The Northern Iowa men?s basketball team that will play Bradley on Wednesday night at Carver Arena is not the methodical, defensive-minded group BU fans have grown used to seeing for the last couple of decades.
While these Panthers (10-8, 4-2) are still anchored inside by the farmboy-strong presences of Seth Tuttle, Chip Rank and Nate Buss, there are now some jet-fast athletes on the perimeter like Deon Mitchell, Wes Washpun and Jeremy Morgan that give this program a decidedly new look.
It?s shown up particularly on the offensive end where UNI is averaging 72.7 points per game and a league-high 74.8 in MVC contests, the highest numbers at Northern Iowa since the prolific-scoring duo of Randy Blocker and Cam Johnson roamed the UNI-Dome 20 years ago.
?No question it?s different,? said UNI coach Ben Jacobson. ?There are parts of it I like quite a bit. Our offense in the open floor and in transition has been very good for us this year. We can put a lot of points on the board in 3-4 minute stretches.?
Aside from more scoring, the Panthers are taking great care of the ball, averaging just 11.1 turnovers. Their 2-1 assist-to-turnover ratio in Valley games, led by Mitchell?s outstanding 25-7 ratio, also is best in the league.
?Our group has learned how to play faster and keep turnovers down, which is a result of learning to play together,? Jacobson said. ?That has really helped us be a better basketball team in the past month. But the reason we?ve won more games in the past month is our defense and rebounding have improved.
?We still have a lot of room for improvement on the defensive end. If we can take that big step forward on the defensive end and rebounding, I feel like we have a good chance of winning each time we play.?
Those improved numbers since the Panthers dismantled Bradley 80-46 on New Year?s Day in Cedar Falls don?t bode well for the Braves (7-12, 2-4), who have also shown signs of improvement since then.
After considering that rout, BU coach Geno Ford has come to one conclusion ? he?s not going to watch a repeat of Tuttle?s Jan. 1 performance when he scored 24 points in 23 minutes.
?When he can dominate you inside, they?re really good because they have a ton of shooters,? Ford said. ?It all comes down to Tuttle. He absolutely had his way with us. We tried six different guys on him and none of them had an answer. We?ve shown we can?t guard him one on one. To go that way again would make no sense.?
