The Cowboy Chronicles

Archive for December 22nd, 2009

UW-Northern Iowa five things to watch

December 22nd, 2009

1. Three’s Compangamy: This is two-fold. UW must knock down some 3-pointers, which is nothing new as it shoots just 22 percent from behind the 3-point range. The Cowboys made seven treys against South Dakota so maybe that is getting better. But more importantly, UW must defend the 3-point line in this game. Northern Iowa made 14 in its last game, and a big reason why the Cowboys beat the Panthers 74-65 last season in Casper.

2. Better defense: Coach Heath Schroyer said from Day 1 he wanted and expected his team to play better defense. So far it hasn’t happened. UW is last in the MWC in scoring defense (74.3 ppg) and allowed 74.2 last season. Each of its last eight opponents have scored 70 or more points.

3. Turn off the turnovers: Twenty-nine at Tennessee last week was laughable, and took away a solid first-half effort from the Cowboys. Nine against South Dakota is more like it. For UW to have a chance in this game and most of the others as conference play approaches it can’t average more 12 or 13 a game.

4. Big Bouba: In last year’s game 7-foot-1 Northern Iowa center Jordan Eglseder went off for 31 points and 11 rebounds. UW now has 7-2 Boubacar Sylla in the middle, and even though his stats aren’t eye-popping (4.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg) he needs to play well defensively against Eglseder so he doesn’t go off again. It also would be nice to see Sylla become more productive on the offensive end, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. A good defensive effort tonight would be huge, and also see him play more than his 14 minutes per game so far this season.

5. More than Muojeke: Four players average in double figures for the Cowboys, led by sophomore forward Afam Muojeke’s 16.8 ppg, and seven average six points or more per game. That’s how Schroyer envisioned the scoring would be this season. UW needs that kind of balance in this game. Muojeke is this team’s go-to guy on offense, and that’s fine. But if UW can get other consistent scorers, that will take pressure of Muojeke and prevent him from not turn the ball over so much. He leads the team with 35 turnovers in eight games.

See Wednesday’s paper for more on this game.

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Posted in UW men's basketball, UW-Northern Iowa game

MWC vs. Pac-10

December 22nd, 2009

Today and Wednesday are interesting days when it comes to Mountain West Conference football.

Both BYU and Utah play Pac-10 foes in their bowl games. BYU plays Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl tonight in a battle of ranked teams. Utah takes on California in the Poinsettia Bowl Wednesday in San Diego.

In the MWC’s ongoing quest for respectability, a pair of wins over Pac-10 teams from one of the six almighty Bowl Championship Series conferences wouldn’t give the league all the respect it needs or deserves from the rest of the nation. But it wouldn’t hurt, and to see the MWC’s second and third-place teams beat teams from the Pac-10 that finished at or below second and third would go a long way to saying the upper echelon of the MWC is better than the middle-of-the-road Pac-10.

That may not sound like much, but that would help the MWC’s respect meter go up a notch or two.

Who do you like in these games?

I think BYU will be more motivated to finish this season on a better note than it was last season. And I think Utah’s defense will be the different against Cal, which won’t have stud running back Jahvid Best.