No relief in shedding pressure, no solace in close loss for UNI

CEDAR FALLS - Sometimes after a loss - especially a close one - coaches will take the opportunity to hedge their reaction and fall back on the 'teachable moment” mentality, or the 'makes us better in the long run” attitude.

Some coaches, but not Northern Iowa men's basketball coach Ben Jacobson.

There was no shine to be put on the 'loss” part of the 93-87 double-overtime loss to Virginia Commonwealth on Saturday that dropped UNI out of both the AP and Coaches polls. There's no relief in shedding the pressure of an undefeated record and no solace in it being so close.

'No. Absolutely not,” Jacobson said, before the reporter's question was even finished.

Then, for emphasis, he added another.

'Absolutely not.”

It's one loss, and one to a team with a solid chance at an NCAA Tournament berth in March on its home court. Jacobson knows as well as anyone it's not a season-ender, nor is it anywhere close.

But it's frustrating, especially when they feel like they feel like they left 'nine or 10 plays on the table,” that could've sealed the game. Jacobson pointed to VCU's final possession in regulation, in which they missed a shot and got the offensive rebound, then tied the game. Had the Panthers (9-1) secured that rebound, they'd have been up two with the ball with less than a minute to go.

Then there was the final possession in regulation, where Deon Mitchell was isolated and failed to even get a shot off before time expired. Jacobson acknowledged that play wasn't what they wanted, but that it wasn't the only thing to blame.

Losing is never going to be fun, and nothing about a loss is going to make it feel better until what caused it is fixed.

'I'm the same way I think probably everybody in the room and all of our players are - you get beat, you get beat. There's some frustration in that, there's some disappointment,” Jacobson said. 'And it's going to happen. You play 30-plus games a year, it's going to happen from time to time. But any time it does, whether it happens the way it did here; whether you get beat by six or 60, at the end of the day, for me, it's the same thing.

'You've got to be able to take a hard look at everything that happened over the course of the rest of the basketball game and figure out where you have to get better, what you need to do different. So for me, it's no different if it's a one-possession game or a 10-possession game.”

As bad as they don't want to lose, Jacobson and his players certainly aren't going to dwell on it or try to harness any motivation out of that moment specifically, lest they get caught up in the meaning of one game.

Because it's just that: one game. They'll get back to the routine Jacobson likes to follow - 'with an edge” - to correct the things they need to correct before heading to Des Moines to play Iowa on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena.

'It just counts as one loss,” said guard Matt Bohannon. 'It's not like anything is added value. At the end of the day, that's life. You've got to bounce back from certain things that don't go your way and learn from the things you didn't do very well. We certainly had some things as a team we need to clean up.”

WASHPUN, BOHANNON STEP UP

During Northern Iowa's run from down 11 with less than six minutes left to take the VCU game to overtime – and then in both overtimes – two players played a pivotal role.

Two former Mississippi Valley Conference foes in Wes Washpun (Cedar Rapids Washington) and Matt Bohannon (Linn-Mar) had 27 and 18 points respectively, and shot a combined 62.5 percent from the field. Both players had timely baskets – Washpun's at the rim, Bohannon's from 3-point range – that kept the Panthers alive and extended the game.

'Wes has been great, and was great again on Saturday against VCU. He's been one of, if not our most consistent player through 10 games now,” Jacobson said. 'I don't know how much time we have this afternoon, but if we had an hour I could probably stand here and talk to you for an hour about how proud I am of Wes and how well he's playing because of what he's done at practice and in the classroom.

'To be able to do all that and changing his role – being a starter at the end of the year last year – this year coming off the bench for us when he knows he's one of our best players and is expected to be one of our best players; to do everything he's doing and have the positive attitude, I just think it's terrific.”

Washpun eventually fouled out in the second overtime, but added three assists, four steals and five rebounds to go with his 9 of 14 shooting effort from the field.

As for Bohannon, his 18 points were a career-high, and came on 6 of 10 shooting from the field, 5 of 9 from deep. Especially considering the start to this season, he admitted to being happy for himself in seeing some of those big shots fall – namely his 3-pointer to tie the game with 0:28 left in the first overtime.

But he didn't feel special or gratified – because he did what he expects himself to do every time out.

'I was just happy to be a part of it. Some guys made some plays that got me open personally, but it's a total team effort to get it back from 11 to have a chance to win it in regulation,” Bohannon said. 'I don't know if gratifying is the right word, because I do put up a lot of shots and when I shoot the ball I do expect it to go in. A shot made there is just three points like any other game. Any shot you take is a big one.

'I think it was nice to see those go in, but at the end of the day it was just something I'm supposed to be doing out there – making my shots.”

BOUNCED FROM THE RANKINGS

UNI's return to the rankings was short-lived, as the Panthers fell out of both the AP Top 25 and the USA Today Coaches Poll after the loss to VCU on Saturday.

The Panthers fell from No. 23 in the AP poll to four spots out, receiving 65 points. They fell from No. 24 in the Coaches Poll to two spots out, receiving 40 points. UNI's next opponent, Iowa, received votes in the Coaches poll with 3 points after its loss to Iowa State on Friday.

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