Tuck’s Take: Pokes Possess One Pesky Point Guard

LARAMIE -- Obi Agbim slowly made his way up the court.

Forward Cole Henry provided a pick at the top of the arch. After a quick juke to the left, the senior darted to his right. With guard Sean Mathieu in hot pursuit, Agbim had options: Stop and pop or attempt the turnaround jumper.

He chose the latter -- or so Mathieu thought.

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The lightning-quick Fort Lewis product, in mid-flight, instead fired a pass to a cutting Abou Magassa on the baseline. The 6-foot-7 redshirt freshman took care of the rest, laying it up and in to give the Cowboys a 38-33 advantage over Concordia, St. Paul with 4:24 remaining in the first half.

"He's a Jedi master," fellow guard Jordan Nesbitt joked, referring to Agbim.

Fair or not, Agbim will draw comparisons to former Division-II teammate Akuel Kot.

Both were prolific scorers during their time on Colorado's Western Slope. Kot netted 23.4 a night. Agbim, 15.5. Both earned First Team All-RMAC honors. Both were MVP's of the conference tournament. Both have similar builds, Agbim an inch taller, 13 pounds heavier.

Both transferred to Wyoming for their final collegiate season.

What could set these two apart ultimately is in the passing game. Kot tallied six assists last November in a 104-56 season-opening rout of Northern New Mexico College. Twice he finished with four. He also dished out five in a road win over Air Force.

MORE UW HOOPS NEWS VIA 7220SPORTS:

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* Cowboys get defensive in 80-63 exhibition victory over Yotes

* Tuck's Take: Stingy D leads to complimentary O in 80-63 win

* Guard Nigle Cook: 'He's got all the ability in the world'

* Wyoming's new big man Scottie Ebube is a 'dude'

* Will hoops version of the Border War survive realignment?

He was a magician with the ball, at times.

The shifty Agbim could be even better.

The Aurora, Colo., product capped his junior season with 95 helpers. That's an average of nearly three a night. Four times he finished with six. Ten times he landed four or more.

Agbim had six in tonight's 108-85 victory, three in each half.

"I mean, to just get everybody involved, it's really important to me," he said. "You know, it's a team sport, team game. And a team like this, with a whole bunch of new players, you are just trying to make sure the ball don't stick and get my teammates involved."

That happens, his head coach said, when he slows everything down.

"Obi is fast, man. He's a fast guard. He's fast with the ball." a raspy voiced Sundance Wicks said postgame, adding Agbim hasn't been showing this vision in practice of late. "He gets up and down the floor, and I think the shooting has been the separator for him. His ability to shoot the basketball from three is really going to make him dynamic."

Agbim didn't just share the love in this one, he led the team in scoring, netting 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting. Seventeen of those points came in the last 20 minutes. Three triples on the same amount of attempts helped. He was also a plus-18 during his time on the court and turned the ball over just twice.

He slashed. He drove. He finished.

"That's what he does," Nesbitt said. "He puts the work in every day. I'm right there with him ... That's what he's going to continue to do all season. He's our PG, he's our leader. So, we're just going to follow behind him."

Kot averaged 14 points and two assists while shooting 43.3% from the field during his lone season in Laramie.

What's the biggest difference between these two?

"We're different players," Agbim said, adding Kot is one of the most talented players he's ever lined up with. "He's obviously, by far, just an extremely gifted scorer. You know, he can take you left, take you right, shoot the three ball. He's extremely efficient.

"I say, for me, I try to just kind of be all around, not necessarily try to do one thing great, but just try to improve all my weaknesses."

There is one major similarity, though. That ever-present chip on the shoulder.

"You have to," he said with a smile.

Here's some randomness to cap this one:

* Wicks' starting lineup read like this: Kobe Newton, AJ Wills and Dontaie Allen at the guard spots with Cole Henry and Magassa manning the frontcourt. Will this be a regular occurrence? Maybe. But don't count on it. "I told my guys, I'll start a different lineup at halftime, start a lineup every game and keep you guys on your freaking toes," he said. "We have to find what's working ... As players, you stay ready, because you just don't know, the crazy guy might change it again."

* Nesbitt came to the postgame press conference with a white hardhat on. That, as you know, goes to the hardest-working player. Tonight, that was most certainly him. The Hampton transfer snagged a game-high 16 rebounds in the win, a number of those coming on his own missed shots around the rim. He landed eight offensive boards in that process. Padding stats? "No sir," he joked. "I was just trying to play hard. Play hard for my coach, play hard for my team." The 6-foot-6 guard from St. Louis capped his night with a double-double, netting 11 points on just 4-of-11 shooting.

* Wyoming turned the ball over 20 times in an easy exhibition win last week over College of Idaho. Tonight, that number was just eight. Agbim and Allen each had two. That will work.

* The Pokes dominated in the paint like they should against a Division-II program. That difference was, 78-28. "I told you guys, like, we're gonna be pretty big," Wicks said. "That's 78 points in the paint, right? That's pretty big. And I think our bigs were 23-of-34 combined." Scottie Ebube was 9-of-12 (we'll get to him in a minute) and Henry (6-of-9), Magassa (3-of-4) and Oleg Kojenets (1-of-2) were also effective in the square.

* Wicks warned us Ebube could break a backboard this year thanks to his powerful dunks. He nearly did with just over six minutes remaining in regulation. Newton found him low in the post. Concordia's Chet Kloss whiffed on the would-be steal. All alone, the 6-foot-10, 275-pound junior flushed the ball with both hands. The clear square was still wobbling as the Bears made their way back up the floor. Ebube finished the night with six thunderous dunks, including one on an alley-oop heave from Wills that gave the Cowboys 100 points on the scoreboard. Those two hooked up for another one of those just a few possessions later. He even received a pair of ovations from the faithful. "Scottie is one of a kind," Agbim said with a wide grin. "You see him go in the game for a small amount of time and it changes the game, easily. I don't think there's a single guy that I know who can stop him when he's locked in ...  Scottie is an animal." The Southern Illinois transfer netted 19 points in just 10 minutes.

* Wicks picked up his first-ever victory as the head coach in his home state Monday night. Though the moment hasn't hit him yet -- admittedly he "blacks out" and it may not until season's end -- he knows this was a special outing in front of more than 4,000 fans inside the Arena-Auditorium. "Winning is hard," he said. "We're going to celebrate those singles. We're going to go in there, we're going to throw the water up. I think too many coaches are just too stiff, you know?  I don't know, a win might never come again. So, what do we do? We just wasted the time to get a good water shower. Like, I haven't showered in three days. That felt pretty good tonight. Plus, our guys are terrible at throwing water. They need to practice that, they got it in my ears. We need to get better at just throwing it in the air and celebrating."

* Wyoming (1-0) will host a Tennessee State (1-0) team Sunday that knocked off the Fisk Bulldogs 96-66 in its season opener. All five starters finished in double figures. Sophomore forward Ronald Jessamy led all scorers with 23. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. and the game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.