UNI men’s basketball trying to move on from head-scratching loss to Murray State

CEDAR FALLS — Explaining Saturday’s lopsided home loss to Murray State wasn’t any easier for Northern Iowa men’s basketball coach Ben Jacobson on Monday.

The 71-43 loss to the Racers left Jacobson and his players scratching their heads, even after watching the film ahead of returning to practice this week.

“I went through it and the guys went through it. It was strange in probably a couple ways, but the biggest one was it was 13-13 with 12 minutes gone,” Jacobson said. “Both teams had an opportunity to play better and get ahead by that point. We certainly had some chances, (but) we turned it over too much.

“The other part was just (that) it turned or flipped pretty quickly the last five minutes of the first half.”

With only eight Missouri Valley Conference games remaining before the conference tournament, the Panthers (12-11, 6-6 MVC) are not in position to let their historic loss linger.

Indiana State, Drake and Bradley are comfortably the league’s top three teams at the moment. After that, seven teams are realistically vying for the fourth and final first-round bye at the MVC tournament next month, including UNI, which finds itself a game behind Southern Illinois (15-8, 7-5) and one of three teams that are 6-6 in league play.

“One of the things that I’ve talked about, I think my entire coaching career, is the games all count for one,” Jacobson said. “So, whether it’s a game like Saturday that feels like it could count for five, it counts for one. That’s something we’ve been really consistent with.”

Beyond the right mentality to bounce back, the right basketball to do so isn’t complicated, according to Jacobson.

The 18th-year coach continues to describe how the difference between his team’s best games this season and their OK, or below-average games, has been execution of fundamentals.

“It’s the fundamental things, whether it’s passing, cutting, defensive rebounding, guarding the basketball (or) getting refused on a ball screen. That’s what costs you a close game,” Jacobson said. “When we had a great chance to beat a very good (Drake) team who hasn’t lost at home, because we played hard enough, hard to say we played good enough.

“Guys really competed in that game, but fundamentally we weren’t good enough.”

Next up for UNI is a critical matchup against one of the other two teams with a 6-6 MVC record in Missouri State (14-9).

The Panthers beat the Bears in Springfield, Mo., 64-62, on Jan. 3. However, the two teams are headed in opposite directions with the Bears having won four straight and UNI on a three-game losing streak.

“In their last three games they’re shooting 48 percent from the field (and) their opponents are shooting 41 percent,” Jacobson said. “In their rebounding they’ve got 29 more rebounds in the last three games. They’ve got a lot of really good things going. They’ve got a lot of really good momentum.”