UNI has big plans for Big Mock

CEDAR FALLS — The Northern Iowa team that had fumbled its way through the first half of the Missouri Valley Conference season looked a whole lot like the one that ran (nearly) roughshod on it in 2014-15 on Sunday against Southern Illinois.

All the old staples were there: nothing flashy, a very effective inside presence and Wes Washpun doing his thing at the point.

But Bennett Koch's career-high 22 points and 11 rebounds — and the way in which they came — did not come against the most effective big man in the MVC this season. Scoring and rebounding against a guy like Egidijus Mockevicius (Big Mock, to the many who can't pronounce his name) won't come nearly as easy.

So what do the Panthers do, given their struggle to rebound all season? Stay the course, as always.

'I think we've got to go the direction we are and keep working to involve Ben more where he's having success,' Jacobson said Monday at his weekly press luncheon. 'Throw him the ball down in the block, (even) knowing we're playing against a guy who's a senior, who's got size, is a good defender (and) a very good rebounder.

'We've got to keep doing the things that have been good for us, especially the last week.'

Mockevicius sits fourth in the MVC in scoring at 16.7 points per game, but has lapped the field in rebounding numbers. The senior averages 14.1 rebounds per game, just shy of six more rebounds per game than the next closest (Bola Olaniyan at 8.2 per game).

In years past, the way to work around a disadvantage like that was to take Mockevicius away from the rim and out of the paint. Last season UNI did that with Seth Tuttle, and Mockevicius still averaged 11.5 rebounds in the two games he played against the Panthers.

It won't be as easy, or really the plan, this year.

'It's a little harder to do with who we're playing at that spot,' Jacobson said. 'A little easier to do with Seth last year, because you could move him around and play him everywhere, and those big guys had to chase him around. That's not for Ben, that's not for Ted. When we put Klint there, we can move him around a little bit. It just doesn't fit this team well.'

The plan, then, has to be a little different from what Jacobson set out for this team at the beginning of the season. The ball was supposed to work consistently through Washpun and the guards, because that was where the experience was.

But in experimenting with running Koch and Ted Friedman, as well as Koch and Klint Carlson on the floor together, the Panthers (12-11, 4-6 MVC) saw a spike in their defending and rebounding — something that had been lacking for weeks.

'The play of Klint and Ted and the combination of those three guys — having two of them in together — helped us defensively and helped us in rebounding. That stood out in film,' Jacobson said. 'That was the thing that I thought made the most difference with our defense and rebounding, was the play of the three sophomore big guys.'

Over the course of the rest of the season, there's no doubt Washpun, Matt Bohannon, Paul Jesperson and Jeremy Morgan have to remain vital parts of what UNI is doing — that much is obvious.

But when something isn't working just right, alternative solutions are sought after. That's especially true when there's a unique matchup on the horizon. In Evansville (18-5, 7-3) and Mockevicius, there's certainly a unique challenge.

Running the big guys together had success Sunday, and there's more than a small chance Jacobson will try it out again at 6 p.m. Wednesday night at McLeod Center.

'When Klint and Ben are in together, or even Ted and Ben are in together, obviously we have to figure out what we're doing on offense — especially if Ted and Ben are in together — but defensively we can defend the block and we've got a better chance to rebound,' Jacobson said. 'Evansville has really good size at center, but their other guys are 6-(foot)-4 to 6-(foot)-6. Those guys are bigger guys. I'd like to play that lineup a little more for both those reasons.'

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