Coe basketball learns lessons at Northern Iowa

CEDAR FALLS - It was just about the best start Coe could ask for to start its season. The Kohawks shot 50 percent from the field and led Northern Iowa nearly eight minutes into the game. Then the shots stopped falling.

Coe missed its next eight shots and was on the losing side of a 23-5 run over the final eight minutes of the first half en route to an 86-52 exhibition loss to UNI (1-1).

“We seemed like we put 20 points on the board real quickly,” said Coe Coach Bryan Martin. “I thought we got a little impatient from that point forward for the rest of the first half. We got sped up a little bit and started taking shots on the first or second pass.”

The Kohawks came out shooting from outside, going 5-15 from 3-point range in the first half, but just 2-10 in the second. Despite the results, Martin said that will continue to be the game plan for Coe going forward.

“That's going to be us. We've got some really good shooters that can get going from the 3-point line,” Martin said. “We're a young team with not a lot of experience, and the majority of the guys that have experience are guards that can shoot the ball.”

Youth in the frontcourt plays a big role in the Kohawks' shooting strategy. Coe was outscored 38-18 in the paint.

“Our post guys are young. I thought they did some good things at times, but the 3-point shot is going to be a big part of our attack,” Bryan said.

Martin said there were a lot of positives coming from a game against a team he'd like to see his own transform into.

“I was looking to see if we can compete with (UNI) for 40 minutes,” Martin said. “If you look at UNI, that's what has got them to the level they're at - that blue-collar level of play. That's what we're trying to do.”

With a young squad, Coe's matchup against UNI - the game counted as a regular season game for the Panthers - served as a learning opportunity.

“We're still learning about our personnel more than anything,” Martin said. “We just wanted to learn who was going to show up, not be scared and compete. We learned a lot just from this matchup.”

Coe returns home for a three-game home stretch that includes second-ranked Illinois Wesleyan on Nov. 22.

“We won't face anyone as good as (UNI). We've got some high quality Division III opponents coming up in the non-conference,” Martin said. “We learned we can compete with the best there is in the Missouri Valley Conference. I think our guys will take some confidence from that.”