Hlas: UNI Panthers ride their bench, wallop Wyoming

SEATTLE — Northern Iowa acted like a high-seeded team at the NCAA men's basketball tournament coming into KeyArena Friday morning. Then it played like one.

There was no Cinderella, upstart, plucky, just-happy-to-be-here mid-major attitude from the Panthers, who may have been cast in those characterizations when they earned their previous NCAA triumphs, in 1990 and 2010.

This is a 31-3, Top Ten team. There were no wide eyes and dry throats among the Panthers as they entered their NCAA opener against Wyoming Friday morning/afternoon.

'When I heard them talking and laughing and giving each other a hard time at breakfast, I knew we were going to play well today,' UNI Coach Ben Jacobson said. 'I didn't know if we were going to win or not, but I knew we were going to play well.'

The Panthers played better than fifth-seeds often play against 12th-seeds in this tourney, given the time-honored tradition of 12th-seeds making trouble for the fives. UNI built an 18-9 lead, stretched it to 35-24 at halftime, and pushed it up to 50-29 with 13:51 left.

It wouldn't be an NCAA game without some stress for the winner, though, and Wyoming went on a 14-0 run to make it feel like the basketball gods had viciously turned against UNI.

But the Panthers reasserted control and didn't have any of the late-game drama many high-seeds are plagued with in early-round NCAA games.

The only dark cloud in Seattle for UNI this day was the broken index finger starting junior guard Matt Bohannon suffered on his left hand (he's right-handed) early in the second half. Bohannon was scheduled to have surgery Friday afternoon, and his availability for the Panthers' Round of 32 game Sunday here against Louisville obviously is in question.

Luckily for the Panthers, they're deep. That showed in a big way Friday.

UNI had five players who scored in double-digits, and three were reserves. Forward Paul Jesperson had a team-high 16 points, forward Nate Buss had 13, and guard Wes Washpun netted 10.

Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year Seth Tuttle added 14 points and 9 rebounds, and Deon Mitchell matched fellow point guard Washpun's 10 points and 3 assists.

Washpun pulled the plug on the momentum Wyoming got from a sensational stretch by senior forward Larry Nance Jr. The son of three-time NBA All-Star Larry Nance scored 13 points from inside in less than four minutes to reduce UNI's lead from 21 points to 13. Two teammates nailed 3-pointers to make it a 50-43 game.

But Jesperson sank his third 3-pointer of the game for the Panthers, then Washpun took over. He calmly ran the offense and ate clock, scoring three times in a four-possession span with five seconds or less on the shot clock.

'We just stayed calm and executed our stuff,' Washpun said.

Their 'stuff' was punctuated by Washpun hitting three spot-up jumpers.

'When he's feeling it, there's not much you can do to stop it,' Buss said. 'When he has that jump shot going, it's hard to cool him down.'

Washpun's performance was pretty pleasing to another former resident of Cedar Rapids' East side. On an invitation from Jacobson, UNI alumni/retired NFL quarterback Kurt Warner flew from his Phoenix-area home to cheer on Washington High grad Washpun and his mates.

'They are good, really good. Really good,' said Warner. 'A lot of guys that are really solid. That's the most impressive thing, I think.'

As for Washpun being a fellow Cedar Rapidian, Warner smiled and replied 'I like it!'

Warner is staying here through the weekend. As is his favorite college basketball team.

'It feels fantastic,' Buss said. 'To know we're staying in Seattle and playing Sunday is great.'

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