Lucas Moerman doesn’t enjoy much spare time as a freshman at the Air Force Academy, but he has consistently used his on the basketball court.

He’s there before practice. He stays after, sometimes on his own, sometimes with coaches and fellow center Nikc Jackson. On days without practice, he’ll put up 500 to 1,000 shots.

“There’s not a lot of spare moments in the day, but you get used to it,” Moerman said.

For all the ways Saturday’s performance from the 6-foot-11 center at No. 22 Wyoming – 15 points, 6-of-7 shooting, six rebounds, two blocks – was valuable, perhaps the most critical was that Moerman was able to see tangible results from all the work.

Included in that 75-67 loss, in which the Falcons were tied with the Cowboys deep in the second half in front of 8312 at Arena-Auditorium, was a 3-of-4 showing from Moerman from behind the 3-point line.

He had made just 2-of-12 from 3-point range across the previous nine games. He had never made more than one 3-pointer in a game or reached double figures in scoring.

“The day’s coming when he’ll make three in a row, four in a row,” coach Joe Scott said. “His shot is a really nice-looking stroke. It’s the way the ball’s supposed to be shot. It’s just that before this year, he never shot a 3-point shot.”

This year has been an adjustment for Moerman in so many ways. The freshman experience at the academy is, by design, difficult. Moerman said he’s surviving more than thriving away from basketball, but that’s good enough. On the floor, at about 215 pounds, Moerman has been asked to defend the Mountain West’s bevy of larger interior players.

That will continue on Tuesday, as Fresno State (16-10, 6-7 Mountain West) comes to Clune Arena to face the Falcons (10-15, 3-11) at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs feature All-Mountain West candidate Orlando Robinson, a 7-foot junior who is averaging 18.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.

Moerman excelled in some respects, ranking second in the Mountain West with 1.5 blocks per game. His 34 blocks have set a freshman record for Air Force and are third all-time for season in program history. The offensive production, however, has disappeared at times, as Moerman averaged fewer than 3 points per game across 12 contests from Dec. 21 through Feb. 16. Overall he is averaging 3.9 points, 3.5 rebounds in 19 minutes per game.

The work continued throughout that span, but the results just hadn’t shown up. As a result, defenses didn’t feel the need to come out and guard Air Force’s centers at the 3-point line (Jackson is shooting 28.9 percent from deep). That has congested the lane and taken away backdoor cuts from the Falcons’ Princeton offense. The only way to break that is to make shots. For Moerman, who is usually around 60 percent from 3-point range when shooting in practice, Saturday showed him he could translate that into games, perhaps setting the whole offense up for a positive change.

If that seems like a lot of pressure to put on one player, well, welcome to Moerman’s world. With his size, he was instantly a rarity for the program when he signed from Doherty High School in Colorado Springs and arrived on the team after a year at the prep school. Then he was inserted in the starting lineup for the opener. He is obviously pegged as a cornerstone for the program along with fellow freshmen Ethan Taylor and Jake Heidbreder.

“Sometimes,” Moerman said when asked if he feels the weight of those expectations. “But I have to remind myself that college is a four-year deal. … As long as I come in with the attitude every day that I’m going to get better, I think that’s the biggest deal.”

Having a one-game sample to build from might be a step in the right direction for Moerman.

“I knew it was going to come eventually because I know what I’m capable of and I could sort of see the trajectory I’m on. But I was just kind of going through a slump the last couple of games and trying to figure things out.

“It was nice to finally have that and all the work I’m putting in behind the scenes that nobody sees, it was nice to have that kind of pay off a little bit.”

Most blocks in a season

Lucas Moerman is moving up Air Force’s record book as a freshman.

Byrce Morgan, 45 1993-94

David Schuck, 28 1998-99

Lucas Moerman, 34 2021-22