UNI ready to ‘sharpen’ things before MVC Tournament

CEDAR FALLS — No. 11/12 Northern Iowa hasn't had to deal with the moments and days after a loss much this season.

It had been just shy of two months between losses at Evansville on Jan. 1 and at Wichita State on Saturday, so neither the Panthers nor their fans had to deal with the mental and emotional regrouping that takes place when a team doesn't come out on top. Especially after a loss as the showcase game in the early slate on Saturday and the college basketball world watching, getting back to business as usual can be hard.

But with its well documented experience and leadership, Coach Ben Jacobson believes UNI has the fortitude to not let the loss linger.

'This team — and largely because we've got the five seniors, three juniors and guys that have been around — they've worked hard enough to have earned the right to do this. They've been able to take things in stride,' Jacobson said at his weekly media luncheon Monday. 'As we've talked about with them, sometimes you can talk to your team about it, but it still doesn't quite make sense — they don't grab onto it. This team has been able to. Each game counts as one. As soon as you try to make it more than that, it has an impact on the next game. The three times we've been beat, including Saturday, some of the games we've won that people would like to consider bigger games and you could maybe get distracted a little bit, these guys have not.

'These guys won't be bothered or distracted by what anybody else has to say about (Saturday's) game.'

The issues he saw with the Panthers' (27-3, 16-2 Missouri Valley Conference) performance on Saturday didn't change from his immediate reaction postgame to when he took the podium Monday.

Lapses in elements of the game UNI had excelled in to that point of the season were what stuck out, and as they've shown all season, Jacobson believes his team won't let one loss turn into two.

'I'm confident they'll do the most important thing and that's learn something from the transition defense and learn something from our rebounding,' Jacobson said. 'Those are things we've done well all year and we didn't do them good enough (Saturday). We've got to do them better on Friday (at the MVC Tournament).'

The remaining days until Friday will be spent working through the aforementioned things that didn't measure up in Wichita.

Jacobson was quick to point out there isn't necessarily anything in need of a fix, but rather a sharpening. It's an important distinction to him and the players, because to imply something is wrong with the team after one loss would be to fall into the trap he said they've successfully avoided all season.

The Panthers are still top five in points allowed, still top 15 in defensive efficiency and still among the top three in the MVC in rebounding. He said his players remember it's the little things that have gotten them to this point.

'It's less changing and less fixing, (more) really getting sharpened up and being able to do the things that are important — chasing screens without getting hit, blocking out; digging in and finding the little things to do at a really high level. That's the key,' Jacobson said. 'We have the time to do that. And we have a group of guys who wants to do that. It's one thing to go in there and say, 'We're going to work on this because we need to sharpen it up.' If they don't want to, it ain't going to much matter what we try to do or what I think. These guys want to.'

GEARING UP FOR ARCH MADNESS

It's been a while since St. Louis has treated Northern Iowa well.

The historic 2010 season was the last time a Panther team went to the Missouri Valley Conference tournament and won even one game inside the Scottrade Center. But just because the recent past hasn't been kind, Jacobson doesn't believe it'll have an effect on a team that has proved to be the exception to previous rules.

'Each year is different, each team is different. One year really has nothing to do with the year before,' Jacobson said. 'Whether it be a loss or a big win — time of the year, who we're playing or where we're playing them — it doesn't matter to these guys. They've continued to want more. No different going into this week. They'll be cranked up for Friday.

'I feel like every year we have a chance to win the entire thing (in St. Louis). I feel like our teams get better in February. We're usually playing our best basketball come this time of year, and this year is no different. Obviously we've got more experience on this team, those things help. I feel like we've got a chance to win every time we go down there.'

The biggest challenge for teams with either a No. 1 or 2 seed in the MVC tournament is not knowing their opponent until less than a day before their quarterfinal game.

But it's not just the players who have experience at UNI. Jacobson has been around the block a few times, and he and his staff have a plan of attack regardless of opponent for Friday's game.

'The thing we've learned being the No. 1 seed back to back years (in 2009 and 2010), it's important we work hard on our team this week and not try to guess at who we're going to play — not spend half our time on Drake and half our practice time on Bradley,' Jacobson said. 'Our experience tells us working hard on our (stuff) — this week will be our transition defense, our half-court defense, our rebounding; sharpening up things with our offense, pace and doing things we need to do to be successful.

'Our coaches will be fully prepared (on either team), but we'll go at it that way and get a lot of time in on our stuff, understanding we'll have a good team to play Friday. We'll be as ready as we can.'

UP NEXT

Northern Iowa is the No. 2 seed for the MVC Tournament, and will play the winner of the No. 7-10 game between Drake and Bradley.

The Panthers play either the Bulldogs or Braves on Friday at 6:05 p.m. in the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com