Wednesday, January 4, 2017 6:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.
Sometimes when the task of writing Loyola game previews becomes grim– like for instance during a three-game losing streak when the team probably should have won at least two of the three games– I like to find little things to amuse myself. When looking over the Northern Iowa roster and box scores, the first thing I thought was the roster has a lot of names that sound like former Nixon administration aides. Klint Carlson, Wyatt Lohaus, Spencer Haldeman, Hunter Rhodes and Ted Friedman are not Watergate defendants, they’re UNI players.
The other thing that caught my eye is UNI is having one of their worst seasons in a long while. Sure, they were picked to finish third in the MVC, Jeremy Morgan was preseason player of the year, and they beat Arizona State and Oklahoma to start the year. But since then, they’ve eight of their last ten and four in a row. At 4-8 against Division I teams and off to an 0-2 start in conference, the Panthers are in serious danger of having their first season under .500 since 2002-03.
In the past, the UNI formula has been for wave after wave of new recruits, gym rats, and coaches’ sons to step in to take the place of the predecessors they’ve understudied. But the reliability and precision of the model has come apart this year. Last season the Panthers had four players average double digits in points, and as a team they shot 51.6% on their two-point field goal attempts. This year they have one player in double digits, and they’re shooting only 44.1% on two-pointers. Their normally excellent three point shooting is down, too, from 37.4% last year to 35.3% this season. And without Wes Washpun’s ability to drive to the basket and make defense into offense, their already deliberate pace has slowed to a crawl.
Coach Jacobson has been mixing and matching lineups, trying different players in different quantities to find a winning formula. The only constant has been 6’5” senior guard Jeremy Morgan, the only UNI player to start every game this season. Morgan averages 17.5 ppg and 7.0 rebounds, leading the team in both categories. And while we’re at it, he leads the team in blocks, steals, assists, made three pointers, made free throws, and free throw percentage. Joining him in the back court is 6’1” redshirt freshman guard Spencer Haldeman, who was named Iowa high school player of the year two years ago. Haldeman is the second leading scorer on the team at 8.9 points per game, and shoots the three at a decent clip— but he’s taken only 15 shots all year inside the three-point arc. Jordan Ashton, a 6’4” senior guard who averages 7.0 points and 3.7 rebounds, has been starting sometimes– depending on matchups. Ashton has been taking a lot of the minutes expected to go to 6’2” junior Wyatt Lohaus, who has been suffering from an ankle injury since late November and has only played six games this season.
The big men are where UNI has probably suffered the most. Six-seven junior forward Klint Carlson made a significant improvement from his freshman to sophomore season, but has regressed a bit as a junior. He’s averaging 8.0 points and 4.3 rebounds, but his free throw and two point field goal percentage has declined from last year. Bennet Koch is a 6’9” junior forward who starts or comes off the bench depending on the matchups and averages 8.2 point and 1.9 rebounds. Six-foot-nine junior center Ted Friedman also gets starts on occasions but is not a major scoring factor, scoring only 12 points on the season.
Jawan McCloud, a 5’11” freshman guard has been getting uneven time while averaging 4.0 ppg on the year. He had a good game last time out with 13 points against Evansville, so he might be a starter against the Ramblers. Also coming off the bench are 6’5” freshman guard Isiah Brown, and 6’11” freshman center Justin Dahl.
The Ramblers have always played the Panthers pretty tough no matter how good or bad the teams are. Loyola is 3-4 against UNI since joining he league, thanks to a Loyola sweep last year. But UNI is resilient, and they play with a lot of pride.
Things also didn’t look too good for UNI at about this time last year. On Jan. 23, 2016, the Panthers were at 10-11 overall and 2-6 in conference after a loss at Illinois State. From then on, they went 13-1 before being eliminated in the third round of the NCAA Tournament in double overtime. Their one loss from late January to mid March was a 59-56 loss at Gentile Arena. Hopefully that doesn’t mean Loyola is at the top of UNI’s enemies list, and the Panthers will wait one more game before coming alive and turning around their season, as they usually do.
LINKS
Loyola game notes: Pending
Ramblermania message board discussion
Northern Iowa game notes (PDF)
TV/Streaming video: Comcast Sportsnet Chicago, ESPN3
Radio: WLUW 88.7 FM (Get the app!)
Vegas odds: Pending
