Box Score Upper Iowa men’s basketball head coach Brian Dolan sent his team one message after Saturday night’s game against visiting Southwest Minnesota State – get better or settle for a sub-par season. The Peacocks tied a season-high for points given up this year as the Mustangs came into Fayette and stole a 74-69 conference victory inside Dorman Gym.
 
“The kids have two choices,” Dolan stated bluntly after the game. “They can keep playing like we played this weekend – we’ll still win a few games here or there and have a solid season and everybody will be happy – or we can get back to practicing like we practiced before Christmas break, get back that attitude and see where the season takes us.”
 
Unlike Friday night’s game, which saw a slow start for the Peacocks, the first ten minutes of action saw two closely matched teams. Then, SMSU started to pull away.
 
Buckets by Vinard Birch and Jordan Miller – the Mustang’s leading scorer – pushed SMSU’s lead to nine, 26-17, with eight minutes left in the first half. Grant Lang responded for UIU with a three-pointer cutting the lead to six, but it was Lang’s only bucket from downtown in the game.
 
The Mustangs continued to attack the Peacock defense and made five trips to the charity stripe to close out the first period.
 
“They didn’t do anything we didn’t expect them to do,” Dolan admitted. “Our guys were just beat off the dribble all night long and instead of moving our feet, we just slapped at the ball.”
 
A pair of free throws from Miller sent SMSU to halftime with a 36-32 lead. Birch and Matt Zager both had seven points in the first period for the Mustangs, while Miller led the team at the break with ten.
 
“There’s a reason they went to the NCAA Tournament last season,” Dolan said. “[They came in here] 3-3 with two one-point losses. If the ball bounces a different way [in those games] they’re 6-1 right now. That’s why I said from the get-go, ‘Their record isn’t indicative of how good they really are. The sample size is way too small.’”
 
Jake Hughes led the way for UIU in scoring with nine points on 4-of-5 shooting in that first period, but no Peacock reached double-figures and the team’s leading scorer Tucker Wentzien was held in check as he missed his only two shots.
 
“Jake played a solid game,” Dolan said. “But when Jake’s scoring like that, that’s not when we’re at our best. He had to carry us tonight.”
 
The energy just wasn’t there for the Peacocks to start the second period. SMSU extended its lead to ten two different times at the start the final period as UIU missed its first four shots and turned the ball over twice.
 
As Miller and the Mustangs extended their lead to 13 points, the Peacocks tightened up and rallied, trying to squeeze out the victory.
 
With 3:40 left, Hughes sank a jumper to cut the lead to six, 65-59. Then, he stole the ball away from the Mustang offense and Bo Pagel connected on a three from deep to cut the game to 65-62.
 
“We told them all day, ‘tonight’s about will. Whoever has the most will is going to win,’” Dolan said. “We saw in the last five minutes we had the will to win. If we played with that will for 40 minutes, maybe there’s a different outcome.”
 
The Mustangs made two free throws before Wentzien made his first bucket of the game and cut the lead back to three. It was too little, too late though, as Miller connected on a jumper and Tramel Barnes sank all four of his free throws in the final 1:13, ultimately sealing the victory for SMSU.
 
With the victory, the Mustangs improve to 4-3 in the NSIC and 7-7 overall, while the Peacocks fall to 5-2 in conference play and 9-4 overall.
 
“We’re just not in a great place as a team – we have guys who have forgotten what made us a great team,” Dolan admitted.
 
The seventh year coach knows this game will be a turning point for his team one way or the other. Either they pick-it-up and get back to winning basketball games with effort and intensity or commit to a sub-par year and leave each game feeling dissatisfied.
 
You may be able to spot the answer next weekend as the team takes a long trip to Minot State to battle the Beavers on Friday night.