UNI's Tanner Lohaus looking to carve out a role after redshirt year

WATERLOO — Former Iowa City West standout Tanner Lohaus passed on opportunities to play collegiate baseball for an opportunity to play Division I basketball alongside his older brother, Wyatt, at Northern Iowa.

Lohaus sat out last season as a redshirt, and through his first four Prime Time League games he hasn't lit up the stat sheet like many of his fellow Division I peers do in the summer league. However, with his redshirt year in the rearview mirror Lohaus' main focus in the PTL has been getting a feel for the speed of the game.

'The redshirt year helped a lot,' Lohaus said after his Jill Armstrong/Skogman Realty team beat Culver's, 117-101. 'Especially getting my confidence up, but games are a little different than practice. Everyone is more energized. I'm struggling a little bit to get my timing down. Finally got a few shots to fall (tonight), which felt great.'

Listed as a 6-foot-7 forward on the UNI roster, most fans are wondering what type of skill-set the younger Lohaus will bring to the floor. He mentioned the parts of his game the Northern Iowa coaching staff liked most during their recruitment of him.

'They liked my basketball IQ,' Lohaus said. 'They like my length, and they said they really liked how defensively I can guard one through four. My defensive and offensive versatility.'

He showed off some of that versatility during Thursday night's PTL game, hitting two 3-point shots, grabbing six rebounds and challenging Iowa's Nicholas Baer defensively.

As for having the chance this season to play alongside Wyatt, Tanner is hopeful that after focusing on his strength, ball-handling, and shooting during his redshirt year there are opportunities to get on the floor with his brother.

'It's pretty fun playing with (Wyatt). I think my first points (in high school) was a pass from him, and when he broke the assist record at our school it was a pass to me. So it's been fun playing with him in the past,' Lohaus said. 'I'm happy he got his (medical) redshirt so I get two more years with him.'

While Tanner is eager for the chance to play with his brother, there are already plenty of examples of brotherly competitiveness and tough love in the time they've spent together as Panthers.

'(There are) backhanded comments,' Tanner said. 'When he sits out in open gym and we're on different teams he's trying to help me a little bit but the way he says it — just because he's my brother — for example he's like, 'go screen someone, go cut.' The other day someone almost dunked on me in (the Prime Time League) and he was making comments about that.'

Just brotherly love, right Tanner?

'Yeah, if you want to call it that.'

MCDERMOTT ALSO WORKING INTO RHYTHM

Former Cedar Rapids Xavier standout Adam McDermott is set to make his Northern Iowa debut this season after transferring from North Dakota and sitting out the 2016-17 season.

McDermott arrived in Cedar Falls with expectations to add some shooting prowess to the Panthers backcourt after shooting 40 percent on 137 3-point attempts during his true freshman season at North Dakota.

The former Xavier Saint has put some of those shooting skills on display so far in the PTL. He scored 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting in a 95-87 loss Thursday night.

After the game McDermott described his redshirt experience.

'Obviously I played in practice, but it just feels good to get back on the court,' McDermott said. 'I definitely had to learn a lot last year. I feel like I picked it up pretty quickly though. I feel like I can get guys open, make the right (decisions).'