# 2014–15 Wyoming Cowboys basketball team

The 2014–15 Wyoming Cowboys basketball team represented the University of Wyoming during the 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Their head coach was Larry Shyatt in his fifth year. They played their home games at the Arena-Auditorium in Laramie, Wyoming. The Cowboys were a member of the Mountain West Conference. They finished the season 25–10, 11–7 in Mountain West play to finish in a tie for fourth place. They defeated Utah State, Boise State and San Diego State to become champions of the Mountain West tournament. They received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where they lost in the first round to Northern Iowa.

## Previous season

The 2013–14 Wyoming Cowboys finished the season with an overall record of 18–15, 9–9 in the Mountain West to finish in a tie for fifth place. In the Mountain West Conference tournament, the Cowboys were defeated by UNLV in the quarterfinals. They were invited to the College Basketball Invitational where they lost in the first round to Texas A&M.

## Preseason

The Cowboys were picked to finish sixth in the Mountain West Conference preseason media poll. Larry Nance Jr. was named the preseason player of the year, as well as being named to the preseason all-Mountain West team.

## Regular season

On January 12, 2015 Wyoming was ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll for the first time since 1988.

## Players
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Jerron Granberry | 15 | G | 6'4" | 225 | RS Senior | Miami, FL | Graduated |
| Nathan Sobey | 20 | G | 6'3" | 185 | Senior | Warrnambool, AUS | Graduated |
| Keonta Vernon | 24 | F | 6'5" | 225 | Freshman | Tulare, CA | Transferred to College of Southern Idaho |
| Zane Stull | 33 | G | 6'1" | 185 | Freshman | Omaha, NE | Transferred |

## Recruiting

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Jonathan Barnes #35 C | Parker, CO | Ponderosa High School | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | 250 lb (110 kg) | Oct 28, 2013 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 75 ||||||
| Jeremy Lieberman #56 PG | Calabasas, CA | Calabasas High School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 175 lb (79 kg) | Aug 21, 2013 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 70 ||||||
| Diontae Jones #87 SF | Las Vegas, NV | Clark High School | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | Aug 8, 2013 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 68 ||||||
| Tyrell Williams PF | Miami, FL | Miami Norland High School | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 230 lb (100 kg) | Apr 29, 2014 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: N/A ||||||
| Alexander Aka Gorski SG | Uppsala, Sweden | Sunrise Christian Academy | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 195 lb (88 kg) | May 1, 2014 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: N/A ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: – Rivals: – ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Wyoming Commit List for 2014". Rivals.com. Retrieved May 4, 2013. "Men's Basketball Recruiting". Scout.com. Retrieved May 4, 2013. "ESPN – Wyoming Cowboys Basketball Recruiting 2014". ESPN.com. Retrieved May 4, 2013. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved May 4, 2013. "2014 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved May 4, 2013. ||||||

## Statistics

Source:
| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
| Josh Adams | 35 | 34 | 33.6 | .437 | .324 | .743 | 3.3 | 3.6 | 1.4 | 0.2 | 12.8 |
| Alexander Aka Gorski | 20 | 0 | 8.3 | .310 | .267 | .500 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 2.1 |
| Jonathan Barnes | 14 | 0 | 4.5 | .500 | .000 | .600 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 1.4 |
| Jack Bentz | 22 | 1 | 8.3 | .111 | .000 | .667 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| Derek Cooke Jr. | 35 | 35 | 26.3 | .720 | 1.000 | .543 | 5.8 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 8.1 |
| Riley Grabau | 34 | 34 | 33.9 | .377 | .367 | .939 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 9.1 |
| Charles Hankerson Jr. | 34 | 34 | 28.6 | .386 | .344 | .456 | 3.2 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 6.9 |
| Alan Herndon | 31 | 2 | 15.4 | .474 | .174 | .593 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 3.0 |
| Jeremy Lieberman | 25 | 0 | 9.0 | .268 | .185 | .700 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.4 |
| Jason McManamen | 35 | 4 | 16.8 | .407 | .338 | .429 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 3.7 |
| Larry Nance Jr. | 31 | 31 | 34.9 | .514 | .333 | .786 | 7.2 | 2.5 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 16.1 |
| Matt Sellers | 15 | 0 | 9.4 | .677 | .000 | .600 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 3.4 |

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/16/2014* 2:00 pm | | Northern Colorado Wyoming Tournament | W 78–70 | 1–0 | Arena-Auditorium (5,876) Laramie, WY |
| 11/18/2014* 7:00 pm | | Western State | W 61–46 | 2–0 | Arena-Auditorium (4,785) Laramie, WY |
| 11/22/2014* 4:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Colorado Rivalry | W 56–33 | 3–0 | Arena-Auditorium (9,066) Laramie, WY |
| 11/24/2014* 7:00 pm | | Florida A&M Wyoming Tournament | W 66–45 | 4–0 | Arena-Auditorium (4,763) Laramie, WY |
| 11/26/2014* 7:00 pm | | Stetson Wyoming Tournament | W 65–41 | 5–0 | Arena-Auditorium (4,668) Laramie, WY |
| 11/29/2014* 4:30 pm, RTRM | | New Mexico State Wyoming Tournament | W 78–75 | 6–0 | Arena-Auditorium (5,474) Laramie, WY |
| 12/02/2014* 7:00 pm, RTRM | | Denver | W 68–42 | 7–0 | Arena-Auditorium (4,928) Laramie, WY |
| 12/05/2014* 5:00 pm, ESPNews | | at SMU | L 53–66 | 7–1 | Moody Coliseum (6,852) Dallas, TX |
| 12/07/2014* 2:00 pm | | Regis | W 70–35 | 8–1 | Arena-Auditorium (4,598) Laramie, WY |
| 12/10/2014* 9:00 pm, P12N | | at California | L 42–45 | 8–2 | Haas Pavilion (6,648) Berkeley, CA |
| 12/14/2014* 12:00 pm, RTRM | | Montana State | W 70–61 | 9–2 | Arena-Auditorium (4,567) Laramie, WY |
| 12/20/2014* 2:00 pm, RTRM | | Southern | W 57–39 | 10–2 | Arena-Auditorium (4,925) Laramie, WY |
| 12/23/2014* 7:00 pm | | at Montana State | W 61–51 | 11–2 | Worthington Arena (2,107) Bozeman, MT |
| Mountain West regular season ||||||
| 12/31/2014 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | UNLV | W 76–71 | 12–2 (1–0) | Arena-Auditorium (6,011) Laramie, WY |
| 01/03/2015 8:00 pm | | at San Jose State | W 64–59 | 13–2 (2–0) | Event Center Arena (1,188) San Jose, CA |
| 01/07/2015 7:00 pm | | at Colorado State Border War | W 60–54 | 14–2 (3–0) | Moby Arena (8,018) Fort Collins, CO |
| 01/10/2015 4:00 pm, CBSSN | | Boise State | W 65–54 | 15–2 (4–0) | Arena-Auditorium (7,024) Laramie, WY |
| 01/14/2015 9:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 25 | San Diego State | L 52–60 | 15–3 (4–1) | Arena-Auditorium (6,178) Laramie, WY |
| 01/17/2015 5:00 pm, ESPN3 | No. 25 | at Fresno State | W 70–65 $^{3OT}$ | 16–3 (5–1) | Save Mart Center (8,118) Fresno, CA |
| 01/24/2015 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | New Mexico | W 63–62 $^{OT}$ | 17–3 (6–1) | Arena-Auditorium (10,167) Laramie, WY |
| 01/27/2015 7:00 pm, RTRM | | at Utah State Rivalry | L 44–56 | 17–4 (6–2) | Smith Spectrum (9,744) Logan, UT |
| 01/31/2015 4:00 pm, RTRM | | Nevada | W 63–55 | 18–4 (7–2) | Arena-Auditorium (8,106) Laramie, WY |
| 02/04/2015 7:00 pm | | Colorado State Border War | W 59–48 | 19–4 (8–2) | Arena-Auditorium (8,672) Laramie, WY |
| 02/07/2015 12:00 pm, RTRM | | at Air Force | L 50–73 | 19–5 (8–3) | Clune Arena (4,021) Colorado Springs, CO |
| 02/11/2015 9:00 pm, CBSSN | | at San Diego State | L 41–67 | 19–6 (8–4) | Viejas Arena (12,414) San Diego, CA |
| 02/14/2015 4:00 pm, RTRM | | San Jose State | W 77–60 | 20–6 (9–4) | Arena-Auditorium (7,870) Laramie, WY |
| 02/17/2015 8:00 pm | | at Nevada | W 64–58 | 21–6 (10–4) | Lawlor Events Center (5,291) Reno, NV |
| 02/25/2015 7:30 pm, CBSSN | | Fresno State | L 59–64 | 21–7 (10–5) | Arena-Auditorium (5,868) Laramie, WY |
| 02/28/2015 5:00 pm, CBSSN | | at UNLV | L 57–69 | 21–8 (10–6) | Thomas & Mack Center (12,659) Paradise, NV |
| 03/04/2015 7:00 pm | | Utah State Rivalry | W 76–53 | 22–8 (11–6) | Arena-Auditorium (6,327) Laramie, WY |
| 03/07/2015 6:00 pm, CBSSN | | at New Mexico | L 49–52 $^{OT}$ | 22–9 (11–7) | The Pit (15,411) Albuquerque, NM |
| Mountain West tournament ||||||
| 03/12/2015 3:30 pm, CBSSN | (4) | vs. (5) Utah State Quarterfinals | W 67–65 | 23–9 | Thomas & Mack Center (7,308) Paradise, NV |
| 03/13/2015 7:00 pm, CBSSN | (4) | vs. (1) No. 25 Boise State Semifinals | W 71–66 $^{OT}$ | 24–9 | Thomas & Mack Center (9,199) Paradise, NV |
| 03/14/2015 4:00 pm, CBS | (4) | vs. (2) San Diego State Championship game | W 45–43 | 25–9 | Thomas & Mack Center (10,002) Paradise, NV |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| 03/20/2015* 11:40 am, TBS | (12 E) | vs. (5 E) No. 11 Northern Iowa Round of 64 | L 54–71 | 25–10 | KeyArena (14,509) Seattle, WA |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Mountain Time. (#) during NCAA Tournament is seed with Region E=East. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movement Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. :
| Poll | Pre | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Wk 15 | Wk 16 | Wk 17 | Wk 18 | Wk 19 | Final |
| AP | NR | NR | RV | RV | NR | NR | NR | NR | RV | 25 | RV | RV | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | RV | N/A |
| Coaches | NR | NR | RV | RV | NR | NR | NR | NR | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | NR | NR | NR | NR | RV | NR |
*AP does not release post-tournament rankings