It wasn?t just the pain of losing basketball games.
It was the anguish of watching players get outworked, of seeing the smiles disappear from once-friendly faces.
Marc Sonnen had seen enough. So he called his Northern Iowa teammates together to deliver a little Sunday sermon. No coaches allowed.
?I told everybody, ?You can?t play basketball forever, you?ve got to cherish the moment,? ? the junior guard said after his team dropped two games last week in which it scored a total of 105 points, its lowest two outputs of the Missouri Valley Conference season. ?A lot of times, it helps players when you talk to each other, teammate to teammate.
?I thought everybody talked and got out how they felt. If they had any issues, any problems, just get it off your chest so we can move on.?
Northern Iowa (14-9, 4-7 Valley) moves on with a 7 p.m. game against Southern Illinois (7-15, 4-7) at the McLeod Center on Tuesday. The Panthers have lost eight of their past 12 games after a 10-1 start had them as high as No. 2 in the RPI.
Coach Ben Jacobson said his team needs to move more fluidly on offense to create better scoring opportunities for each other. And he?d like to see more toughness when it comes to defense and rebounding.
?It may sound crazy, but I pay very little attention to what our record is,? Jacobson said. ?I don?t like it at 4-7, but that doesn?t have any impact on the things I do when we?re watching film, when I put together a practice plan, when I talk to the guys about where we?ve got to make improvements.?
Sonnen echoed that sentiment, saying, ?You?ve got to keep working hard no matter what your record is.?
And he?s not exempting himself. Sonnen is seeing extra attention from opposing defenses after averaging 11.1 points in the first eight Valley games. In the past three games, that output has slipped to 5.0.
?That?s when I?ve got to take my game and make more off the dribble, or free up my teammates,? he said.
?Sometimes when we miss shots and mess up, we get down on ourselves. I felt like we just didn?t move on to the next play. ? If we pick up our intensity on defense and really dig in to, no matter what, not let somebody score on us, that will help our offense, too.?
The Panthers might have to make those strides without leading scorer Anthony James, who didn?t practice Monday. Jacobson said the junior shooting guard landed hard on his shoulder and neck in a Jan. 22 victory over Drake, then came down on his tailbone in Saturday?s loss at Missouri State. He reinjured an ankle sometime in that stretch as well.
?We?ve played better offensively for a pretty good stretch until this last week. We weren?t as sharp with our movement and sometimes when that happens, guys want to snap our team out of it, and maybe press a little bit, rush a shot,? Jacobson said. ?We?ve got to slow things back down.?
It was the anguish of watching players get outworked, of seeing the smiles disappear from once-friendly faces.
Marc Sonnen had seen enough. So he called his Northern Iowa teammates together to deliver a little Sunday sermon. No coaches allowed.
?I told everybody, ?You can?t play basketball forever, you?ve got to cherish the moment,? ? the junior guard said after his team dropped two games last week in which it scored a total of 105 points, its lowest two outputs of the Missouri Valley Conference season. ?A lot of times, it helps players when you talk to each other, teammate to teammate.
?I thought everybody talked and got out how they felt. If they had any issues, any problems, just get it off your chest so we can move on.?
Northern Iowa (14-9, 4-7 Valley) moves on with a 7 p.m. game against Southern Illinois (7-15, 4-7) at the McLeod Center on Tuesday. The Panthers have lost eight of their past 12 games after a 10-1 start had them as high as No. 2 in the RPI.
Coach Ben Jacobson said his team needs to move more fluidly on offense to create better scoring opportunities for each other. And he?d like to see more toughness when it comes to defense and rebounding.
?It may sound crazy, but I pay very little attention to what our record is,? Jacobson said. ?I don?t like it at 4-7, but that doesn?t have any impact on the things I do when we?re watching film, when I put together a practice plan, when I talk to the guys about where we?ve got to make improvements.?
Sonnen echoed that sentiment, saying, ?You?ve got to keep working hard no matter what your record is.?
And he?s not exempting himself. Sonnen is seeing extra attention from opposing defenses after averaging 11.1 points in the first eight Valley games. In the past three games, that output has slipped to 5.0.
?That?s when I?ve got to take my game and make more off the dribble, or free up my teammates,? he said.
?Sometimes when we miss shots and mess up, we get down on ourselves. I felt like we just didn?t move on to the next play. ? If we pick up our intensity on defense and really dig in to, no matter what, not let somebody score on us, that will help our offense, too.?
The Panthers might have to make those strides without leading scorer Anthony James, who didn?t practice Monday. Jacobson said the junior shooting guard landed hard on his shoulder and neck in a Jan. 22 victory over Drake, then came down on his tailbone in Saturday?s loss at Missouri State. He reinjured an ankle sometime in that stretch as well.
?We?ve played better offensively for a pretty good stretch until this last week. We weren?t as sharp with our movement and sometimes when that happens, guys want to snap our team out of it, and maybe press a little bit, rush a shot,? Jacobson said. ?We?ve got to slow things back down.?
