‘That’s more like it’ — Jacobson on UNI hoops win

CEDAR FALLS — 'That's more like it,' were the first words from UNI Coach Ben Jacobson after his team's game Tuesday morning.

Northern Iowa men's basketball took it on the chin from Colorado State on Saturday, and Jacobson spent the next two days of preparation correcting what went wrong.

The defensive pendulum swung back from bad to good, as UNI looked a lot more like what everyone has come to expect in a 70-60 win against Stephen F. Austin.

'I'm proud of them for changing as much as they did and grabbing onto a couple things from Saturday to do better today,' Jacobson said. '(Consistent defense) is certainly where we feel we're headed. Our guys understand that's where we have to get to — being a team that's going to force the opponent to run offense and not allow them to get easy things in the lane.

'No question that's where we're striving to get to.'

The 7 a.m. tip, as part of ESPN's 24-Hours of College Hoops Tipoff Marathon, didn't appear to leave the Panthers sluggish on either end, save for on offense in the opening part of the second half.

The UNI offense shot 52.3 percent from the field in the game (62.5 percent in the first half), 41.2 from deep and had 30 of its 70 points in the paint — most on drives into the lane. SFA Coach Brad Underwood said the Panthers exploited the middle of the floor much more than he hoped they would.

UNI forced 11 SFA turnovers (eight in the first half), held the Lumberjacks to 35.5 percent shooting (28.6 from 3-point range) and won the rebounding battle, 34-29. The stretch that ultimately proved to be what gave the Panthers the edge started with 3:42 left in the first half and extended 2:14 into the second. UNI went on a 14-4 run that put them up, 47-28, and gave them the buffer to cruise to the first win of the season.

Given how Saturday went and how focused the Panthers (1-1) were on getting back to what defines them as a team, Tuesday was crucial in proving — as much to themselves as anyone else — that the Colorado State performance was the exception, not the rule.

'Today was extremely important. I thought (today) we established our identity,' said guard Paul Jesperson, who finished tied for a team-high 15 points. 'That's being a lockdown defensive team, being strong with the ball and making good reads on offense. For us to come in here and bounce back after that game on Saturday, that was big time for us.'

It wasn't all roses, though, as the Lumberjacks (0-2) fought to get back in the game after going down 19.

UNI went scoreless over a 5:33 stretch that saw the lead cut from 49-34 to 51-43, and gave life to an SFA team led by senior guard Thomas Walkup. Walkup finished with half his team's points at 30 on 12 of 20 shooting, as well as added eight rebounds and three assists.

Jacobson said the staff talked at halftime about making an adjustment in how they were guarding him, but chose to leave it alone. The result was his 30 points, yes, but also that no other Lumberjack was in double figures.

Conversely, UNI did make an adjustment mid-half on their offensive end, putting the ball in Wes Washpun's hands and letting him do his thing. Walkup switched to him defensively, and Washpun made a handful of plays that exploited his speed mismatch. His 14 points (nine in the second half), five rebounds and three assists helped put UNI back in charge.

'I think our offense got a little stagnant. We got into a rut where we were making some bad plays and bad reads. Coach got us over to the sideline and switched it up a little bit, what we were doing. We threw a few different things at them and everything started to flow again,' Washpun said. 'Walkup is a heck of a player. He went out there and pretty much put the whole team on his shoulders. The guys said if they switch it, they'd clear out and want (me) to make a play. I just had to believe I'd make the play for my team.'

Overall, this was the version of the Panthers Jacobson and Co. wanted to see. Win or lose, the 10th-year head coach wanted the correct response — especially with what looms ahead on Saturday.

He got what he wanted, and so did UNI. Now it's on to No. 1 North Carolina at 1 p.m. Saturday in McLeod Center.

'The most important thing was to see the adjustments these guys made and the determination they played with defensively,' Jacobson said. 'We got 10 minutes in and I thought, 'This is more like our basketball team.' This is more like the team we're working hard to be. We've got some new guys, some young guys and guys in different roles. To be able to start to build confidence is a great thing.

'Hopefully we look at it and build on this and say, 'OK, let's do this just a little bit better,' and not have to make the number of changes from Saturday to today so we can keep taking steps forward as we get ready for (North) Carolina.'

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