Jacobson: UNI reached ‘enough is enough’ point, spurred streak

CEDAR FALLS — During a 29-day span in January, from Dec. 30 to Jan. 27, the Northern Iowa men's basketball team had exactly one win.

During the seven days from Sunday to Saturday last week, the Panthers had three.

UNI got wins last Sunday against Southern Illinois, Wednesday against Evansville and Saturday at Drake. Each win, in addition to the one at Bradley, displayed a change in the Panthers (14-11, 6-6 Missouri Valley Conference) that was stark. They looked a lot like the team everyone expected after a headline-filled non-conference.

They reached the end of their rope, according to their coach.

'If there was any (attitude), it would be more 'enough is enough,'' said Coach Ben Jacobson. 'It's not something they've necessarily expressed to me and we haven't had a big team meeting about it, but it felt like at Bradley they were determined at Bradley to get back on track. When we came home with Southern and Evansville, it felt like, 'OK, enough is enough.'

'We were going to play with the kind of enthusiasm and determination we're supposed to play with. That, to me, is what it's felt like.'

UNI beat two teams in Southern Illinois and Evansville that were sitting in a tie for second in the MVC standings before those games, and did so in old school Panther fashion.

Jacobson has said the words 'defense and rebounding' in succession more times than anyone can count, but it's not for nothing. He hammers those points home for his players and his team's fans, but he also does so as a reminder to himself.

Working on fundamentals may seem like an afterthought at this point of the season, but it's exactly what Jacobson said is at the core of what has helped the Panthers' turnaround.

'We've gone back and spent more time on some of the fundamental things defensively — one-on-one, two-on-two guarding the basketball — and it hasn't necessarily been a lot of practice time, but it's been every practice,' Jacobson said. 'We've gotten after the fundamental parts of defending, the fundamental parts of rebounding. We've spent time offensively on screening. We've spent more time talking with the guys about ball movement. Getting after some of the basic things, we've done more of that the last 2 1/2 weeks.'

The push back to that came after as much struggles for the coaches as for the players on the court.

Jacobson said he and his staff were trying any number of things to get UNI out of its January funk, but it wasn't until the recent back to basics mandate that things came together.

And though UNI has been out-rebounded by an average of 3.75 rebounds per game (131-116 total rebounding deficit) in the four straight wins, the refocus on defensive principles have paid off overall. The Panthers have given up 0.931 points per possession in the four wins, compared to 1.020 before the streak. Opponents' points per game average is also down to 57 per game from 66.9 before the streak.

'When you get sidetracked, you're looking for some different ways to be able to get back on that track. In doing that, we got away from working on those fundamental things I talked about, and trying to find bigger-picture-type things to work on,' Jacobson said. 'When the reality is, it really doesn't matter how you're playing. If you don't do the fundamental things well, you're not going to play as good as you're capable of playing.

'It's my job to make sure we do the things I know are most important, and one of the most important things is being good at the fundamental parts of the game. We got away from that just a little bit as I was trying to help the team get back on track when we were struggling a little bit.'

UNI has Missouri State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in McLeod Center, then makes the trip to Koch Arena to face No. 24 Wichita State. The Panthers sit tied for sixth in the MVC standings with the Bears (10-14, 6-6), and are two games behind Evansville (19-6, 8-4) and Illinois State (14-11, 8-4), who are tied for second.

It's a big stretch ahead for UNI in terms of standings movement and MVC Tournament seeding, with games against Illinois State, Indiana State and Evansville — all three currently ahead of UNI — in the two weeks after this.

If the rededication to fundamentals and defensive improvements continue, the version of the Panthers to hit the court in St. Louis will be the one they hoped would from the start, Jacobson said. Not that he'll be watching the standings along the way.

'The only time (standings) do come up is when I go to the press luncheon on Mondays and when people ask about it, or I get on the phone with (media) and get asked about it. I don't talk with my staff about it, I don't talk with Hunter or Tanner about it at home, I don't talk with the guys about it,' Jacobson said. 'The bottom line is if we continue to dig in defensively and pay attention to detail with what we do at that end of the floor and keep moving around on offense, we should play well.'

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