It’s been five years since the Hoyas have come back to the Hilltop with even one NCAA Tournament victory under their collar. Tomorrow, Georgetown will wrestle with Northern Iowa in a first-round contest that pits them against this year’s mid-major conference of choice, the Missouri Valley, which sends four teams to this year’s tournament.
The Panthers enter the tournament for the third consecutive year, and their No. 10 seed is the highest in school history. As a No. 14 in 2004, UNI fell to national runner-up Georgia Tech in the first round 65-60. Last year they dropped a 57-52 contest to Wisconsin as a No. 11 seed.
Despite a strong season, the Panthers limped to a weak finish, losing five of seven games, including a blow-out loss to the Oakland region’s No. 13 seed Bradley Braves 71-49 on Feb. 22. Before the disappointing finish, the Panthers put together one of their strongest seasons in school history. Their 23 wins tied a school record, they defeated the No. 3 seed in the Atlanta regional, Iowa, 67-63 in December and they downed No. 4 seed LSU 54-50 two weeks later as part of a 10-1 non-conference start.
The Panthers’ strong start garnered them a No. 25 national ranking in late February. The balanced veteran team is led by fifth-year coach Greg McDermott, who has done well by getting his team into March in all but the first two years of his tenure.
Senior forward Ben Jacobsen is without a doubt the one player who makes the Panthers go. A first-team all-MVC selection a year ago after leading the conference in scoring at 17.9 points per game, Jacobsen has a sweet stroke from outside, leading to just over 14 points per game this year.
SeeSThis season, however, is his worst statistically in terms of three point (32.9) and field goal percentage (38.9). Still, averaging about four boards and four assists, he can fill up a stat sheet, receiving Mid-Major All-American honors from Collegeinsider.com. He is the unquestioned leader of McDermott’s squad. Despite their efficient attack, hitting 45.7 percent of their shots, if Jacobsen is off it will be tough for the Panthers to stay with the Hoyas, who force opponents to treasure each possession by running down the shot clock when they have the ball.
Forwards Grant Stout and Eric Coleman, along with guard Erik Crawford, give the Panthers the most support for Jacobsen. Stout averaged 12 points, leads the team with 8.9 rebounds a game and shot 56.3 percent from the floor, ranking in the MVC top-10 in every category. He is also a defensive force to be reckoned with, blocking 2.4 shots a game. Coleman is not too far behind Stout, averaging 11.7 points and 7.1 rebounds. His 57.3 percent shooting from the field leads the Panther squad. Crawford also adds 10 points a game to the Panthers’ offensive production.
With this even distribution of scoring, the Panthers better make sure they hit their shots, because their Achilles heel is rebounding, especially on the offensive glass. One thing that caused their drop from first in the MVC to fifth late in the year was their inability to get second-chance points. The Panthers average only 8.44 offensive boards per game, last in their conference. With Stout, their tallest player who gets any playing time at six-foot-eight inches, the Hoyas will have a huge advantage inside with sophomore center Roy Hibbert having an easy six inches on Stout. Along with six feet nine inch forwards Brandon Bowman and Jeff Green, more than half of the Hoyas starting five will be taller than UNI’s biggest man.
Tomorrow afternoon, look for the Hoyas to exploit their obvious advantage in the frontcourt and force the Panthers to hit their shots from outside. If the ball isn’t falling for Jacobsen and Co. it could be a long bus ride home to Cedar Rapids for Northern Iowa.
