LARAMIE, Wyo. — Obi Agbim and his Fort Lewis College teammates gathered around a television in the weight room last January to watch Akuel Kot knock down a buzzer-beater to lift Wyoming to a dramatic win over Fresno State.
Kot also hit a game-winning shot against San Jose State last season after transferring from Fort Lewis College, where he had averaged 24.3 points on 51.7% shooting in 2022–23.
Sundance Wicks needed another Durango kid to pull the Cowboys out of the fire on Tuesday night.
UW allowed the visiting Bulldogs to turn a 13-point deficit into a 5-point lead during the second half before Dontaie Allen kept hope alive with a 3-pointer to make the score 65–64 with 27 seconds left.
“Nobody quits in this league. You can’t count anybody out around here,” Wicks said. “Can’t count us out either. We’re fighting for it every single day.”
After two free throws by Brian Amunke, the Pokes had a chance to tie the game on the final possession of regulation.
Jordan Nesbitt front-rimmed a 3 with 12 seconds left but helped force a jump ball on the rebound with the possession arrow favoring UW.
What needed to happen over the final seven seconds was obvious to everyone in the Arena-Auditorium.
“[Agbim] better take that shot every time, that’s what he do,” Nesbitt said. “It’s crazy, we just worked on that last night, so I knew it was going in.”
Fresno State opted not to foul, which gave Agbim time to create enough space to take a step-back 3 with a defender on each hip as time expired.
Swish. Obi PG1 saves the day.
“Honestly, I didn’t even see it go in,” Agbim said. “I just shot it and heard people start screaming. I saw some of my teammates start chasing me down. I feel like we never had a moment like that before this season. It was really big for us.”
Agbim, who had to spend time on the bench with four fouls watching the Bulldogs’ comeback, slammed the door on the visitors with two more 3s in overtime to lead the Cowboys to the 83–72 win.
Kot’s dagger at the horn gave UW a 68–67 win on the same end of the same court 380 days earlier.
“You know what’s funny, after the game when we’re shaking everybody’s hands, that was the first person that popped into my mind was Akuel,” Agbim said. “They called him ‘Big Shot Kot,” and I was like, ‘Man, this is crazy that I’m kind of doing the same thing he was doing last year as well.’ It’s a blessing and it’s really cool.”
Agbim is second in the Mountain West in scoring, at 18.1 points per game, and leads the conference with a .470 3-point field goal percentage. Right on cue, the dynamic senior finished with 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting with a team-high five assists against Fresno State.
“There’s nobody like Obi though,” Nesbitt said after listening to Agbim talk about following in Kot’s footsteps at UW. “He’s really the best point guard in the country. They try to do all this and that, but if you ask me and our team, he’s the best point guard in the country without question.”
There is no question Agbim is UW’s go-to scorer. Wicks noted recently the role was taken by No. 5 and other players needed to accept their roles.
Allen and Kobe Newton are shooting more 3s and combined for 10 of UW’s 17 made shots behind the arc against the Bulldogs. Nesbitt continues to crash the glass, finishing with 10 rebounds to go with his 10 points, and is taking more 3s and fewer difficult non-paint 2s.
“The role side of this is we’ve got some guys that are starting to understand the 3-point efficiency role here,” Wicks said. “Now I need some guys, especially our big guys, to defend and rebound. I don’t care how many points you score but defend and rebound because that’s a big part of this league.”
Cole Henry led the team in plus/minus at +21. The senior forward finished with eight points on 3-for-3 shooting with four assists, one steal and one turnover in 32 minutes.
Centers Oleg Kojenets and Scottie Ebube combined for only three minutes because Wicks felt going with a smaller lineup was the best way to combat Fresno State’s zone defense, which forced 18 turnovers.
UW will need a cohesive effort on both ends of the court against San Diego State on Saturday. Agbim’s heroics should help the Pokes pack some confidence for the trip.
“That magic is important for us,” Wicks said. “I told our guys it creates a little more belief, you have a little bit more fairy dust in your pocket where next time maybe something else goes your way.”