UNI can’t knock down shots, falls to George Mason, 54-50

CEDAR FALLS — Juwan McCloud made a driving basket to successfully cap the opening possession of Wednesday night's game at McLeod Center.

That's significant because the Northern Iowa Panthers went the next 11 minutes and 16 seconds until making another shot from the field. Drives, inside looks, 3-pointers, many of them wide open ... absolutely nothing went in.

UNI missed 16 consecutive attempts.

Yet here's the amazing part of this story. Somehow, someway, the Panthers had every chance in the world to get a victory.

They led by five points with under 10 minutes to go and by three at the under-four mark, when it all fell apart again, George Mason making enough plays in the final two minutes for a 54-50 win.

'George Mason, you've got to give them a lot of credit,' said UNI Coach Ben Jacobson. 'They executed well down the stretch and got a couple of baskets that they needed. We didn't execute that well in the last 90 seconds.'

Guard Otis Livingston's bucket off penetration with 1:49 remaining put George Mason (5-3) ahead for good, 48-47. An airballed 3-point attempt by UNI's Jeremy Morgan followed, with the Patriots hitting six clutch free throws from there to put it away.

A team that began its season with three consecutive wins, including eye-lifters against Arizona State and Oklahoma has suddenly lost its way and lost three straight. The common theme in those losses, two to top 10-ranked Xavier, is a lack of shooting and a lack of rebounding.

'We've kind of come out slow starting games,' said UNI freshman Spencer Haldeman, who had a career-high 16 points. 'It's just kind of getting past that and playing hard all those 40 minutes.'

'Not getting into a rhythm at the beginning of the game there,' added Morgan, who had just six points on 2-of-13 shooting. 'We had guys make shots early, then we kind of went into a slump there shooting wise. But that stuff is not going to matter if we're not getting rebounds. There are going to be nights where we're not making shots, like tonight. We were getting defensive stops, but then we were letting them get offensive rebounds and giving them another possession. Until we fix that, it's going to be pretty tough.'

Northern Iowa ended up shooting an abysmal 25.9 percent from the floor. All those missed shots helped George Mason rack up a 53-30 edge on the boards.

It wasn't as if the Patriots were smooth offensively, as they shot just 36 percent. Jaire Grayer, son of former Iowa State legend Jeff Grayer, led GMU with 14 points.

'What really hurt us was the rebounding,' Jacobson said. 'To start the game and give up three, four, five offensive rebounds the first handful of possessions, I thought that was really a key to the game. To give up 13 rebounds and give up three, four, five of them the first few possessions, that really set a tone.'

UNI still rallied from a 10-point hole to take a 28-24 halftime lead. You figured that momentum would carry to the second half, but George Mason used a 10-0 run early to take the advantage right back, 36-32.

Jacobson said he and his coaching staff have got to do something to help leading scorer Morgan get more and better looks offensively than he's getting. But you couldn't really quibble too much with the looks UNI got as a team here.

The shots just didn't go in.

'A lot of those shots were wide open looks,' Morgan said. 'We're going to have to find a way to start knocking those down.'

'It's really important for us as a coaching staff to help our guys just get in better spots,' Jacobson said. 'Whatever that means. If that means (changing) what we're doing in practice, what we're running on offense, how many minutes guys are playing. Whatever that means, I'd tell you that's the most important thing.'

UNI plays Saturday at Wyoming. The hope is injured guard Wyatt Lohaus will return for that game.

He has missed two in a row with an ankle problem.

'Rebounding is a concern, that has to change,' Jacobson said. 'It doesn't matter if we're talking about this team or last year's team or next year's team. You have to rebound the basketball. Everybody understands that part of it needs to change.

'Then, too, just finding ways to help the guys play better. That's a challenge. Tonight's game, the easy thing to do is look at the missed shots. Well there are going to be other nights where we miss shots, including open ones like we had tonight. You're going to come up against teams like George Mason that play really hard and execute, and you're still going to have to find a way.'

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