UNI men’s basketball enters MVC tournament on a high note

CEDAR FALLS - After a season defined by injuries, absences and never-ending adjustments, Northern Iowa men's basketball coach Ben Jacobson is feeling as good about his team as he has since November.

The Panthers (9-15, 7-11) enter this week's Missouri Valley Conference tournament having won three of their final four regular-season games - meeting Jacobson's call to raise their game one more level before the opportunity to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

'We changed a couple things from a coaching or Xs-and-Os standpoint at that defensive end and that's helped us,” Jacobson said. 'The most important thing has been our activity level, our determination, our discipline, our rotations, the activity at the defensive end now (for) about four games in a row, really.”

While Jacobson said the defensive improvements have been key, adjustments on offense lasted for months after AJ Green's season-ending hip injury and Antwan Kimmons' leave of absence.

Freshman Bowen Born was forced to play point guard while fellow freshman Nate Heise was elevated to the starting lineup. Austin Phyfe had to rediscover how to contribute without Green while not taking away from the development of two freshman guards. Meanwhile, Trae Berhow was forced to deal with being guarded by opponents' best defender each game.

'I feel like offensively we've got a better confidence,” Jacobson said. 'I think (Phyfe) is playing as well as he's played all year. It was a big adjustment for him. Some of those easy baskets weren't there as much this year without AJ and Antwan.

'(Bowen's) worked hard to make some adjustments to his game. He did a great job of getting better and better as the year went on. What (Heise) did defensively was really, really good for a freshman.”

Phyfe, Born and Heise's seasons were each recognized in this week's MVC postseason awards. Born was named freshman of the year after averaging 11.4 points per game and named to the all-freshman team with Heise. Phyfe was named to the All-MVC third team after averaging 13.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game (conference only).

UNI, the No. 7-seed, plays 10-seed Illinois State (7-17, 4-14) at 8 p.m. (Fox Sports Midwest) in Thursday night's opening round of the MVC tournament after sweeping the Redbirds last Friday and Saturday in its final two-game series of the regular season.

So, when it comes to having his team prepared for their third game in a week against Illinois State, Jacobson said he was direct with his message.

'I told the guys when we got back on Monday that both our team and Illinois State played a heck of a game on Saturday. We had a really good weekend and (I'm) really proud of what they did, but I said ‘guys, look, those two games are done. Those games are over,'” Jacobson said. 'We're going to look at the film like we always do. We're going to make a couple adjustments and we're going to practice hard and get ready for Thursday.”