UNI adding to a season of milestones

CEDAR FALLS - This season has been one of milestones for Northern Iowa men's basketball.

The No. 10 Panthers cracked into the AP Top 25 and Coaches poll for the first time since 2010, played in the first Missouri Valley Conference game with two ranked teams since 1982, broke through for its best ranking in school history in both polls - breaking into the top 10 on Monday - and having a player in Seth Tuttle who is the only active player in college basketball with 1,600 career points, 850 career rebounds and 250 career assists.

And while Saturday might not be a milestone in terms of results or performance on the court, it's one in terms of program significance and national relevance when ESPN's College GameDay will feature the matchup of UNI (26-2, 15-1 MVC) and No. 11 Wichita State in Wichita.

Just as when the two teams played that ranked matchup on Jan. 31 in Cedar Falls, the attention it's getting and the program in general has been something Coach Ben Jacobson will not shy away from. There's too much positive impact.

'It's obviously very good for our league. It's good for Wichita State, good for Northern Iowa. But with the group of guys we've got and the improvements they've made, to have the last regular season game at Wichita and have GameDay there so it is the focal point of college basketball, I think it's great,” Jacobson said Monday at his weekly media luncheon. 'As I've talked about a lot this year, I think all these things that have come our way have been terrific. It's obviously really good for all of us. And it's good for our university and our community. It's great for our guys and our program. I don't see any need to downplay it in any shape or form.”

When asked about the different steps his team has reached this season - both in the weekly MVC coaches' teleconference and at the luncheon - he used the same analogy.

They may not focus on the milestones in practice or necessarily use them as motivation, but he'd be lying if he said they didn't matter to him or his players. A top-10 national ranking is something he or any other Panther head coach has been able to hang their hats on.

'The only thing I'd say about it is it's just maybe another line of the sand, if you will,” Jacobson said. 'Being in the top 25 was a big deal when we did it. Being ranked this long has been great. I'm really proud of the guys for it. The top 10 is the top 10. It's a pretty big deal.”

Saturday's game will likely be the de facto MVC championship game for the regular season, should both the Panthers and the Shockers (25-3, 15-1) win their games on Wednesday night - UNI hosts Evansville, and Wichita State is at Indiana State.

It'll be one more example in a long line of games that have been of massive importance for the league as a whole; where its product was on national display when it otherwise wouldn't be.

Whether that has long term affects has yet to be seen. But everyone knows it'll have a big one now.

'Obviously I'm aware GameDay is going to be there, and the year Wichita is having and the year we're having. But I hadn't given any thought to how it would stack up with some of the previous years or how it will be viewed as we get a couple years down the road,” Jacobson said. 'At some point I'm sure people will be able to figure out where they place Saturday's game as compared to some of the other games in the history of our league.”

EVANSVILLE RETURNS AS ONLY TEAM TO BEAT UNI

Before UNI gets to that historic matchup in Kansas, it has to take care of business on Senior Night in Cedar Falls against Evansville.

The Panthers host the Purple Aces on Wednesday night at 7 p.m., and Evansville comes into the rematch still the last team to beat UNI - a team obviously on the rise nationally since that New Year's Day loss.

What made the Aces so difficult to defend then hasn't changed a bit, and Jacobson said Monday his defense is going to have to string together a much better 40 minutes than it did last time out to make it to Saturday with a 16-game winning streak.

'That motion offense has always been tricky to get ready for. The obvious is that you don't know exactly what cut is coming,” Jacobson said in the MVC coaches' teleconference. 'There's some things you can do when a team runs set plays; when a team runs some ball screen actions that you can't do against Evansville. Not only do they run the motion offense, which is different than all the teams in our league right now, but they do it as good as anybody in the country. You combine those things and it's a little different scout.

'This is as hard a team to prepare for as Marty (Simmons) has had here in a couple years.”

The most important matchup on the floor will be between Seth Tuttle, who will be playing his final game at the McLeod Center, and Evansville center Egidijus Mockevicius - who Jacobson affectionately referred to as 'Big Mock” because of nearly everyone's difficulty in pronouncing his name.

Tuttle's style and numbers (15.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists) are well known, but Mockevicius presents some issues.

The 6-foot-10, 225-pound center had 12 points and 13 rebounds in the last game, and has refined his game as the season has gone on.

'(Mockevicius) improved so much. The first difference is he's got some size that Tuttle does not have,” Jacobson said. 'He's got legit size, legit length, and his mobility has increased and improved so much that he's getting a lot more done now. Seth obviously is a lot more mobile and has the ability to stretch the floor. He drives it more. But there's enough give and take there where it makes for an intriguing matchup and for a great matchup.”

And as a team, Evansville still has a lot to play for - aside from the obvious target of playing a top-10 team.

The Aces (19-9, 9-7) are going for their 20th win, and Jacobson believes they could be in line to still be playing after the MVC Tournament, even if not in the NCAA Tournament.

'They've changed some, but not a lot. That's one of the things I've respected about Marty and his program,” Jacobson said. 'They do what they do and they do it very well. They don't change a lot and they've had success with it. It's still man-to-man defense - maybe a little zone, but not much.

'The difference is the new guys they do have just now have more experience. They're playing good basketball. For Evansville, they're in a position where they're fighting to finish third (in the MVC) and win 20 games and put themselves in a better position. They'll play in the postseason somewhere.”

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