There?s no reason that Saturday?s loss needs to linger for the Northern Iowa men?s basketball team.
The final BracketBusters game for the Panthers was a bummer, a 63-57 setback to Denver. But coach Ben Jacobson also believes it was just a bump in the road for a team that had won six consecutive games before that and which now re-enters Missouri Valley Conference play for two final games before the league tournament.
?This is one that obviously you want in the win column, because then it helps whatever chances that may be to whichever tournament,? Jacobson said of the significance of the loss for Northern Iowa (17-12, 10-6 Valley). ?I told the guys after, it doesn?t change how well we?re playing. We played good tonight, we weren?t great. But we played good, we really fought hard.
"So nothing changed in terms of that. I told them we?ll go back into league play and we?ve got 80 minutes left, starting with the 40 on the road. So the confidence stays up. Keep playing with that momentum that we?ve got and get ready to play our best game against Southern (Illinois).?
That game is at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Carbondale, Ill. The Salukis (12-16, 4-12) sit at the bottom of the conference standings, but have won their past three home games.
?It was a good game for us to play, playing against someone not in our conference. It maybe showed some things we could work on as a team,? Panther guard Marc Sonnen said. ?We can?t let this stop how we?ve been doing. We?ve got two games left in conference and we?ve just got to worry about those two games. Get past this game and worry about what we need to work on for the next two teams.?
After Southern Illinois, the Panthers conclude the regular season by hosting Illinois State on Saturday.
A focus will be on avoiding lengthy scoring droughts that seem to plague Northern Iowa in every game. On Saturday, the Panthers were stuck on 21 points for a stretch of 8:12 in the first half, during which the Pioneers scored 16 points to turn the game around. Jacobson said his team did too much standing around on offense during that time, and took the blame for that.
?I didn?t have the guys in the right spots, and that slowed us down,? Jacobson said. ?In the second half, we were doing some things that were different, and pretty much every possession we had a good look in the second half.?
That included running the offense through center Seth Tuttle, who responded with a game-high 18 points despite battling an illness. His contributions could be vital again Wednesday against a smaller Saluki team that starts four guards.
The final BracketBusters game for the Panthers was a bummer, a 63-57 setback to Denver. But coach Ben Jacobson also believes it was just a bump in the road for a team that had won six consecutive games before that and which now re-enters Missouri Valley Conference play for two final games before the league tournament.
?This is one that obviously you want in the win column, because then it helps whatever chances that may be to whichever tournament,? Jacobson said of the significance of the loss for Northern Iowa (17-12, 10-6 Valley). ?I told the guys after, it doesn?t change how well we?re playing. We played good tonight, we weren?t great. But we played good, we really fought hard.
"So nothing changed in terms of that. I told them we?ll go back into league play and we?ve got 80 minutes left, starting with the 40 on the road. So the confidence stays up. Keep playing with that momentum that we?ve got and get ready to play our best game against Southern (Illinois).?
That game is at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Carbondale, Ill. The Salukis (12-16, 4-12) sit at the bottom of the conference standings, but have won their past three home games.
?It was a good game for us to play, playing against someone not in our conference. It maybe showed some things we could work on as a team,? Panther guard Marc Sonnen said. ?We can?t let this stop how we?ve been doing. We?ve got two games left in conference and we?ve just got to worry about those two games. Get past this game and worry about what we need to work on for the next two teams.?
After Southern Illinois, the Panthers conclude the regular season by hosting Illinois State on Saturday.
A focus will be on avoiding lengthy scoring droughts that seem to plague Northern Iowa in every game. On Saturday, the Panthers were stuck on 21 points for a stretch of 8:12 in the first half, during which the Pioneers scored 16 points to turn the game around. Jacobson said his team did too much standing around on offense during that time, and took the blame for that.
?I didn?t have the guys in the right spots, and that slowed us down,? Jacobson said. ?In the second half, we were doing some things that were different, and pretty much every possession we had a good look in the second half.?
That included running the offense through center Seth Tuttle, who responded with a game-high 18 points despite battling an illness. His contributions could be vital again Wednesday against a smaller Saluki team that starts four guards.
