UNI’s Historic Run

First Six Seed to Claim Arch Madness

(St. Louis, MO) – When the odds-makers made Northern Iowa the second most likely Missouri Valley Conference team to win the league tournament, there were some eyes that rolled. No Valley team had ever won four games to claim the Arch Madness title, but after UNI’s historic run, we must ask, ‘how did they know’ and ‘how did that happen?’

Ben Jacobson had previously coached four Panther teams to an Arch Madness title, but like every other championship ever, it had come from a seed better than sixth and never did it include winning four games in four days.

With eleven returners on the roster, UNI was picked to finish second to Illinois State in the league race. The Redbirds were loaded with returners too. When the Panthers stumbled a bit in mid-conference season, it did real damage to not just their title hopes, but to their positioning for the postseason tournament.

The five-game losing streak coincided with forward Tristan Smith’s injury-caused absence. UNI lost six of seven games. His return to full-time duty took some time. His first post-injury start was the team’s last game before the MVC Tournament.

With Smith partially back in the lineup, the Panthers went 4-1 and stood at 10-7 in league play. They had home games with Southern Illinois and Illinois State and a road encounter with Drake left and looked like they could challenge for second or third place in the MVC race.

They dropped those two home games and coach Jacobson says the loss to Illinois State was a painful one. Some goals were now out-of-reach and Jacobson held a team meeting that set the course for the rest of the season.

 

 

 

Since the Meeting

UNI is 5-0 since that team meeting with four of the victories coming by 15 or more points. Smith has started all five and ‘Coach Jake’s’ rotation has narrowed. Ben Schwieger and R.J. Taylor come off the bench to support Smith, tournament MVP Trey Campbell, Leon Bond III, Will Hornseth and Max Weisbrod.

During this five game stretch, Smith, Campbell, Hornseth, Bond and Schwieger are all averaging between 9.6 points-per-game (Hornseth) and 15.6 (Campbell). They have seemingly taken their turns on what their specific role might be.

While Campbell led them in scoring three times, the 6’8 Hornseth has twice led them in assists and is yet to have the highest rebounding performance. During Sunday’s championship game, Campbell scored 23 points, but the other six all hit big shots.

Schwieger popped in 18 points and Weisbrod and Hornseth scored ten. Smith had huge stat-line of nine points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Weisbrod matched Smith’s scoring total.

When Illinois Chicago made a second half run at the Panthers and closed a large gap down to three points, back-to-back, athletic lay ups by Bond turned the tide. UIC made a three-pointer, to close the gap to two points, but the momentum had shifted back to the Panthers.

Schwieger, Jacobson and Bond all talk about those athletic LB3 finishes.

What’s Next?

While we wait for Selection Sunday, we have the unique opportunity to reflect on a group of players that chose to ‘stay home’ and not look for greener pastures. This group of Panthers was rewarded with a conference tournament title and now a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

This is Jacobson’s fifth March Madness excursion. His 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2016 teams went dancing and in three of those tournaments the Panthers claimed a first round win. His 2010 team traveled to the Sweet Sixteen.

We’ll have more on Panther NCAA Tournament history throughout the next two weeks.

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