Coe basketball team gets a shot at the big time

CEDAR FALLS — The Coe Kohawks have nothing to lose.

Even if they drop their men's basketball game Saturday morning at Northern Iowa, it doesn't count. This is one of those weird deals in which the game is an exhibition for Coe, the regular-season opener for UNI.

Tipoff is 11 a.m. at the McLeod Center.

'We have a high excitement level,' Coe Coach Bryan Martin said. 'The guys are looking forward to this opportunity. We've got a tremendous amount of respect for Northern Iowa and Coach (Ben) Jacobson. I'm excited for our guys to compete on the big stage, against a team that made some noise last year in the NCAA tournament.'

This is the second time in three years Coe has gotten a chance to compete against its Division I neighbor. Martin and UNI assistant coach P.J. Hogan played together at Morningside, which was the Kohawks' 'in.'

With its consistent success as a mid-major, Northern Iowa has a difficult time finding home non-conference games, so why not hook up a D-III in-state school?

'We're just going to be the best version of ourselves we can be,' Martin said. 'We're going to break it down into 10 four-minute periods, with the TV timeouts and everything, and see what happens.'

Jacobson said earlier in the week his team's starting lineup is pretty much set. Missouri Valley Conference preseason player of the year Jeremy Morgan, of course, is a given, as are Klint Carlson and Bennett Koch. The two guard spots are a little more open.

Freshman Juwan McCloud will be the point guard, with Kirkwood Community College transfer Hunter Rhodes backing him up. Junior Wyatt Lohaus and Iowa State transfer Jordan Ashton have been battling for the off-guard spot, though both will play a lot.

'Practices have been very good,' Jacobson said. 'They work hard, they ask questions, they do the right things. It's to the point now where we've got to quit thinking so much and start playing. But that's hard to do for young guys, guys who haven't played a lot. I like our team, we've just got a little work to do.'

Jacobson was asked what he wanted to accomplish in the opener, other than getting a win, of course. His team scrimmaged Wisconsin last Sunday, though he couldn't talk about it, per NCAA rules.

'I thought a lot about that coming off the scrimmage,' he said. 'Fundamentally, right now, in terms of blocking out and being in the right position, making rotations, just making the simple plays on offense, not trying to do too much, those are the kinds of things we've got to get done this week. And it will be those things coming out of that Coe game.

'Our block outs, our rebounding are not near where they should be at this point, after five weeks of practice. Not at all where it needs to be for us to do the things that we want to be able to do.'

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