Making the Grade: UNI hoops, MVC Week 1

The ups and downs of the last month-plus continued this week for Northern Iowa, but Coach Ben Jacobson feels like things are starting to level out.

The Panthers (9-6, 1-1 Missouri Valley Conference) got a big win against a struggling Bradley, but went to Southern Illinois and couldn't follow up the conference opener with a win. The Salukis were picked to finish near the bottom of the MVC, but have started out well — and used their star player to get past UNI.

Each week of the season, we'll break down the Panthers' offensive and defensive performance and give them grades, as we'll as highlight each player who contributed significantly and his individual performance. This week's Making the Grade highlights Games 14 and 15, the first two Missouri Valley Conference games against Bradley and Southern Illinois.

Schedule/Results

UNI vs Bradley; W, 80-44

UNI at Southern Illinois; L, 75-73

Offense

B+ Why: It's easy to assume UNI goes as Wes Washpun goes, because he has the ball in his hands so often. But teams throw a variety of looks at the Panthers, and Washpun, and they showed in various spots this week they can have success offensively when teams key heavily on the Panther point guard.

Against Bradley, the onus was on Bennett Koch and Klint Carlson to shoulder the load inside, and they did that well — especially Koch, who had a comeback of sorts against the league's bottom team. Washpun only had four points in that game and the game plan showed that UNI wanted to work inside out. The Panthers' balance was very good, and their shooters hit shots when they had space on the perimeter.

UNI has slowly implemented more actions and sets to combat the various looks defenses throw at them. When teams run a trap against him, as Bradley and SIU tried to do in several cases, the Panthers work the ball in motion, or try to work it inside out through Koch or Carlson. When Washpun is isolated, they go back to the high ball screen and work for open shots. They had success in both those areas in both games this week, but couldn't knock down as many shots out of it in Carbondale.

The Panthers saved too many of their big shots until the closing minute against SIU while mounting a furious comeback that fell short. Additionally, they were less than stellar from the free throw line, which would've had a major impact on the final score if it was better. The offense is efficient, at 1.088 points per possession so far, but it could still be better.

Defense

B Why: It's hard to look at the Bradley game as anything other than a big win defensively for UNI. Yes, it's against a team that won't win many games this season and is struggling with youth, but the Panthers hadn't shown that kind of tenacity for several games.

Even against SIU, weak side help was quick, and cutting off the screen and roll was effective again. UNI forced 15 turnovers and a few shotclock violations against the Braves, which used to be a regular occurrence, but now isn't as commonplace. The Bradley game was the peak of the last month, without question, and UNI didn't fall off that far on the trip to SIU.

UNI was far from perfect defensively in the road loss, but there are nights in which an opposing player isn't going to be beat, and Anthony Beane was that player Saturday. UNI faceguarded him for a time, they switched screens, rotated defenders and he still hit shots with a hand in his face or falling down — and a few times from 30 feet. The idea behind pack line defense is to deny the dribble, work double-teams in weak positions and force teams into bad shots. The Panthers did that more often than not against both teams this week, they just got beat on tough makes in Carbondale.

There were still cracks in the defense, to be sure. Rotations were slow against the Salukis and led to some open shots and layups, but overall it was much better than it's been. Rebounding was much better, with a very high defensive rebounding percentage, which was something Jacobson lauded in the game's wake.

Players (in last two games)

* To view more data, click here.

Paul Jesperson, guard — Jesperson had a consistent week scoring, but not necessarily shooting. He was very efficient against Bradley, and saw many of the same shots against SIU. The difference was he didn't get hot against the Salukis until it was too late. He couldn't get the same shots to fall as Beane. He also had a perfect intentional missed free throw at the end that very nearly gave UNI a final possession.

Wes Washpun, guard — So much of what UNI does depends on what this guy can do, it's difficult for the Panthers to develop other things. He turned the ball over a few times this week, and had some other wild plays in need of cleaning up, but that will happen when more than a quarter of possessions involve him assisting or shooting. He's 12th in the country in assist rate on KenPom, assisting on 37.7 percent of his teammates' made shots.

Jeremy Morgan, guard — It's been written here before that Morgan is as efficient as anyone on UNI's team — but he's as efficient as anyone in the country right now. He shot 66.7 percent this week, and ranks seventh in the nation in offensive rating (137.8) and 10th in true shooting percentage (69.7). There's an argument to be made he's UNI's most valuable player at the moment, given he also averages just shy of two steals per game (team leader), 4.9 rebounds (second to Jesperson) and leads the team with nine blocks.

Klint Carlson, forward — Carlson has quickly emerged into a very important and viable part of the Panthers on both ends of the floor. He's becoming more and more consistent in what he brings to the table, which is more than can be said about his fellow post players. His shot selection was very good this week, and he hit some big ones in both games.

Bennett Koch, forward — He responded well to the Hawaii trip against Bradley, and got a very needed confidence booster with those 15 points. But a bloodied nose on contact with a teammate kept him from finding a rhythm against SIU, thus he wasn't really a factor after a nice start to that game. If he can be the guy he was against Bradley and the start of SIU, UNI will be in much better shape.

Matt Bohannon, guard — Bohannon struggled shooting this week, ending the first two conference games at 29.4 percent from the field — and quite frustrated about it because of what he expects of himself. But he took good shots and in rhythm. Eventually a shooter like him gets those to fall. He had a solid pair of games defensively, and will be heard from again from deep.

Wyatt Lohaus, guard — He had a quiet game against Bradley, but looked a lot like his old self against SIU. The changes UNI coaches have made in what UNI runs when Washpun isn't on the floor were clear against the Salukis, and Lohaus responded. He didn't have a single turnover in either game, and was used quite a bit in Carbondale. That bodes well for the future.

Upcoming Games

UNI at Missouri State, Wednensday, Jan. 6 at JQH Arena in Springfield, Mo.

UNI vs Drake, Saturday, Jan. 9 at McLeod Center in Cedar Falls

*Full disclosure on grades: First things first, that's by subjective view after covering and re-watching games. Second, grades are an aggregate of the week, based on an 11-point scale. A is worth 11, A- 10, and so on through F, which is 0. Offense and defense are given a grade for each game and then averaged for the week.

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