UNI learning to play with big leads

CEDAR FALLS — The way No. 11 Northern Iowa is playing these days, blowout wins are becoming commonplace.

The Panthers have won five straight by double-digits, dating back to Jan. 28, with the closest finish coming at Indiana State in a 10-point win. And though the team is full of experienced players, not a lot of that experience is in blowout situations.

So along with Coach Ben Jacobson, they're all learning together how best to go about playing with a big lead. With three games left between Sunday's 68-57 win at Missouri State and the Feb. 28 game at No. 13 Wichita State, there's a good chance they'll encounter the situation again.

'At times we've handled that well. And at times we haven't,' Jacobson said. 'When we've been fortunate enough to play well and get out to a double-digit lead, there's certainly some things we can do better from an execution standpoint on offense. In saying that, I do think that can be a tricky part of the game, between the five and eight-minute mark.'

That no man's land of time can either ensure a blowout win or it can let the opponent back into the game.

The Panthers (24-2, 13-1 Missouri Valley Conference) have run the gamut of situations in that regard. They've taken advantage of it from the trailing team perspective — they completed the comeback win at Illinois State after trailing by 12 — and have certainly seen every form of being on the winning side.

Jacobson said some games his team has run in transition, foot on the proverbial gas pedal, and it's both worked out in favor for UNI and worked against them in others. He said they've slowed things down in some games and it's worked, where other games they've slowed down and it hasn't. The latter could be seen Sunday, where the Panthers had a 26-point lead with 17:19 left in the game, but won by 11 and were outscored, 37-26, in the second half by Missouri State.

Even if he's been through it before as a coach, adjusting to how this team specifically will handle big leads is never easy.

'If you do happen to have a 15-16 point lead, just exactly how do you attack that offensively?' Jacobson said. 'I just think that part of the game can be a little tricky. The experiences we've had this year, what I'm coming away with is the most important thing for our team is to continue to be aggressive. I think that's when we've had our most success in keeping a lead.'

Obviously it's a good problem to have, and Jacobson is the first to use words like 'fortunate' to describe the situations.

He and the team don't take having leads of 15 to 20 points for granted, and that can be seen in how Jacobson deploys his players late into second halves of blowout games. Seth Tuttle can be seen in a game well past when one might think he should be — both from an injury and game-outcome perspective — because Jacobson knows most often no lead is safe in MVC play.

'As we've found out, Seth will be in the game. Aside from Seth, it's been different guys (at the end of games),' Jacobson said. 'The group of guys who have played well, or maybe the guys who have been in the rotation more that night, they're going to stay in for a long time. That's the way we've played it.'

LONG LAYOVER

Typically, like nearly every college basketball team in the nation, Northern Iowa returns home to Cedar Falls right after their game and postgame media availability have finished.

But winter weather made different plans for Jacobson and Co. on Sunday night, forcing the Panthers into another night in Springfield, Mo. after UNI's 68-57 win against the Bears. The Panthers departed Missouri around 1:30 p.m. on Monday, which didn't alter the team's preparation plans.

Jacobson wasn't about to let a little extra layover affect his team's routine too much.

'We (were) back in town by 3 o'clock or a little after, in plenty of time to get over to the gym and do a little bit,' Jacobson said. 'The guys did some workout stuff (Monday) morning, so it shouldn't have any impact on what we're doing for Wednesday.'

UP NEXT

Northern Iowa stays on the road for its next game — after coming home for about 36 hours before leaving for Chicago to play Loyola on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

The Panthers won, 67-58, when the Ramblers visited Cedar Falls. Guard Jeremy Morgan led UNI in that game with 18 points (a career-high), while Deon Mitchell added 13. Team leader Seth Tuttle was held to just nine points in that game, marking the last time this season — and one of only three games all year — where he was held to less than 10 points. Tuttle was named Missouri Valley Conference Co-Player of the Week on Monday, sharing the honors with Wichita State's Fred VanVleet.

Loyola marks the second-to-last road game of the season for UNI, which finishes the season at No. 13 Wichita State on Feb. 28.

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