2.4 rebounds. Forward Caden Powell’s role grew towards the end of his freshman season and added 1.9 points and two rebounds per game. In the final half of conference play he added 3.7 points per game and 2.4 rebounds. Guard Cort Roberson played in four games for the Cowboys. Guard Sam Griffin averaged 15.2 points per game and 2.7 rebounds at Tulsa. He nearly has 1,500 career points and has hit 244 career three-pointers. He is joined by another Division I transfer in Oleg Kojenets, who comes to Laramie from Nebraska and is a native of Lithuania. He played in 18 games last season in the Big Ten. Guard Akuel Kot spent four seasons at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo. He earned First Team All-American honors from the NABC last season. He averaged 23.4 points per game last season to rank fourth in NCAA II.
The Eagles are led in scoring by guard Joziah Ramos at 19.5 points per game. He also adds four rebounds per contest and 2.5 assists. Eloy Medina adds 9.5 points per game on the season along with two rebounds per game. Malek Malual leads the team with 7.5 rebounds per game.
About The Series
The contest is the first meeting between the two schools. It is also the first meeting between the Cowboys and NAIA institution since facing Hastings College during the 2021-22 season.
Up Next
The Pokes are back at home on Saturday hosting Cal Poly in the Arena-Auditorium for a 7 p.m. start for a contest on the Mountain West Network.