LARAMIE — Caden Powell wasn’t expecting many minutes in his first season at the University of Wyoming.
While his minutes don’t hop off the page in the box scores, the 6-foot-10 forward from Waco, Texas, has been gaining valuable experience in his first year of college basketball. Powell has played in 16 of the Cowboys’ 18 games and is averaging 6.6 minutes per game.
The minutes have jumped slightly in recent weeks after starting forward Hunter Thompson contracted mononucleosis earlier this month. Since then, Powell has played 10 minutes against Utah State, 11 against Boise State and nine against Air Force on Tuesday.
“For the most part all year, he’s kind of been the backup five,” UW coach Jeff Linder said. “... Caden is a guy who is an everyday guy and he’s going to be a big part of the future of the program.
“As a freshman, it’s hard. You have two freshmen, a true freshman in Caden and a redshirt freshman in Nate (Barnhart), trying to play minutes, when, probably at the beginning of the season, we didn’t anticipate them playing a lot of minutes based on where the current roster was at.”
The roster Linder was referring to included Mountain West preseason player of the year Graham Ike, who averaged 19.5 points and 9.6 rebounds a season ago. Ike has yet to play in a game this season after suffering a right lower leg injury that was announced just five days before the season-opener in November.
“When an opportunity comes, you have to take advantage of it, and both those guys, in terms of Nate and Caden, have done that,” Linder said. “Caden will just continue to get better and better, because, No. 1, he’s a super smart kid who’s a 4.0 (grade-point average) engineering major, and he’s a guy who really cares. Usually guys that are smart and care, that usually works out well for us.”
Despite Ike’s lingering injury, the star forward has taken it upon himself to mentor both Powell and Barnhart as they step into bigger roles in his absence.
“Graham is the main person that I’m talking to while I’m on the bench,” Powell said. “He just gives me advice and pointers on what to do on the court while I’m in the game.”
While Linder would obviously prefer to have Ike on the floor, the third-year coach has been impressed with Ike’s leadership and commitment to the team, despite not being able to play.
“Graham’s the best in the program and he sees things and he knows that he can help those guys because he sees things that maybe they don’t see because he’s been in situations that they maybe haven’t been in,” Linder said. “In a lot of ways right now, he’s like an assistant coach on the bench.
“... Sometimes, when guys get hurt, they just go back and fall by the wayside. He’s done a really good job staying engaged and continuing to provide energy in different ways.”
Powell was listed as a three-star recruit by 247sports.com and Rivals.com coming out of high school, according to UW’s website. He was listed as the 39th best center prospect in the country and 24th best recruit out of the state of Texas.
Powell received scholarship offers from Hofstra, Drexel, North Texas, Princeton, and UNC Wilmington and received interest from Texas A&M. He chose the Cowboys for a handful of reasons, the main one being a fresh start outside of Texas.
“I wanted to get as far away from home as possible,” Powell said. “I liked the coaching staff and just all the energy around the program.”
With his recent uptick in minutes, the biggest thing for Powell has been adjusting to the speed of the college game. While it’s still a work in progress, Powell has made several plays on both sides of the floor throughout the season to show plenty of promise moving forward.
“It’s just been adjusting to the pace and getting more comfortable on the floor since the minutes have gone up,” Powell said. “I just want to do the little things on the court to help the team win.
“... The most important thing is just taking advantage of every opportunity I get. I want to make the most out of every situation.”
Even before the season started, Linder talked highly of Powell’s ability to set screens offensively and take charges defensively. The true freshman has shown flashes of those skills this season and is determined to grow in both categories as he continues to grow at the college level.
“I like to get my teammates open,” Powell said. “If they get a big screen, the chances of them being open are a lot higher. ... My mindset has just been to do all of the little things that can help us win. Whether it’s rebounding or taking a charge or getting a tip-out. It’s just all the little stuff.”
There’s no better teacher in college basketball than in-game experience. While a lot of Powell and Barnhart’s playing time have come out of necessity because of the Cowboys’ carousel of injuries, the minutes both players are getting now will go a long way in their development as players, Linder said.
“The minutes are great,” Linder said. “The minutes are where the true development comes from. You can talk about player development in practice and off the floor, but if you don’t get the necessary minutes, and to be able to play through some mistakes, that’s the one thing right now, with the way our bench is, you have to live with some of their mistakes.”
Despite starting the conference season 0-6, Powell and his teammates aren’t throwing in the towel yet. The freshman forward credits his teammates, and Ike in particular, with helping not get too down on himself whenever he makes a mistake on the floor.
“They’re always there for me,” Powell said. “Even when I’m on the bench, they’re talking to me about stuff I can do to impact the game more and just telling me to keep my head up and to keep pushing through. It’s been a huge learning experience.”
