and sophomore JayDee LusterUW-Boise State boxscore
By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org
In two games, true freshman point guard Desmar Jackson had a played a predictable 21 minutes off of the bench, scoring 11 points and dishing out two assists.
With sophomore JayDee Luster cemented in at the point guard position, the early part of this season was designed to bring Jackson along at a comfortable pace.
That all came to a crashing halt when Luster went down five minutes into Saturday’s 87-61 win over Boise State with a slight separated right shoulder. Luster tried to come back a few minutes later, but played on just one possession before coming out again for good.
Jackson finished with 11 points, seven assists and just two turnovers in 22 minutes. Sophomore A.J. Davis also filled in at the point at times.
“I was comfortable. It was all right,’ Jackson said nonchalantly. “I wasn’t nervous, it was already there. I just had to get in and go with the flow.”
Jackson flowed well for the Cowboys, who didn’t miss a beat and he helped ignite a big second half that saw the Cowboys open up a 20-point plus lead.
“For playing his first big Division I game -- we played a good team -- he showed a lot of poise and he played it aggressively and did what coach told him to do,” said Wyoming sophomore post Adam Waddell, who finished with 16 points “He made the right plays at the right time.”
Wyoming head coach Heath Schroyer said he was happy with Jackson’s performance, as well as the play from Davis, who also scored seven points in 22 minutes.
“To ask a freshman to come in … he had 11 points, seven assists, two turnovers,” Schroyer said. “You can’t ask for anything more. For us to be able to beat a really good, veteran Boise team by 26 without your starting point guard for 35 minutes, it is a credit to my staff and to my kids. They played great.”
Junior forward Djibril Thiam, who led the Cowboys with 19 points, said the Wyoming coaching staff has done a good job of reminding the younger players to stay sharp because their chance will come.
“Because he is a freshman, the coaches are on him to try to make him understand,” Thiam said. “He did a good job and we have complete confidence in him.”
What did Jackson think about his first extended minutes of running the Wyoming offense? He said he had no choice but to just go in because he is the only true point guard left.
“I’m just trying to play a role, I’m not trying to take his (Luster)spot or anything like that,” Jackson said. “We need him back later.”
Schroyer also said the Cowboys didn’t really have time to think about any other options when Luster went down. They just went with the true freshman.
“Even when we went to Fresno and when we had our exhibition, we really tried as a staff to play a lot of people and to play guys for reasons like that,” Schroyer said. “I thought Des did a great job. It’s one of the strengths of this team, I believe, depth. We’ll get Jay back and we will eventually get Amath (M’Baye) back and Arthur (Bouedo) back, and it just gives us a deeper bench.”
Schroyer said that even with Jackson running the offense, they didn’t make any drastic changes offensively.
“Coach (Fred) Langley and I probably made a few more calls from the bench, where a lot of times Jay would make the calls a lot,” he said. “We really didn’t change anything or run anything different. We probably just called a few more things on the fly.”
For Luster, who went into the game averaging 4.5 points and 6.5 assists a game, it will be a wait-and-see situation for the Cowboys.
“It’s not a severe separation, but from what I understand, he just wasn’t able to come back, so we’re going to have to go day-to-day and see where we’re at,” Schroyer said.
The Cowboys return to action Wednesday at Denver.
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