UNI basketball hits game week fresh off preseason test

CEDAR FALLS - Exhibition games and 'secret” scrimmages: done. It's regular season basketball time for Northern Iowa men's basketball, which heads into 2015 with a little different look.

Coach Ben Jacobson met with the media for his first press luncheon of the season on Monday in Cedar Falls. Fresh off a closed scrimmage with Wisconsin last Saturday in Dubuque, the 10th-year head coach pointed to what he likes about where the team is headed into the regular season and what he doesn't.

His team isn't exactly where he wants it to be. But that's the struggle of any coach.

'Are we ever happy? Are we ever where we're supposed to be?” Jacobson asked rhetorically, with a laugh. 'I like our guys. We competed hard on Saturday. We made some mistakes, but I'm sure Bo (Ryan) would tell you his team made some mistakes, too. There were some things, early in the year, you've got to get better at, and we will.

'We have a couple things that should be farther along, and we'll get to those this week.”

The Panthers enter this season trying to somehow follow up the 31-4, Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship, NCAA Tournament season, and do so with no more Seth Tuttle to anchor inside.

They turn to senior guard Wes Washpun, who 'handled himself well” in the scrimmage against the Badgers, according to a person in attendance.

He, Matt Bohannon, Jeremy Morgan, a healthy Paul Jesperson and Bennett Koch are slated to be the starting five for UNI on Saturday against Colorado State. That shift to a smaller lineup reflects the identity Jacobson wants the Panthers to have, as well as its personnel.

Koch, red-shirt sophomores Ted Friedman and Klint Carlson are the only three big men who will play for UNI this season. All four freshmen will red-shirt, meaning UNI fans will have to wait to see big men Luke McDonnell and Justin Dahl, as well as guards Spencer Haldeman and Lincoln Conrey.

Jacobson likes how things are shaping up with his roster, and the scrimmage was a way to find out exactly where some kinks are against a high-level competitor.

'Being on the same floor with Wisconsin just gives you an opportunity to see a little bit where you're at, see how you do against that level of competition. And then it also exposes things,” Jacobson said. 'You're going to find out things you've got to get to work on. We found some of those things.

'We didn't rebound well enough, and we fouled way too much. Guarding the basketball, rebounding the basketball and guarding without fouling - it's the same three things we talk about all the time. But they showed up against Wisconsin.”

The fouls UNI committed in the scrimmage, Jacobson said, weren't in the freedom of movement area that is a new directive from the NCAA for referees. Rather the Panthers were mistake prone in areas that 'would've been fouls last year and would've been fouls 10 years ago,” Jacobson said.

It wasn't a bad day in Dubuque, though. While a coach like Jacobson is always going to find something to pick at, he was also quick to praise.

The new guard-oriented offense flowed well, he said, and if they can bring Koch along to where he needs to be to compete in the Valley, they'll be in good shape.

'I like our offense. We're not running a lot right now, but guys are sharing the ball. The ball is moving well,” Jacobson said. 'Wes is doing a really good job. He's going to have the ball in his hands a lot, and he created a lot of opportunities for our team on Saturday.

'We've got to get some more things established inside with Bennett and Ted. They had a good workout on Saturday, and I like where they're at; I like what they're doing. … We know what Wes is capable of, we know what Wyatt's capable of, what Bo and Paul are capable of, that Jeremy's got versatility. We know all those things. But we've got to get (them) established.”

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