UNI ‘sluggish’ but avoids any UNC letdown in win

CEDAR FALLS — Everyone's favorite word after a big game or upset is 'letdown.' Avoid it, succumb to it — whatever — it's the buzzword that follows teams after wins that mean a great deal.

Northern Iowa men's basketball found the gray area between avoiding and falling victim to a letdown Wednesday night against Dubuque, giving a performance Coach Ben Jacobson didn't expect. Nonetheless, the Panthers (3-1) used an offense that appears headed to heights UNI hasn't reached in a while for an 83-63 victory.

'It was an ugly one,' said Wes Washpun, who finished with 22 points, eight rebounds and six assists. 'I just feel like we didn't defend very well. We gave up some easy actions, and we just didn't play our game, really.

'We really worked hard to prepare for this game and to know what would happen. I just think we were just overthinking ourselves more than anything.'

The Panthers under Jacobson — who got his 200th career win as a head coach — are always going to be defense-focused, first and foremost, and that was once again evident postgame.

They expect more from themselves, and if big victories are going to become commonplace, Wednesday can be a lesson for the future.

'We came out a little sluggish,' said Jeremy Morgan, who had 15 points and 10 rebounds. 'It was just some awareness and some focus things. We didn't come out focused; ready to do what we needed to do.

'We need to be in tune to those things, because we're going to have more big games and big wins. You've got to come back and play the next day, learn from this experience and do better next time.'

Offense certainly wasn't the issue against the Division III Spartans. UNI shot 55.6 percent from the field, 45.8 percent from 3-point range and had 15 assists in 30 made baskets.

Jacobson didn't go to 'ugly' to describe the game, but he certainly saw what his players did in how they played defensively. It's the second time this season he had less than stellar things to say about that end of the floor, but that's how high the bar is set. Dubuque tied the game at 23-23 with 7:49 left in the first half, and was within 10 throughout the opening half. It wasn't until Jacobson took a timeout up, 57-51, with 9:21 left in the game that the Panthers were able to separate themselves.

'We weren't as engaged defensively as we would like to have been,' Jacobson said. 'Offensively we had some good looks early, so we had enough offense in terms of good looks and the way we did things. I thought we passed the ball well. Our offense wasn't different than it should've been. But on defense we stood around too much. That allowed them to have enough life to start to play pretty good.

'Certainly (overthinking things) played into it with certain things, because we turned it over way too many times.'

The idea of a letdown game is very real, and Jacobson and his staff thought they would be able to tell by the way the team practiced Monday and Tuesday would tell them if it was something to worry about.

That's what made Wednesday night a little surprising for Jacobson.

'No, I thought we practiced good Monday and Tuesday. Guys were into our defensive drills and what we were doing,' Jacobson said on if he expected this performance. 'We were pretty good Monday and Tuesday coming off that (North Carolina) game. But when you're not engaged defensively and turn it over, you've got a game.'

Jacobson celebrated his 200th victory in true Ben Jacobson style — he walked a lap around the court, gave Panther fans a wave and then deflected any praise from himself to his current and former players after the game.

Instead, he cautioned his players would not make excuses, but would take from a win just as much as they did a loss to Colorado State earlier this season.

'We need to make sure we learn from it and not allow ourselves the excuse that it was after North Carolina and our non-Division I game,' Jacobson said. 'That would be the wrong way to approach it or take what happened in this game tonight. As long as the guys are willing to learn from it and hold each other accountable, this will really help us.'

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