UW's Caden Powell seeing uptick in minutes in sophomore campaign

On top of his rigorous course load, he’s tasked with daily basketball practices to prepare for the Cowboys’ twice-weekly conference games in the loaded Mountain West.

On a good day, Powell is able to mentally reset by playing Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege for an hour or two.

The pressure on Powell has only increased in his second year with the Cowboys.

The 6-foot-10 forward has seen his minutes nearly triple from a year ago at 20.9 per night.

He’s started all 28 of UW’s games so far this season.

The Waco, Texas, product is averaging 5.8 points 4.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists during his time on the floor. Powell scored a career-high 17 points in a loss to Saint Louis in the Myrtle Beach Invitational in November and leads the team with 21 blocks on the year.

“He’s been playing really well,” UW coach Jeff Linder said earlier this season. “… The thing he’s always had to balance is his classes and his workload in the classroom. Being an electrical engineering major, he doesn’t have off days.

“There are no off days in the classroom for him, especially as you start working your way up into some upper-divisional courses. Thankfully, he’s a really smart kid, and he can handle it.”

Foul trouble has been a theme for all of UW’s forwards, especially Powell. He’s averaging 3.4 personal fouls per game and leads the team with 94 total, which is 15 more than the next-closest player. He’s fouled out five times out of 28 games.

“I’d say (my strengths) are just being able to talk and communicate on the floor and rebounding,” Powell told WyoSports on Thursday. “I gotta do better on the defensive glass and stay out of foul trouble.”

Powell credits true freshman Cam Manyawu with helping him in UW’s frontcourt. Manyawu is averaging 7.3 points and 6.6 rebounds in 22.9 minutes per night at the forward position.

“I was really just ready to fill whatever role was needed from me, whether that was five minutes or whatnot,” Manyawu said earlier this season. “I didn’t expect it to be the workload I have now, but I’m happy to be in the position I am.”

Added Powell: “It’s been nice. From day one, (he’s) just come in and worked hard and has gotten better every single day. That’s been a good thing to see from Cam.”

The Cowboys (13-15 overall, 6-9 Mountain West) are looking to end a three-game skid against rival Colorado State (20-9, 8-8) this weekend in Fort Collins. UW has lost six of its past seven games to drop five games back in the conference standings.

After the Border War, the Cowboys will end the season with their home-finale against Air Force on Tuesday and a road game at Fresno State next Saturday in California.

“We’re just focused on finishing it out strong and playing as hard as we can over these next three games before the (MW) tournament,” Powell said. “... We just have to play hard. We’ve stuck with all of the teams that we’ve played with so far.

“We’ve beaten all of the teams that we play over these last three games, so, we just have to play harder than them and let the chips fall where they fall.”

As for the Rams, Linder knows what the Cowboys will be up against. CSU blew an 11-point lead with less than a minute remaining in regulation before losing 79-76 in overtime in the first matchup last month at the Arena-Auditorium.

“They’re a really good team, and they’re well coached,” Linder said. “They’re going to have a bitter taste in their mouth from what happened here, but obviously, we will expect their best, and they know we’re going to give them our best.

“… I think there’s some things that we’re starting to do that’s allowing us to kind of trend in the right direction in order to really compete with the top five or six teams in the league that you’re going to have to find a way to beat once you get to Vegas.”