Hlas: UNI’s Jeremy Morgan had fullest half you’ll ever see

This has been underreported everywhere such things remotely matter:

Northern Iowa basketball player Jeremy Morgan scored 38 points in a half Saturday night.

Morgan set the McLeod Center single-game scoring record in the Panthers' 78-70 win over North Dakota. He was scoreless at halftime.

When have you ever seen someone score 38 points in a half in a Division I game? It was a big story here a year ago when Iowa's Jarrod Uthoff had 30 in the first half at Iowa State.

The least-surprising aspect is that Morgan, a 6-foot-5 senior from Iowa City West, doesn't find the achievement to be especially interesting.

In a phone interview Monday, Morgan said he hadn't heard from too many people about it.

'I had deleted my Twitter account,' he said. 'I go on there once every two weeks or so. I try not to pay attention to what people say.'

OK, but this was 38 points in a half after he had just two points with 16 minutes left to play.

Morgan scored 21 points in the game's last 6:34. That stretch began with him scoring 10 points over four possessions via a 3-point play, a 3-point shot, and four free throws.

UNI had virtually no offensive flow in the first half, which ended with the Panthers trailing 33-29. Morgan was 0-of-5 from the field.

But after that? He was 10-of-12 from the floor, 16-of-22 from the foul line. Ben Jacobson again showed why he is one of the best coaches around by having his team set up numerous left-wing isolations for Morgan. The player outscored North Dakota by himself after halftime, 38-37.

'I'm not really a big me-looking-at-the-numbers guy,' Morgan said. 'I'd rather get the win.'

UNI is 5-4. It has neutral-site wins over Arizona State and Oklahoma, but there have been valleys like a 64-41 loss at Xavier and a 54-50 home loss to George Mason.

'We've had ups and downs so far,' Morgan said. 'You kind of expect that from a young team.'

The Panthers lost Matt Bohannon, Paul Jesperson and Wes Washpun to graduation after winning 23 times last season. Morgan, who tallied 36 points in his team's second-round NCAA tourney loss to Texas A&M last March, was named the Missouri Valley Conference's Preseason Player of the Year.

Hype? Hardly. He leads the league in steals and 3-point baskets, is third in scoring (18.1 points per game), rebounding and blocked shots, and is eighth in assists. He had seven steals and four blocked shots against Oklahoma.

Morgan is tied for fifth in the nation in steals with 3.0 per game. The guy who put up 38 points in a half says playing defense is his favorite thing.

'I love taking on the challenge of trying to stop the other teams' best players, trying to get them out of their rhythm. It's not always easy. We play some really good players.'

Saturday, the Panthers play Iowa in Des Moines. Which means Morgan will try to help contain fellow senior Peter Jok, who is fifth in the nation in scoring at 23.8 points a game.

Morgan played for back-to-back unbeaten Class 4A state-champions at West. His father, Michael Morgan, played for Iowa in the 1980s. But Jeremy sounds like he is without any resentment or wistfulness when it comes to not getting a scholarship offer from his hometown school.

'No, not at all,' he said. 'When I was little, yeah, I liked them. But getting here, I became in love with being a Panther.'

The feeling is mutual, to say the least. Morgan has had much to do with UNI winning the last two MVC tournaments, and winning games in each of the last two NCAA tourneys.

That 38-point half is an aberration. The high level of play and all-around game Morgan brings are constants.

It's hard to imagine a college coach in the country that wouldn't want Morgan on his team. It's harder to imagine a college team he couldn't help.