ERIC SCHMOLDT Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Friday, November 21, 2008 12:00 am
LARAMIE - Sean Ogirri's not beating around the bush when it comes to describing his first two games in a Wyoming Cowboys uniform.
"I haven't been playing well at all," Ogirri said Thursday, one day after UW improved to 2-0 with an 80-75 victory over Prairie View A&M. "Shots ain't going in."
The senior guard arrived in Laramie with one year of eligibility and high expectations, but he's struggled to find a rhythm in his first two games.
Ogirri scored 12 points but committed five turnovers in 31 minutes against the Panthers. And in the season-opening victory over Cal State Bakersfield, the Wichita State transfer had 11 points, four assists and three cough-ups in 31 minutes.
It's all a far cry from the reported 40-plus points he poured in during a closed-door scrimmage at Washington to start the year.
"I think I'm just thinking about it too much," Ogirri said. "When you think, you just lose focus on the game. Thinking about it's been throwing me off."
But with an unblemished record and a flurry of youngsters seeing major minutes, Ogirri's struggles aren't making coach Heath Schroyer's short list of things to be concerned about.
"I think he's pressing a little bit," Schroyer said. "I think he's doing some really good things on the floor defensively and other areas that aren't showing up in the box score. I think he's a half or a game or two from really breaking out.
"I don't worry about Sean Ogirri at all."
If anything, it's been the other way around.
Ogirri has gone to Schroyer and told the second-year coach that he wants to help turn the program around.
The senior has put that pressure on himself, but seems to be trying - perhaps too hard - to put UW back on the map in one grand swoop.
"He really wants to play well, he really wants to win (and) he really wants to help me," Schroyer said. "And I think he probably feels too much pressure at times, and that's why I've just told him to 'go do what you do.'"
His partner in the backcourt, senior Brandon Ewing, knows it's only a matter of time.
"Even though he was 4-for-10 and 2-of-7 from (3-point range), Sean knows what it takes to win," Ewing said after Wednesday's victory. "Sean never averaged 30 points for Wichita State, but Wichita State was also a top-10 team."
The Cowboys are nowhere near that level yet.
And they have little chance of getting there without a major impact from Ogirri.
But with a winning streak mounting and the pressure waning, the Pokes believe it's only a matter of time.
"As long as we're getting wins, that's all that matters," Ogirri said. "If I'm playing bad and we're winning, that's fine with me, as long as we're winning. But I just have to get better."
TIGHTEN UP: Schroyer was clearly unhappy with the Cowboys' defense - or lack thereof - against the Panthers.
And the Pokes' active players heard plenty more about it one day later.
They spent nearly the entire practice Thursday trying to stop the scout team and graduate assistants, and the treadmill got plenty of use.
Freshman Afam Muojeke was one of many who spent some time running, and after a lackluster defensive effort on Wednesday, he wasn't made available to the media for the second straight day.
COWBOYS TRACKER
WEDNESDAY: Wyoming 80, Prairie View A&M 75.
NO O: Senior guard Sean Ogirri, who reportedly scored more than 40 points in a closed-door scrimmage with Washington before the seasons started, has 23 points and eight turnovers in his first two games.
HE SAID IT: "I think I'm just thinking about it too much." - Ogirri.
UP NEXT: Johnson & Wales at Wyoming, Saturday, 6 p.m.