Morgan stepping up as key defender for UNI

CEDAR FALLS - The well-documented success of the No. 23 Northern Iowa defense has been attributed largely to gains made as a whole through renewed focus in practice.

But as the Panthers (13-2, 2-1 Missouri Valley Conference) get deeper into conference play, it's become clear to Coach Ben Jacobson there's one player he can rely on as the go-to individual defender - former Iowa City West standout Jeremy Morgan.

Morgan has been charged with guarding the opposition's best player - on the perimeter, at least - for the majority of this season, and the results have been exactly what Jacobson wanted.

'Jeremy, he had a shot at (Evansville's D.J.) Balentine in the first one and did a nice job. Against Loyola, with Milton Doyle in here - and they've got some other guards that are good - I thought Jeremy had maybe his best overall game. And (Wednesday night) he really did a good job of chasing (Southern Illinois' Anthony Beane) around and making it tough,” Jacobson said. 'I hope Jeremy's finding out he can be one of the better defenders in our league. For our team, that's important.

'You've got to have at least one guy - it's nice if you've got two or three, but you've got to have at least one guy that you can count on to go out there and do the job against the other team's best guard. I think Jeremy's starting to find that out for us.”

Down the line of those defensive performances, they reflect better on paper chronologically. Balentine had a team-high 17 points for the Aces in the Panthers' 52-49 loss, but it took him 18 shots to get there, and he shot 38.9 percent and also tied for a team-high three turnovers. Doyle had 13 points on 5 of 9 shooting and two turnovers in UNI's 67-58 win against Loyola.

But it was what he - and with help from a few others - did against Beane on Wednesday night. The Salukis' guard had averaged 17.9 points per game headed in, but managed just one point on a free throw, and shot 0 of 10 from the field.

'Most of (what we did against Beane) was the same (as against the others),” Morgan said. 'You've got to come out and make them work hard to catch the ball. You've just got to work as hard as you can on them.”

Morgan's performances have been focused, active and energetic, and have let his coach to believe - if he focuses on it well enough - his goals could and should include an MVC Defensive Player of the Year award.

'My guess is he's going to think about some other things, but I think that's the only thing he should think about is defending and rebounding,” Jacobson said. 'His mind-set should only be about that.

'For Jeremy, he should be thinking about being the best defender in this league, and being on that all-defensive team. That's what he should be thinking about - not anything else. … He's done a good job of it the last 10 days.”

Headed into Saturday's game at Drake, Morgan's assignment will either be Reed Timmer (10.3 points per game, 2.8 assists) or Gary Ricks Jr. (10.0, 2.2) when the Panthers and Bulldogs hit the floor at 3 p.m. in the Knapp Center.

He doesn't take them lightly, either. When asked if he's going to be the guy guarding the best opposing player throughout the rest of the season, and if he liked that responsibility, the 6-foot-5 sophomore from Coralville didn't hesitate.

'Yeah, of course. I'm always ready to guard whoever I can,” Morgan said. 'It's all about effort, you know. I'm ready to guard whoever I need to with the best of my abilities.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com