UNI basketball facing change in identity

CEDAR FALLS - These aren't your brother's Northern Iowa Panthers.

For that matter, they won't be your Panthers, either.

The UNI men's basketball team that takes the court for the first time publicly in an exhibition against Truman State on Nov. 1, and then for the season-opener against Colorado State on Nov. 14 will look very much different from what everyone last saw against Louisville in Seattle for the NCAA Tournament in March.

The team so many Panther supporters fell in love with will be without its All-American, Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, top producer and team leader in Seth Tuttle. It will be without graduates Deon Mitchell, Nate Buss and Marvin Singleton. Their style will change.

Because it has to.

'That was one of the things we worked through this summer,” Jacobson said at Media Day on Tuesday. 'We put in some of the same things we ran for Seth, but the difference is going to be Seth touched it 90-plus percent of the time and with our experience and leadership being in our back court now, those guys will be the ones that will make more of the plays, make more of the decisions than what Bennett (Koch), Ted (Freidman) and Klint (Carlson) are going to make.

'In saying that, that will be the biggest change. All those times the ball went through Seth, the ball (now) will be in Wes' hands. It'll be in Bo's (Matt Bohannon's) hands, it'll be in Paul (Jesperson)'s hands, it'll be in Jeremy (Morgan)'s hands, it'll be in Wyatt (Lohaus)'s hands. And that isn't going to take any importance off the three young big guys. We're going to run stuff for them, we're going to throw them the basketball.”

The biggest shift in terms of lineup and how that will affect the Panthers style will come in Jesperson moving from the small forward position to the power forward position.

UNI plans to go small on many occasions, which is something Jesperson said they talked a lot about over the summer and agreed it created some opportunities they haven't had before. The spacing on the floor will be wide open now, and in theory will create more matchup problems.

One thing that won't change for certain, though, will be the Panthers' dedication to defense. Jacobson has talked at length about how he regrets taking that focus away two years ago, and last year's team reflected the importance of being defensively sound. Even if the personnel will change for 2015-16, the general philosophy on defense will not.

'I think we'll be a little more mobile than we were last year. I think the court will be more spread out this year and allow guys to come off ball screens and attack,” Jesperson said. 'I think the court is going to be a lot, lot more open. We're going to play a little faster this year, but you know us. We're going to take pride in the defensive end first. Nothing's going to change on that end.”

With a shift in how the offense flows, there is a natural shift in pace of play.

The Panthers had one of the slowest paces of play in the country last season, ranking 348th of 351 teams in NCAA Division I, according to KenPom. But even if the floor will be open and the personnel points toward a run-and-gun offense, Jacobson cautioned against that.

He certainly wants to focus on maximizing chances in transition because of how good Washpun and this group is in that regard, but their overall pace won't look much different, he said. The number of possessions doesn't matter, rather being as efficient as possible. Last year's team may have played slow, but they were the 14th most efficient offense in college basketball and that carried them to the 31-4 record, Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title and third-round exit from the NCAA Tournament.

'It'll be similar to the way we played last year,” Jacobson said. 'My deal with our guys is we're going to be efficient. If efficient means we're going to do that in 65 possessions, great. If we do it in 75 (possessions), great.

'It doesn't matter to me the number of possessions. Our players understand we need to be efficient. That, for us, is the real key. Our personnel will dictate a little bit what we do with our offense and how fast we play. I will tell you this, and our guys will tell you, we're going to push the ball as hard as we can. I don't like the word fast, but we're going to work to get points in transition - every opportunity on missed shots.”

What exactly the team looks like will take greater shape after a scheduled closed scrimmage against Wisconsin in the next month-plus and the exhibition against Truman State.

Washpun stands to benefit the most from any and all changes, and he said he's both excited and ready for what's about to come.

'It'll space the floor out a little more, which will be pretty exciting,” Washpun said. 'After we get going here and play a couple exhibition games, I think we'll know a little bit (better) what our pace is really going to be. I'd anticipate a little in between; probably not as slowed down as we were last year, but not completely up-tempo either.

'I'm really excited. Coach has put a lot on me and I'm going to have to make a lot more decisions, but I'm looking forward to it and I'm glad he trusts me with the ball.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com