MOUNTAIN WEST MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 13, 2024

Jeff Linder

Sam Griffin

Brendan Wenzel

Akuel Kot

Thomas & Mack Center

Wyoming Cowboys

Postgame Press Conference

Fresno State 77, Wyoming 73

THE MODERATOR: For Wyoming we have Brendan Wenzel, Sam Griffin, Akuel Kot, Coach Jeff Linder. Coach, thoughts on today's game?

JEFF LINDER: Well, obviously give credit to Fresno State. We knew after we had beaten them by 39 four days ago that that wasn't going to be the Fresno State team that we saw today, and we knew that we would see a team a lot like the team that we saw when we had to beat them at the buzzer a couple of months ago at our place.

Give them credit for finding a way to win that game, which I thought we gave ourselves -- put ourselves in position to win it. But then at the end of the day, you have to be able to finish. And that's where down the stretch the last couple of minutes when we got the lead and a couple of turnovers, the free-throws -- I mean, they went 22 for 23 from the line. We went 15 for 26. A couple of dead ball fouls where no time went off the clock there in the last three minutes as well.

Overall, though, the effort of these guys. I mean, with Sam, Wenzel, Kenny, Akuel, Mason Walters, I mean, for those guys considering where we were at at this time last year, obviously they're disappointed with the result, but these guys, they did a lot to get us back in the right track and the right direction. I can't thank those guys enough. The guys in the locker room as well.

This time last year, I wasn't even here when my dad passed away. For us to get back here, these guys played a big, big part. And those young guys in the locker room, they're going to learn a lesson about you beat a team a couple times, it's never easy to beat them a third time, especially a team like Fresno who Coach Hutson is always going to have them prepared. They're always going to play hard.

And we knew our effort had to match or exceed theirs, which is I thought what we did on Saturday. It's a new day and they found a way to win it. Give them credit.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Sam, I guess Coach kind of touched on it a little bit, but how much does the free-throw shooting just kind of come back to hurt you there at the end?

SAM GRIFFIN: We could have made more free-throws. Free-throws and other things as well. Defensively we had to be better. So it's free-throws and other stuff as well.

Q. For all three of you guys, just what -- when you think back on this team and you think back on this year and all the Cowboys have been through and all this program has been through, what are your main takeaways going to be from this team and this year?

BRENDAN WENZEL: A take-away from this year is that we didn't -- last year was really tough. Years can flip like that. It just depends how hard you work, how bad you want it. This year we had a really good group of guys.

It made basketball a lot easier this year. So just thankful for all the new guys that we got. I'm thankful for Coach. It's just -- you can always turn things around.

I think we set a good example for the young guys and what to prepare for for next year, so...

Q. The game was going back and forth, Brendan, throughout the second half, and then you had a 10-0 run that you finished off. It felt like you were in complete control. What do you think happened over the last three minutes?

BRENDAN WENZEL: Just weren't getting stops. It's my fault too. I had a lot of fouls. I wasn't making shots either, so...

I don't know. It's tough. They had offensive rebounds. They made free-throws. We didn't. It all comes down to the little things. That turnover at the end that I had, just can't have things like that if you want to win.

Q. First for Akuel. As you look back on your collegiate journey starting at Fort Lewis, working your way up to here having two very solid years what does being a Wyoming Cowboy mean to you?

AKUEL KOT: As I look back, being a Cowboy it was an amazing year just for the opportunity. For Coach and the whole coaching staff, my teammates, just for that whole opportunity, it was a blessing, and I enjoyed every single day. I was looking forward to every single day.

We enjoy being around each other. I would just say we had a lot of great moments as a team. Like Coach said, we've just been trying to go up the right direction. And that's what this program has been doing this past year. That's been a goal going in, so, yeah, it's been great.

Q. Brendan, what did Fresno State do so differently today, and did you know that Yap was going to play?

BRENDAN WENZEL: No. No, we didn't know he was going to play. We didn't do a very good job on him last time either. But it just comes down to we didn't get as many stops as we did a couple of days ago. So can't stop them all, but we have to just be better. All of us individually, as a group, everyone, there's always room to improve.

THE MODERATOR: We'll let the players go at this time. Questions for Coach.

Q. I know Cam was in foul trouble early, but only eight minutes today. Why?

JEFF LINDER: Well, just in terms of the flow of the game and you could tell that just -- Cam has had a couple of those moments as freshmen. When you get to the conference tournament setting, when the lights are a little bit brighter -- and not to say that he had -- he was scared, but you could just tell he was a little bit off.

They played small. With Yap coming back, it gave them an extra guy. And they just stayed and played small kind of like what they had been doing up until Boakye came back. That's where just the flow of the game, just where we needed -- just we had to go play a little bit smaller. Because us playing bigger wasn't what we needed to do at the time, which we did go small. And really when Caden was at the 5 when we made that 10-0 run, we spread the floor out.

And then I thought we kind of got the game back under control, but we knew it wasn't going to be what we saw on Saturday. But also our defensive effort over the last five games where we've held teams under 42%, that's kind of what's put us to where we've won some games.

For them to come out -- and give them credit really -- just kind of put their head down and drove it. That's where it just comes down to you have to find ways to get a few more stops.

Then they shot 57% in the second half. We found some ways to turn it over. For the most part did a good job on the offensive glass. The last one there where kind of I thought Mason had the ball, and somehow it just -- we had a lot of those where kind of the ball was there. But in those type of situations in the postseason, it just comes down to possessions.

It's the little things within the possession. The 50/50 balls, deflections, those are the things that add up. Give Colimerio credit. He was at the right place at the right time and found a way to pick it up and score it.

Q. What are some of your biggest takeaways from this season and some goals going into the offseason?

JEFF LINDER: Obviously with the returning guys, Wenzel, Kenny and Caden and Cort, just for those guys to stick with us, to believe in us. You can't thank them enough.

Then Mason, Akuel, Sam, I mean, the thing those three guys brought was just they never took a rep off. Every day in practice they never -- they were always every day guys.

Those guys in terms of their work ethic and how they treated every rep in practice, I mean, that goes a long ways with Kael and Cam, Caden, those young guys, in terms of as we move forward. That's where as we do move forward with the guys that will return it's knowing that regardless of a lesson of you beat a team twice, everyone says it's hard to beat them a third time. Well, it's not that hard. It's been done many a times if you do the things necessary to beat them.

We put ourselves in a position. Sometimes you just don't get the breaks. We've gotten a lot of breaks. We've been really good in close games. That's the one thing.

If it's a close game, our record has been really good, but just a couple of turnovers, the missed free-throws, a couple of those fouls where they didn't have to really earn the basket, those things add up, and it cost us.

Q. Jeff, obviously you have thanked those guys for kind of getting the program back in the right direction. Do you have more fire going into the offseason, or do you just kind of wait and see what happens and then adjust accordingly with this new world?

JEFF LINDER: Yeah, it's obviously a new world. You are constantly adapting to it. We'll go back and see. Hopefully it won't be last year where you have to go out and get ten new guys, but obviously we're going to have to add a few pieces.

We'll have to continue to get the guys that do stay -- we just have to continue to get those guys better. That's the biggest thing in this day and age, the insanity that's college basketball, is that, yeah, can you have the ability to retain guys?

The ability to retain to where they can develop the discipline -- the habits, the discipline, the effort that's required to put yourself in a position to really compete for championships. So that's where at least going into this offseason you'll have a core group of guys coming back that they can build off of this season, add a few more pieces, and then give yourself a chance next year.

Q. My question is about Akuel Kot and Mason Walters, who both have very unique journeys starting at the lower levels of college basketball and excelling there and ending up at Wyoming. What can you say about how you've seen them grow as they got to Laramie and just what you have thought of how their career has finished up?

JEFF LINDER: Obviously, first and foremost, they're phenomenal, phenomenal human beings who come from phenomenal families, so the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Like anything, having played and coached at the Division II level, lower levels, there's a lot of good players at that level. I mean, there's a lot of players at this level that are not very good. If you're a good player, you're a good player.

It takes a little bit of time, especially in this league and how good this league is, to adjust and adjust to just probably the night-in-and-night-out, the overall size, length, and athleticism. The thing about this league is it's a smart league. It's not a dumb league where guys make mistakes.

That's where with those guys as they got more and more comfortable with -- Mason, having missed the non-con because of an injury, it took him a little while to feel it out, but those guys put us in position to win 15 games. That's a credit to them. It's a credit to their work ethic.

That's also what's going to allow them to continue to play basketball after here and start their pro career next year.

Q. Brendan said he didn't know that Yap was going to play. I assume you didn't either. How much of a difference did that guy make?

JEFF LINDER: Obviously you're not sure this time of year who is playing, who is not playing. It's not like we hadn't played against him before. Played well at our place.

Obviously he can kind of do some different things off the bounce and make some plays. From a length and athleticism standpoint at the guard spot, can defend. He's been around for four, five years.

Once he started kind of warming up, we obviously put him on the board. But really at the end of the day he had 16. He also had five turnovers. But obviously for us it was just getting enough stops, and really what it boiled down to is just sitting guarding the ball.

That's where I thought with Caden and that stretch, he did a really good job of helping us get that lead with his ability to guard on the ball screen. As I said, give them credit. They made the plays when they needed to make the plays.