1. Turnovers: See Wednesday’s paper for more on this, but in a nutshell UW must force more turnovers and turn it over less. You can say that for any team in any game, but this certainly holds true for the Cowboys.
2. Little guys, big roles: UW sophomore point guard JayDee Luster and Akron sophomore point guard Anthony “Humpty” Hitchens are both listed at 5-9. Rarely do point guards this small get to play against each other at the Division I level. Both are good players and this match up should be fun to watch. Whoever plays the best will likely be on the winning team.
3. Post presence: Coach Heath Schroyer told me that Akron is physical and good in the post. How UW post players Boubacar Sylla, Adam Waddell, Djibril Thiam and Amath M’Baye play on both ends of the court will be crucial for the Cowboys.
4. Play a complete game: Playing well in spurts isn’t good enough for this UW team to win a lot of games. To expect perfection for an entire game is unrealistic, but lulls for five to 10 minutes at a time will mean another loss for the Cowboys against a team like Akron.
5. Speed up the tempo: As far as the team’s health goes, UW is in as good of shape as it was since the first few games. That means the Cowboys should try and up the tempo of the game both offensively and defensively to take advantage of the 7,220 feet of altitude and get Akron out of its comfort level. The Zips have played just one true road game this season.
Live blogging is back for this game. Things will start around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday from the Arena-Auditorium where the Cowboys will try and win their 300th game out of 400 played there. For the live blog go to: http://wyomingcowboysblog.com/2009/12/24/wyoming-vs-akron-live-blog/
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