Learning process begins for UNI basketball

CEDAR FALLS — It's a learning time of year for college basketball teams.

As the calendar turned to November, the Northern Iowa men's basketball team got its first game action of the 2015-16 season in the books, testing and tinkering its way to a 70-50 win against Truman State at the McLeod Center.

No, the stats and final score don't count. But in the first game in the switch from an offense run through the frontcourt to one run through the backcourt, there was some learning done — by both coach and players.

'It was good to get back out there,' said guard Wes Washpun, who had nine points, 10 assists and three rebounds. 'Of course we had our share of mistakes with these guys being out there for the first time and getting some action.

'It's still early. We're still putting in some of the actions and trying to figure each other out a little bit — where people are going to be and stuff like that. But once we get accustomed to that, I feel like the offense is going to flow well.'

The Panthers tried a variety of lineups throughout the night — obviously typical of an exhibition — starting small with Washpun, Matt Bohannon, Jeremy Morgan, Wyatt Lohaus and Bennett Koch in the starting lineup.

Coach Ben Jacobson also wanted to try Lohaus more at the point guard position, and gave the former Iowa City West standout some time to run the offense when Washpun was on the bench. That coincided with JUCO transfer Aarias Austin moving from the point guard role he was originally expected to have to a 2-guard role.

Lohaus finished the game with five points, three assists and five turnovers in floating between the point and shooting guard roles. Jacobson was satisfied with the offensive performance overall, and owed the Lohaus turnovers to the experimentation.

'We turned it over too much, left our feet too often, had balls tipped and turned over, but outside of that I thought it was pretty good for the opener,' Jacobson said. 'That's the first time we've asked Wyatt to do that in his career, so that's part of it. … At practice (Wyatt)'s starting with Wes, so he hasn't done a lot of the ball-handling things because he's practiced with Wes a lot. He's done very little of what he was asked to do tonight.

'The only way Wyatt figures out how to do those things is if he does them. So he turned it over five times — that's OK tonight.'

UNI saw action from every player on the roster except guard Paul Jesperson, who will return to practice Monday after several weeks of watching from the sidelines in a walking boot on his left foot.

Bohannon was the leading scorer with 15 points, and all but three who played tallied points. Jacobson got to see a little from everyone, including newcomers Luke McDonnell, Spencer Haldeman, Lincoln Conrey and Justin Dahl. Who among that group will red-shirt still has yet to be decided, as the Panthers still have a closed scrimmage with Wisconsin before the season-opener against Colorado State on Nov. 14.

Sunday's game was the first step in figuring out exactly where they are before that night.

'The only way to figure out how much you can do is to do it,' Jacobson said. 'They'll learn fast and learn from this film.'

BIG LEARNING OPPORTUNITY AGAINST WISCONSIN

Perhaps the most important tune-up for this season will come Saturday, when UNI takes on Wisconsin in a closed scrimmage in Dubuque.

Jacobson said he's not entirely sure what the setup will be, but anticipates an extremely valuable learning opportunity is there for them. The Panthers have never had a closed scrimmage like this under Jacobson, and both he and the players are eager to see what comes of it.

'The size and length we had tonight that Truman (State) didn't have and hurt them in some spots, we're going to get in some spots Saturday where their size and length are going to have the same impact on us,' Jacobson said. 'And that's what we need to get ready for Colorado State. We'll have (everything) plus size and length and a little Final Four experience.'

Washpun added the approach won't be all that different to Truman State. It's all about how much they can learn to get the season started off right.

Testing barometers like Wisconsin are invaluable for a team eager to build on a historic season last year.

'It's kind of a measuring stick for us — see how we're going to be, make some adjustments and get ready for the first game,' Washpun said. 'We would attack it fairly similar (to Sunday's exhibition).

'The experience is going to be the same, except it's going to be a little higher level. It's a chance to test some guys out, Coach will get a chance to make adjustments and things like that, and we'll figure out how we're going to attack the first game.'

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