Exhibition season opens with Upper Iowa Saturday night

[Herdman]

The Peacocks are young having no seniors on the roster, but start 3 juniors with 3 years of starting experience. UNI will not have to worry much about this game, but UIU's roster is filled with Iowa kids so you know they'll want to show well.

http://www.upperiowaathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/102909aaa.html

This link has another link to UIU's media guide and game notes.

[panther2317]

Re: Exhibition season opens with Upper Iowa Saturday night

I'm excited about this game. For those that don't know, I'm the radio voice of Upper Iowa basketball. I'm a huge UNI fan and a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, but tomorrow I will wear Peacock Blue (some folks from Chapel Hill call it Carolina Blue) into the McLeod Center.

The Peacock program is built with Iowa kids. This is the year that they have been working towards in their program. They have talent and will be fun for fans to watch this season.

UIU is a team (after cheering for UNI) that you can get behind as they have good kids from Iowa towns living out their dream of playing college basketball. They will put up a good fight tomorrow in the McLeod and they have tons of respect for the Panther program.

Go Peacocks!

[Panther'73]

Re: Exhibition season opens with Upper Iowa Saturday night

The game is 12 noon. VB plays @ 7PM.

[9YRPLAN]

Re: Exhibition season opens with Upper Iowa Saturday night

isnt UIU pretty darn good every year for their division? there was one kid a few years back that was real solid, i think his name was nick larsen or something like that.

[Newt99]

Re: Exhibition season opens with Upper Iowa Saturday night

I'm the radio voice of Upper Iowa basketball. I'm a huge UNI fan and a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, but tomorrow I will wear Peacock Blue

ARRRRGH! DUAL FAN!!!! WHY DON'T YOU LEAVE THIS BOARD AND NEVER COME BACK!!!! ALL YOU EVER DO IS COME ON HERE AND TRY TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT TO UPPER IOWA. (INSERT YOUR FAVORITE OTHER IRRATIONAL IDIOCY HERE!!!!)

Seriously, good for you 2317, and good luck to the Peacocks today. I'm sure they're excited for the opportunity to challenge us today and I hope they put up a great showing. UNI could use a strong fight from their first exhibition opponent to get them off on the right foot this year.

[UNI Prof]

Re: Exhibition season opens with Upper Iowa Saturday night

Go Peacocks!

You did a good job of selling your program until this point.

[06panther10]

Re: Exhibition season opens with Upper Iowa Saturday night

Panthers win 67-39. KA scores 12, and Sonnen scores 11.

http://www.unipanthers.com/sports/m-...103109aaa.html

Anyone that went, how did we look?

[Panthers to the Bone]

Re: Exhibition season opens with Upper Iowa Saturday night

Nice to be back in the McLeod for a basketball game. Some thoughts (remember, it's just a pre-season game game).

1.) Eglseder was out for the game. As Linda Cohn says, "He's day-to-day...but aren't we all". He'll be back for next Saturday's matchup.

2.) Balanced minutes and hockey shift changes! Moran, Farokhmanesh, A. Koch, Kwadzo, and O'Rear all pretty much played exclusively together and finished with 20-21 minutes each. Good chemistry by the guys.

3.) Two Tartan guards lead the way. Kwadzo had 12 points (scored relatively easily) and 2 assists/2 TO's to lead the team in scoring. Freshman Marc Sonnen hit for 11 points and got 5 boards in 14 minutes, going perfect from the FT and 3 point lines.

4.) Good hustle and charges taken. UNI was taking charges whenever they could. I don't know how many were actually called, but the defense was very solid. Good communication, pressure, and positioning (for the most part).

5.) Jake Koch. Jake really played well today (6 points, 5 boards, 15 minutes). Had a smooth outside shot and went 3/4 from the FT line. His 1 for 6 shooting is probably a little deceiving as there were a couple shots where he was getting held pretty good on the way up. Regardless, to have a '4' able to extend defenses with a high release shot is going to be a great fit in Jake's system. Not sure how many minutes he'll get in the regular season rotation, but Jake and Rody should split those 4th post player minutes.

6.) Austin Pehl. There are times you can see the potential. He made some nice hustle plays, but also made some freshman mistakes (which, when you're a freshman that happens). Definitely seems to be the 6th post player this year, but another year of development will be nice.

7.) The supporting probable supporting guard cast. I was impressed with Kerwin's leadership in his minutes. He seemed to steady the guys when he was on the floor with the 4 other freshmen (James, Koch, Pehl, and Sonnen). Was efficient with the ball, going 2/2 from the field, with 1 assist and 1 steal. When Kerwin was out playing the '3', it really made for a long and stretched out frontcourt. Sonnen and James were the two who really seemed to make some good strides in the offseason. James was playing alot more within himself for the majority of the game. He had some nice drives and pull-ups that will fall, but 4 points and 3 boards in his time were good. He's just got to cut down on the TO's (1 assist/2 TO's) and he'll be able to get some valuable minutes this year. Sonnen was strong with the basketball. He should be able to get some very good minutes this year. Not sure at this point in time who will get more b/t James and Sonnen. Regardless, both should get some great experience, readying themselves to challenge for Ali's starting spot next year.

8.) Lucas O'Rear. Lucas had a nice game. His lone miss from the field was a dunk that slipped out of his hands, and then he hung on the rim which earned himself a 'T'. Nothing malicious about the 'T', it was the right call. Lucas was strong with the ball and finished around the rim rather nicely (one And-One, and one 'two handed stuffer'- hat tip to Gary). Seemed to be back to his old self and playing good ball, even after doing the baseball thing for a good chunk of the offseason.

9.) The starters. They were as expected and fairly steady. A few miscues and rust, but for being an exhibition, good all-around play. UIU was a great matchup for UNI, as they hung tough for most of the game (10-20 point game from about 10 min into the game, to 10 minutes left), before the lead expanded late. UIU made a run to cut it to 8 in the 2nd half, but UNI came back on a nice run to put them away (with both the starters and reserves playing---all of them).

10.) The to-be redshirts. Matt Morrison had a nice game in his limited minutes. Very steady and seemed to be having fun. He's actually a bit longer and well built than I had thought. A year with Jed is going to have Matt battling for back-up PG duty. I hadn't seen Tyler Lange before now, and he should be able to provide some nice depth. Probably a practice player for the first year or two, but has good size that should lend him to being similar to Rodenberg.

And, that's it. Hope everyone enjoyed the game.

[06panther10]

Re: Exhibition season opens with Upper Iowa Saturday night

Ask, and I shall recieve. Thanks PTTB.

Looking forward to seeing them play.

[Gboom23]

Re: Exhibition season opens with Upper Iowa Saturday night

Well, PTTB summed it up nicely. Overall, a little rust - but that should be expected considering it's the first game. I really liked what I saw from Sonnen and J. Koch - they should be very dependable down the road.

I also liked watching some of the Upper Iowa players as I remember playing against some of them in high school. Best of luck to them this year!

Any word on why Haak didn't see any time today? I noticed that he dressed, but don't remember seeing him in action.

[TheMacHouse]

Re: Exhibition season opens with Upper Iowa Saturday night

Looking at the stats UNI had 3 off rebounds on 26 missed shots. Was this the case of not having Jordan, UNI not going for the off boards, or did UIU have some good size? The FT % looks a little low also. I am just looking at some areas that might need improvement but only the first game and many players played so probably hard to get in a good game groove.

[Panthers to the Bone]

Re: Exhibition season opens with Upper Iowa Saturday night

FT were rusty, no doubt. Not sure on the offensive board situation. UNI historically has not been a good offensive rebounding team. Emphasis is on getting back and not allowing transition buckets.

[TheMacHouse]

Re: Exhibition season opens with Upper Iowa Saturday night

FT were rusty, no doubt. Not sure on the offensive board situation. UNI historically has not been a good offensive rebounding team. Emphasis is on getting back and not allowing transition buckets.

I was thinking the same thing about getting back but UNI did average almost 9 off boards a game last year. Since I wasn't at the game didn't know if getting back was more of an emphasis today than normal or just a difficult time at getting some of the boards.

It was only the first game so I don't think it really is an issue right now but would like to see a few more on the offensive end. Defensive rebounds are more important and they only gave up 4 off boards today on 32 missed FG attempts.

[Kyle]

Re: Exhibition season opens with Upper Iowa Saturday night

I thought we looked good today.

A Koch looks really smooth around the basket. He will be missed next season.

Hopefully our young bigs make some strides this year. They have big shoes to fill.

We are deep at guard. James, Sonnen, and Kerwin all looked solid. Morrison will benefit from a RS.

[DrewDog]

Re: Exhibition season opens with Upper Iowa Saturday night

Overall, I thought the Panthers looked pretty good today. I heard Jordan tweaked his back but nothing big. I hope that is the case. The level of defense the starters played was very good, and even more noticeable after their shift change back in. The younger guys looked good at times but their inexperience showed at other times. Sonnen is going to be one heck of a guard! James looked good but forced it a bit at times. Jake Koch needs to get stronger around the bucket, but that will come. Same thing for Pehl. It was obvious Pehl was gassed at the end of the game, but so was pretty much the entire UIU squad.

In the 2nd half, UIU pulled to within 39-31 and then the starters locked things down on defense and started pushing the ball more to force the tempo on UIU. It worked well since the Panthers outscored UIU 28-7 the rest of the game.