Northern Iowa looks for improvement as Missouri Valley Conference schedule begins

CEDAR FALLS — Unless something changes, it looks like the Missouri Valley Conference will be a one-bid league this season. The team that wins Arch Madness in St. Louis in March likely will be the only qualifier for the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

Can that team be Northern Iowa? Absolutely.

Recent history suggests that. The Panthers have won two MVC tourney titles in a row, including last year's thriller over Evansville when Wes Washpun made a shot at the buzzer that bounced off the rim and backboard before finally nestling into the net.

Washpun, by the way, signed a contract Monday with the NBA D-League's Iowa Energy. With him, Paul Jesperson and Matt Bohannon graduated, you figured it'd be a tough go at times this season for UNI.

It has been. The Panthers take a 5-6 record into the MVC opener Wednesday night at home against Missouri State (9-4).

Things began so promisingly with wins at a tournament in Florida against Arizona State and Oklahoma, though those have turned out not to be quite as impressive, considering Arizona State is just 7-6 and Oklahoma 6-5. Northern Iowa went 2-6 after that, with home wins against South Dakota State and North Dakota.

Losses were to George Mason, Xavier (two), Wyoming, Iowa and North Carolina. Those latter pair came by a combined 66 points, with UNI scoring just 46 and 42, respectively.

The Panthers are last in the MVC in scoring (64.1). They're also last in field-goal percentage (39.8) and eighth out of 10 teams in field-goal percentage defense, which is not a good combination.

Keep in mind the competition UNI has played, definitely the toughest non-conference schedule in the league. But there are alarms here.

Jeremy Morgan has lived up to being the MVC's preseason player of the year, averaging 16.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game and generally doing everything Jeremy Morgan is known for. Redshirt freshman guard Spencer Haldeman has been solid, ranking second on the team in scoring (9.5) and 3-pointers made.

This team has relied very heavily on the 3-point shot, and there have been too many nights when those shots haven't dropped. It's imperative for some inside players to step up their production.

Six-foot-10 junior Bennett Koch had a solid start to the season but his scoring average is down from a year ago, and he's averaging just 1.7 rebounds a game. Junior forward Klint Carlson was terrific in Florida, scoring 19 points against Arizona State and 22 versus Oklahoma, but has averaged just 6.6 points since then.

UNI is the Valley's worst rebounding team by a wide margin (-7.3 margin), and that must improve. It also has the fewest assists, which goes back to not making enough shots.

Jordan Ashton has been a solid addition at guard as a postgraduate transfer from Iowa State. Junior guard Wyatt Lohaus has been bedeviled by an ankle injury that kept him out of five games, and you'd anticipate his production increasing as he gets healthier.

Washpun did so much for Northern Iowa, including having the ability to go one-on-one virtually anytime. This team misses that ability ... a lot.

Freshman Juwan McCloud and junior college transfer Hunter Rhodes have split the lead guard duties and shown promise, though it's obvious they are still making the adjustment to big-time college basketball. Rhodes is averaging just 3.6 points per game, McCloud 3.5.

Coach Ben Jacobson's teams almost always improve markedly as the conference season unfolds, and the MVC doesn't appear to be especially strong. Illinois State (8-4) owns the best RPI rating in the league (56), with Wichita State (10-3) next at 69.

Neither beat a top-50 team in the nonconference. Only Bradley (206) and Drake (349) have unsightly RPI rankings in the league, which is a sign there is a lot of balance here.

Let's see how this all goes and talk again in early March. The guess is Wichita State will prevail as regular-season champion, but when it comes to Arch Madness, don't count out anyone.

That includes Northern Iowa.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com