UNI's hard lessons 'why we've come through this' into wins

DES MOINES — In the midst of a four-game losing streak, Northern Iowa men's basketball coach Ben Jacobson did everything he could to remind his players hope had not been lost.

Even through a 41-point effort against Loyola and a 19-point loss to Wichita State, the Panthers were reminded to stay the course.

That effort by the coaching staff and players has manifested itself in a four-game winning streak to answer the losses, furthered Saturday in Des Moines with a dominant 82-66 win against Drake inside the Knapp Center.

'The hardest part when you're in it is to convince them it is going to get better. Because when you've played well, as this group did prior to that stretch, they know they can play better,' Jacobson said. 'That, to me, is the biggest job for our coaching staff — to somehow convince them it's going to be better. I think that's the reason why we're playing better now, is our practices stayed good the entire time when we weren't playing great.

'That's why we've come through this, and that's why we're playing better.'

Body language is often a huge indicator for where a team is at mentally, and during the losing streak, the Panthers' (14-11, 6-6 Missouri Valley Conference) wasn't great.

But they listened to the message Jacobson and the staff were sending out. That belief has paid off and the results in the last two weeks prove it.

'Sometimes things don't go your way. You get down in some slumps, but we were never going to lay down,' said Jeremy Morgan, who had 14 points and six assists. 'That was never going to be us. He kept telling us to keep fighting and keep working and things would turn around for us.'

Jacobson's assessment that UNI is playing better might be a bit of an understatement.

During the four-game losing streak, UNI shot 37.3 percent from the field and 29.7 percent from 3-point range. In the last four wins, those numbers jumped to 48.2 percent from the field and 45.6 percent from deep. The Panthers went 34 of 55 from the field against the Bulldogs, which is five more made field goals than in the Loyola and Wichita State games combined. Paul Jesperson — who hadn't hit a 3-pointer in the two games since his eight against Bradley — led UNI with 21 points on 8 of 13 shooting. Wes Washpun added 15 on a perfect 7 of 7 game, with six assists.

All that to say the shifts Jacobson and Co. have made on offense are working. Washpun is no longer running the ball screen into the ground while his teammates stand and watch.

Jacobson said UNI has structured ball screens in a way now that get more guys in more places, and run many actions now that don't involve a ball screen at all.

Movement has been the motor.

'Now everybody touches the ball, now everybody's moving. You see (Matt) Bohannon curling off some screens and different things happening that we weren't running,' Jacobson said. 'It all surrounds involving guys so more guys are touching the basketball, and getting some movement so the defense can't sit there and stare at Wes.

'That puts too much pressure on him. It's not that he can't make a play, but that is difficult, and that's on me. We're able to do a couple different things now that involve movement, and it takes Wes out of just standing there dribbling and trying to make a play for us.'

The changes make everything feel better — and not just emotionally.

The Panthers are more comfortable and with that comfort, confidence is back to where it was when UNI was beating the likes of North Carolina and Iowa State.

'It's more just being able to practice it; being used to guys screening and popping, getting catches, reversing the ball. It looks a lot more fluent out there and it feels a lot more fluid,' Jesperson said. 'Before, it felt like the ball was sticking a little bit. We haven't been running this offense too long, so as time goes along I think it's going to get even better.'

UNI learned a hard lesson in those four games they lost, and Jacobson said after the win against the Bulldogs (6-18, 1-11) it's that lesson that's gotten the Panthers here.

As low as they were and as hard as they worked to get back to .500 in league play and looking like the Panthers most expected they'd be, the work isn't done yet. Both players and coach said what they've gone through won't soon leave their minds — and just might set them up to make it through easier if hard times come again.

'Facts are facts. We're not going to be perfect. Just because (we were) going through it (then), doesn't mean we get to act differently or prepare differently,' Jacobson said. 'We're not any different than any other team. It happens. For us to think we're above struggling would be a mistake. Just taking them through that and helping them understand life isn't perfect and it isn't going to be. It isn't going to go your way all the time.

'You've got a job, and that's to respond.'

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