Wyoming-Northern Iowa boxscore
By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org
CASPER -- Was it the altitude? Was it adjustments by the Cowboys?
Whatever the reason, the Wyoming Cowboys shut down big Jordan Eglseder in the final minutes to stop the Panthers 74-65 Saturday in the BlueCross BlueShield Wyoming Shootout at the Casper Events Center.
Eglseder, a 7-foot-1 center, scored at will from the inside and with a soft fade-away, and led all scorers with 31 points. But he managed just two points in the final seven minutes as the Cowboys (7-1) broke away.
Leading 55-54, Eglseder went to the bench for a two-minute breather and the Cowboys took advantage, regaining the lead on a 3-pointer by Sean Ogirri.
“We knew that when he went out to get his breather, we had to get a run in because he is a dangerous player,” Wyoming senior guard Brandon Ewing said. “We knew we couldn’t be up one or two points with six minutes left because he could go for 40.”
Wyoming hit 12 straight free throws in the final minutes -- eight by Ewing -- and Eglseder’s only other points came with 18 seconds left. In fact, he shot the ball just one other time in that stretch. Ewing was a little surprised that Eglseder didn’t touch the ball more late in the game.
“If I had a guy who had scored 31 points, I’d keep going to him,” Ewing said. “I guess our defense picked it up. Our big guys did a good job the last six minutes. Like I said before, the last six minutes is winning time.”
Wyoming senior forward Tyson Johnson also thought that the big Panther might have got a little tired in the final minutes.
“I think he just ran out of gas,” Johnson said. “I knew with this altitude he would get tired a little bit. We really didn’t put an adjustment on him, he’s just a hell of a player.”
Eglseder finished 13-of-22 from the field and grabbed 11 rebounds for Northern Iowa (5-5). No other Panther scored in double figures.
“Our offense is centered around getting the ball to Jordan,” Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson said. “Our teammates know that and the people we play have a pretty good idea of that. He’s going to touch the ball a lot and tonight people saw why.”
Eglseder went into the game averaging 10.8 points a game, with a previous career high of 23 points earlier this season.
“He’s better than he looked on film,” Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer said. “On film, he looked like he really liked to go to his right shoulder primarily, but tonight he shot some fade-a-ways. He was in a zone. He obviously had a good night.”
Schroyer said they wanted to go with some quickness and length at the end and did so with 6-10 Djibril Thiam.
“I thought he kind of bothered him a little bit,” Schroyer said. “We didn’t do that all game, we just thought in the last three minutes so we would give him a different look.”
Schroyer also said they went to a 1-3-1 zone late and it gave the Panthers some problems.
“That gave us some intensity and helped us down the stretch,” he said.
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