Jacobson: UNI needs to ‘be who we are’

CEDAR FALLS — After two losses in the last three games, the sky is not, in fact, falling on Northern Iowa men's basketball.

Unfortunately, though, shots weren't falling either on Saturday night in a loss to New Mexico.

The Panthers' two best shooters, Paul Jesperson and Matt Bohannon, were a combined 8 of 20 shooting overall and just 3 of 14 from 3-point range. As a team, UNI was 6 of 25 from long range.

When you're a team that relies on outside shooting — especially with a small lineup — outside shots not falling is a bigger deal than it might be otherwise. Fortunately, said Coach Ben Jacobson, this group is experienced and poised enough not to let a bad night linger.

'That's one of the things as I put together my checklist of things as we start to get ready — that's not on there,' Jacobson said Monday at his weekly press luncheon. 'Bo and Paul had some good looks at New Mexico. If we can get those shots every night, we're taking them. I have no concerns about that because they're so well-prepared. They spend a lot of time at it. We'll be ready.'

The Panthers (6-3) now have as many losses as they did in all of the regular season last year.

Jacobson doesn't like comparing this year to last year — in fact, he'll shoot down any direct comparisons on the floor in short order. But he did point out that this year's schedule is markedly tougher. Not that what the 2014-15 Panthers went through was a cakewalk, but that version of UNI didn't face two top-five ranked teams in non-conference, and didn't face perennial NCAA Tournament contenders on the road.

The 10th-year head coach talked last year, as well, about not letting one loss turn into two, and so on. His players got that message last season, and Jacobson believes they have it now.

'They understand had we played better Saturday, the game would've been decided in the last minute instead of with eight to go when you're down 10 or 12. That's the only disappointment from the guys,' Jacobson said. 'What I would tell you is our schedule was different last year. Our schedule wasn't easy last year (but) it wasn't at Richmond, at George Mason, at New Mexico. I'd go more to, do the guys understand that when they are a little frustrated or do get a little disappointed, is it for the right reasons? With these guys, it is.

'They're old enough and they've been through it. The disappointment is we should've played better Saturday night. Our guys are good that way.'

It's also tempting to hit the panic button amid a cluster of losses when multiple essential facets of the offense come up short on the same night.

UNI's post play was always going to be a work in progress, but Bennett Koch, Klint Carlson and Ted Friedman each had less than stellar nights at New Mexico. That exacerbated the Panthers' woes overall.

But Jacobson also stressed not conflating the idea that the post players need to make rapid improvement with a poor shooting night. Yes, they need to be better, but not just because poor shooting nights might happen.

They need to be better because they need to be better, period.

'I have a hard time tying those two things together, simply because Bo and Paul are such good shooters. We're going to take those shots whether Ben and Klint and Ted are averaging 15 points a game,' Jacobson said. 'If Bo and Paul are open, like they were on Saturday, we're going to shoot those shots. What hurt us more Saturday was we didn't get enough from those guys inside. We needed to get a couple rebounds and we needed to defend better with those three. But the game wasn't necessarily lost there.

'We turned the ball over in some situations where we didn't need to, and we had the two or three possession swings that really hurt us. Those three guys need to keep getting better, but I wouldn't tie those two things together.'

All of it comes together to make for a stressful week from the outside looking in on UNI basketball with No. 2 Iowa State waiting on Saturday for the Big Four Classic at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

But what Jacobson and his staff refuse to do is accept the idea that hope is lost because of one or two rough games. They also refuse to change what they do and who they are because of an opponent and what it's good at.

The Panthers will continue on the course Jacobson has set.

'You've got to be who you are. We have to be who we are and we've got to get really good at it,' Jacobson said. 'A big part of our game is our transition offense. Wes is terrific in the open floor. We've got guys that can really shoot it. And when we get those opportunities, we're going to take advantage of them.

'Over the course of my career as a head coach, I've gone back and forth. Sometimes you go into a game like this, like with Iowa State, and you know how good they are in transition. We're going to have to do some things defensively and we're going to have to work to get our defense set, but I don't like changing our offense because Iowa State is good at something. We've got to be who we are and we'll keep working at our transition offense.'

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