Star-struck in LA

Richard Anderson photo
Wyoming redshirt freshman Afam Muojeke tries to get the ball past two UCLA defenders on Tuesday.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

LOS ANGELES -- It wasn’t Showtime, although Jerry Buss, the Lakers owner and Wyoming native and graduate was in attendance.

Yet, there likely was a feel of intimidation in Pauley Pavilion Tuesday night for the young Cowboys.

Despite a fast start, the Cowboys fell to the UCLA talent and lore, losing to the Bruins 113-62, one of the worst defeats in school history.

Wyoming head coach Heath Schroyer was asked point blank Tuesday night if his team was intimidated.

Schroyer didn’t hesitate with his response.

“We have nine freshmen and sophomores,” Schroyer said. “For a lot of these guys, they were, from the lack of a better term, star-struck at times. When you walk into Pauley Pavilion and on every corner, there is a national championship banner. I think just the nostalgia and the atmosphere here, it was something that was a great experience for our guys. Obviously, we wished we would have played better. I think UCLA had a lot to do with that.”

Despite the loss, Schroyer said it was a good experience for his young players, especially red shirt freshmen starters Adam Waddell and Afam Muojeke.

“They are obviously very good,” he said. “We knew going into this game that there was a chance that we would be exposed on some things. We did. We’ll take form it and we’ll get better. I like this team a lot, we’re a good basketball team. We obviously have some weaknesses, but we’ll get better.

“They’re just so big, so physical. They had numerous McDonald’s All-American’s. They were better in person and more impressive in person because of their size, strength and athleticism. And they’re very good in this building.”
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Live and learn
After the strong start, the Cowboys struggled with turnovers, giving up 40 points on 29 miscues. UCLA also dominated the glass, converting 14 offensive rebounds for 26 second-chance points.

“I don’t think we defended great, but you can’t defend a turnover and when you don’t do a good job on the glass and they get second shots, it is really hard to rebound,” Schroyer said. “When you give up 66 points to a Top 10 team, you’re not going to win.”

The Cowboys are now concentrating on the three-day Utah State Duel in the Desert in Logan, Utah, Dec. 29-31. After a short Christmas break, they’ll practice twice on Friday … and watch a lot of film.

“We’ll show some good clips and we’ll show some bad clips,” Schroyer said. “We’ll work on some of our weaknesses and we’ll just take it one game at a time.”

Senior guard Sean Ogirri said that this type of loss actually comes at a good time for the team … a couple of weeks before Mountain West Conference play begins.

“We all know collectively that we have to get better,” Ogirri said. “When we get back to Laramie, we have to go to work.”

Much had been made of the Cowboys soft schedule en route to a 9-1 start. Nobody has to remind the Cowboys of that now.

“Now we know that we hadn’t played anybody,” Ogirri said. “We have to work to play a lot better, in order to play teams like (UCLA). We just have to get better.”
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Up next
The Cowboys play three games in three days, opening on Monday with Houston Baptist.

“We’ll look at the first one and completely prepare for Houston Baptist and try to get back on track and get ready for the next one,” Schroyer said. “With a loss like this, I know everybody in that locker room will go even harder. We’re going to bear down.”