UNI drawing on MVC Tournament experience

ST. LOUIS — As the Northern Iowa men's basketball team ran through its 30-minute practice at Scottrade Center on Thursday, in advance of its quarterfinal game against Southern Illinois at the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, there was an air of 'been there, done that' about the Panthers.

To ask head coach Ben Jacobson, the combination of execution, experience and confidence have merged for his team over the last 10 games, and they carry it into Arch Madness.

Before last year, the Panthers might not have had the same confidence in St. Louis. After winning it all last year? Different story. Even if UNI comes in as the No. 4 seed and faces a potential semifinal matchup with Wichita State, the benefit of last year's run lingers.

'You can't get ahead of yourself. This is a three-day tournament, but at the end of the day, you can't get to the second game without winning the first game, and so on,' said senior guard Matt Bohannon. 'Even before last year, we've had some (years) where we come down here and played just one game and be done. We don't want to do that because that's no fun.

'We've just got to understand we've got to give it a full effort for 40 minutes and understand it's our season on the line, basically, come (Friday) afternoon.'

It's well-covered ground, the struggles UNI had at Arch Madness between winning the tournament in 2010 and again last season, but for posterity: the Panthers played just one MVC Tournament game each year from 2011 to 2014, and lost all four of those games.

So when last year came around, and the Panthers had to respond to a halftime deficit in the championship game against Illinois State, the guys left over from that team took with them that lesson above most others.

For the 2016 edition, the players said they don't want to forget what got them through last year, nor what's gotten them through some rough times this year.

'Any time you can get in a situation like (last year), you definitely learn a little bit about yourself,' said senior guard Paul Jesperson. 'I think it would've been easy for us to turn around in some of those games and just accept losing, but we were able to fight through and come back and win those games. I think that's the biggest thing I took away from last year coming down to this tournament.'

UNI (19-12, 11-7 MVC) feels a lot like it did coming in last year, too, Jacobson said.

Yeah, the tenor of the season might have been different, but in terms of how the Panthers are playing, the 10th-year coach can't say enough how he believes this is the best basketball UNI has played all season.

The Panthers have a smaller rotation and are a little less experienced, but that's where the differences to last year stop, Jacobson said. There's much more in common with last year's team than there is different.

They ready now for the Salukis (22-9, 11-7), who feature the MVC Coach of the Year in Barry Hinson and first team All-MVC guard Anthony Beane, and while they've had their ups and downs, as well, Jacobson knows Friday is no easy task.

If they want to get back to the NCAA Tournament and start a streak of winning in St. Louis, Jacobson and his players said the Panthers have to draw on whatever has gotten them to the peak last year, and what's carried them to a strong finish this year.

'But we were playing good when we got here last year at this time, and like I've mentioned, we're playing great right now,' Jacobson said. 'The way (the Salukis) have played through the Valley, they just had a terrific year, and I think it's happened because the guys that have returned got better. All four of those starters are better than they were last year. The guys they added fit perfect.

'Our guys know we're playing a really good team, and one of the best players in the Midwest for sure. Our guys know what we're up against.'

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