Another loss for UNI, but finally some encouraging signs

CEDAR FALLS — If you were looking for encouraging signs, you got them Sunday afternoon at McLeod Center. Finally.

No, the Northern Iowa Panthers didn't win. It's about the bottom line, ultimately, and that was another loss.

The sixth in a row.

But this one came to probably the Missouri Valley Conference's best team, Wichita State, and the Shockers had to play very well in the final 10 minutes or so to pull away, 80-66. For the first time in awhile, you could sense UNI beginning to get there.

'I'm going to tell you what, after the last two basketball games, and the frustration that the guys have had, and the fact that we've practiced well, absolutely (that's encouraging),' UNI Coach Ben Jacobson said. 'To play that way for 30 minutes was important for this team. We don't play any game to play well for a period of time, or play well and have less points than the other team. Our guys don't feel that way right now. But we needed to play well.'

Wichita State led for 35 minutes, but it was a two-point ballgame (49-47) with 11:47 left, after Spencer Haldeman splashed a long 3-pointer well past the top of the arc. The Shockers (14-3, 4-0 MVC) scored the next six points, and Northern Iowa (5-10, 0-4) never got any closer than five the rest of the way.

Still, big picture, the offense was noticeably crisper, the defense generally better.

'We came out a lot more aggressive, a lot more focused this game,' said UNI's Jordan Ashton. 'Like Coach has been talking about, we played good for about 25 to 30 minutes tonight. We hadn't been doing that before. Now we've got to figure out how to put a full game together.'

Jacobson went back to the starting five of Ashton, Juwan McCloud, Jeremy Morgan, Klint Carlson and Bennett Koch. Carlson was much more aggressive offensively and finished with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds.

'Klint took more shots, and that's one of the things I talked with him about the past couple of days,' Jacobson said. 'He wants to fit in offensively, that's kind of who he is. By nature, that's a better role for him. But he needs to play like he did today, and he will.'

Morgan gave everyone a scare four minutes into the game when he came down on a Wichita State player's foot in the lane and re-tweaked his right ankle. But he got it taped up, came back in and led his team in scoring again with 15 points.

The senior forward from Iowa City West was recognized in a pregame ceremony for recently picking up his 1,000th-career point.

'For 30 minutes, we looked like we're supposed to look,' Jacobson said. 'Now we need to see if we can get 40 minutes out of the guys on Wednesday.'

That's on the road against Bradley, with a home game following up next Sunday against Drake. Those are two of the bottom-tier teams in the MVC.

Play like they did Sunday, and UNI will get a win or two there.

'Just as Ben did last year when they lost four in a row, he'll find the right method, he will find the right combination,' said Wichita State Coach Gregg Marshall. 'He is one of the best in the country at doing that that I've ever seen, and I told him that before the game. If anybody rights this ship, it's Ben Jacobson. I was just glad that we could get in here and get a win before that happened. Because you know it's coming.'

Redshirt freshman guard Landry Shamet led Wichita State with 17 points, including a handful of 3-pointers. Estonian forward Rauno Nurger came off the bench and was a factor on the interior with 13 points for the Shockers, whose losses have come to Oklahoma State and nationally ranked Louisville and Michigan State.

'Just some poor offense, and we weren't getting stops (late),' Ashton said. 'If we did get a stop, we weren't getting the rebound. They were getting some easy looks for 3s, and it changed the game.'

'I know we made a couple of mistakes at that point, and we didn't get some points on the board,' Jacobson said. 'But I think in that three- or four-minute stretch, their guys really stepped up and made some plays ... They made important shots at important times, and they kept doing that.'

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com