No Eglseder, no problem for this UNI title team

CEDAR FALLS - There was no cutting of nets after the game.

The loudest acknowledgment of what transpired in the McLeod Center here Tuesday night came from the UNI student section.

“MVC! MVC! MVC!”

That's the Missouri Valley Conference. That's the league that has the Panthers as outright regular-season champions, for the first time since UNI joined the Valley in 1991.

The clincher was the Panthers' 70-52 beating of Creighton Tuesday. UNI shared the Valley's regular-season title with the Bluejays last season. The Panthers are even better this year, as their 23-3 overall record and 14-2 league mark attest.

But this night didn't totally have a championship feel to it. Maybe it's because the Panthers still have two MVC games and Friday's BracketBusters game here against Old Dominion remaining. Maybe it's because the title had become a bit of a foregone conclusion, pretty much expected the last couple weeks.

Maybe it's because this is a Northern Iowa team that wants more than a regular-season banner.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” said UNI senior guard Ali Farokhmanesh. “It feels good to win that, it just feels like there's a lot of work to do.”

Translation: The Panthers want to win a lot more games, including the MVC tournament. They want to grab as high a seed as possible in the NCAA tournament, then want to go deeper than one-and-done when they get there.

Creighton blazed to a 7-0 lead in the first two minutes, and UNI Coach Ben Jacobson called a timeout with his team starting like a dead battery. Before the second TV timeout, Farokhmanesh, formerly of Iowa City West and Kirkwood, had made four 3-pointers, and his team led, 22-12.

Dead battery no more. The gym was charged, and stayed that way.

Is UNI a great team? Not in terms of NBA lottery picks and big-time athleticism. But is it a very good team, a team worth enjoying? Definitely. Very good teams not only have talent, they have character.

Panthers senior center Jordan Eglseder had what some might call a character lapse - it certainly was a lapse in good judgment - over the weekend in Cedar Falls when he was arrested for an OWI.

Among other things, that cost him a three-game suspension. His teammates, however, reacted as if it were an opportunity rather than a setback.

Farokhmanesh and sophomore guard Johnny Moran stepped up with season-highs with 17 points apiece. They combined for eight of UNI's 13 three-pointers in 27 attempts.

The 7-foot Eglseder and his 12.2 points and 7.6 rebound per game watched from the end of the bench in sweats and apparent good spirits as 6-6 fireball Lucas O'Rear took his place.

O'Rear scored his only basket on a reverse baseline drive in the first half and was fouled on the play in the middle of an 11-0 UNI run. He pounded his chest in savoring the moment.

That was as close to a championship celebration as was observed this night. As far as this title team was concerned, it was enough. For now.