saturday in casper...
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Pokes searching for consistency
Battling consistency, the Wyoming Cowboys need a full compliment of players on the court.
Wednesday, they were without three players because of various injuries and illness.
Senior guard Kevin Lewis sat out after injuring his knee Saturday in the loss to Princeton; senior guard James Ebert was having some health issues and freshman forward Ross Forman is still out with a broken nose suffered two weeks ago against Southern Illinois.
Losing three of their last four games to fall to 4-4 on the season, the Cowboys have five more preseason games before opening Mountain West Conference action Jan. 4 against UNLV.
Building consistency and momentum has been tougher than Wyoming coach Steve McClain would like with the recent rash of injuries.
?You come back and lose a tough game with Princeton (59-50), and you want to work on getting better. Yet, the only way you can get better is to be on the practice floor; we don?t have our whole team on the practice floor,? McClain said Thursday morning as his Cowboys prepared for Montana State Saturday (4 p.m.) at the Wyoming Shootout in Casper.
?That?s difficult, but on the other side of it, that?s what we?re dealing with. We have to have other guys step up. We may have to play bigger against Montana State.?
Forman is out for at least another week, while Lewis and Ebert returned to practice Thursday afternoon. Ebert, who McClain thought might have had some irregular heartbeats, checked out OK by doctors on Thursday and is expected, along with Lewis, to play Saturday against the Bobcats.
?We can only control what we do,? McClain said. ?Like (Wednesday) night, we had three guards on the floor. I can?t control injuries. We can only worry about what we have to worry about and just try to get ready for the next game.?
The Cowboys did get 6-foot-9 senior Derek Wabbington back Saturday against Princeton. Wabbington, who sprained his knee in the season opener against Alabama State, had a tough time against Princeton, failing to take a shot in 11 minutes of court time. He did have two rebounds and one blocked shot.
?As he said himself, that was a horrible game to come back, because it wasn?t a game that he could really be a factor in,? McClain said. ?He?s feeling good, but to say he is 100 percent would be wrong on my part. He?s probably three weeks into the recovery process. Jan. 4 was the target date of what they (doctors) said he should be back to about 100 percent. These next two or three games should help him get back to that.?
Forman had surgery on his broken nose on Thursday and McClain said they are looking for a four- to seven-day recovery.
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Pokes searching for consistency
Battling consistency, the Wyoming Cowboys need a full compliment of players on the court.
Wednesday, they were without three players because of various injuries and illness.
Senior guard Kevin Lewis sat out after injuring his knee Saturday in the loss to Princeton; senior guard James Ebert was having some health issues and freshman forward Ross Forman is still out with a broken nose suffered two weeks ago against Southern Illinois.
Losing three of their last four games to fall to 4-4 on the season, the Cowboys have five more preseason games before opening Mountain West Conference action Jan. 4 against UNLV.
Building consistency and momentum has been tougher than Wyoming coach Steve McClain would like with the recent rash of injuries.
?You come back and lose a tough game with Princeton (59-50), and you want to work on getting better. Yet, the only way you can get better is to be on the practice floor; we don?t have our whole team on the practice floor,? McClain said Thursday morning as his Cowboys prepared for Montana State Saturday (4 p.m.) at the Wyoming Shootout in Casper.
?That?s difficult, but on the other side of it, that?s what we?re dealing with. We have to have other guys step up. We may have to play bigger against Montana State.?
Forman is out for at least another week, while Lewis and Ebert returned to practice Thursday afternoon. Ebert, who McClain thought might have had some irregular heartbeats, checked out OK by doctors on Thursday and is expected, along with Lewis, to play Saturday against the Bobcats.
?We can only control what we do,? McClain said. ?Like (Wednesday) night, we had three guards on the floor. I can?t control injuries. We can only worry about what we have to worry about and just try to get ready for the next game.?
The Cowboys did get 6-foot-9 senior Derek Wabbington back Saturday against Princeton. Wabbington, who sprained his knee in the season opener against Alabama State, had a tough time against Princeton, failing to take a shot in 11 minutes of court time. He did have two rebounds and one blocked shot.
?As he said himself, that was a horrible game to come back, because it wasn?t a game that he could really be a factor in,? McClain said. ?He?s feeling good, but to say he is 100 percent would be wrong on my part. He?s probably three weeks into the recovery process. Jan. 4 was the target date of what they (doctors) said he should be back to about 100 percent. These next two or three games should help him get back to that.?
Forman had surgery on his broken nose on Thursday and McClain said they are looking for a four- to seven-day recovery.
