Balance helping UNI finish MVC season strong

CEDAR FALLS — Northern Iowa has seen a pretty obvious shift over the last nine games.

When things weren't going well, the offense was stagnant, and too often predictable for opposing defenses. But Coach Ben Jacobson — who has taken responsibility for the former on multiple occasions — changed it up, and since then, the balance in the Panthers' offense has been both refreshing and productive.

UNI has won eight of its last nine headed into the regular season finale, and in that span has four players averaging in double figures — with a fifth just shy of that threshold — and five of their seven most-used players have been the leading scorer at one point or another.

'We're really rolling right now. Everybody's really playing well,' said Wes Washpun, who's averaged 12.7 points in the last nine games. 'I don't think we could ask any more at this point than what we're getting from our guys. Different guys are stepping up every night. Multiple guys are scoring in double figures. You couldn't really ask for any more.'

Washpun, Paul Jesperson, Jeremy Morgan, Bennett Koch and Klint Carlson have each taken turns as the leading scorer in at least one of the last nine games. Jesperson (11.6 points per game in the last nine) and Morgan (10) were two of the others in double figures over the last nine, but oddly enough, the player with the highest average, Matt Bohannon (12.9), didn't set the high mark in UNI's recent run.

Along with Carlson (6.7) and Wyatt Lohaus (4.3), the Panthers (18-12, 10-7 Missouri Valley Conference) have gotten more contributions from a wider array of players — including Ted Friedman, who hasn't scored much, but has provided key minutes defensively.

'I think that's a result of going to the motion offense, or whatever we're calling our passing game. Guys are just more involved,' Jacobson said. 'Everybody touches it. Guys get the ball in different spots on the floor. It's been a good change for everybody. Wes doesn't have the ball in his hands as much and he's as happy as anybody because he doesn't have an entire defense looking at him.'

The shift in offensive philosophy has plenty to do with it, sure. Keeping defenses on their heels with the talent UNI has on the perimeter has been the cause for concern of all but Loyola in the last month.

But more than just a shift in how the ball is shared, it's that the ball is shared in the first place. During the losing streak, there was a lack of faith in some members of the rotation that contributed to how stagnant things had become.

That's gone away, and so too has the losing.

So just one more regular-season hurdle in Evansville, and then it's on to Arch Madness as either the No. 4 or No. 5 seed, and a date with Southern Illinois (regardless of seed) in their first game of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

'It has a little bit to do with having confidence in each other. Maybe at the beginning of the conference season, we just kind of went through that lull and weren't trusting everyone as much as we should've,' Bohannon said. 'We hit a point and said we've got to bring everyone forward. Instead of just three or four guys, we've got to bring all nine together.

'We've done a really good job of that, and it's shown. Wyatt, Ben, Ted and Klint have all been playing really good basketball for us. For us to do some damage on Saturday in Evansville and then next week in St. Louis, we need those guys to play good basketball.'

UNI and Evansville tip off at 1 p.m. Saturday inside Ford Center in Evansville.

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