Cold shooting plagued the U.N.I. Panthers as they lost to SMU 57-50 last night in the quarterfinal round of the Collegeinsiders.com tournament in Cedar Falls. The Panthers shot a dismal 27% from the field, including going just five of 25 from beyond the three-point arc.
U.N.I. coach Ben Jacobson says that the Panthers were taking good shots, particularly in the first half. He says they had a lot of good looks that they usually make at home, but just missed the shots. Jacobson says in the second half they didn’t get a lot of good looks.
Jacobson says it was a turnaround from the game last week where they beat Rider 84-50. He says they took a lot of the same shots in the first half in that game and made 10 of them. Jacobson says when the shots don’t go in, you have to do a lot of things right defensively.
SMU big man Papa Dia led the Mustangs with 17 points and 21 rebounds. He scored fifteen of his points in the first half to help the visitors get in front, but Jacobson says that Dia didn’t do anything the Panthers weren’t expecting. He says they didn’t defend him good enough as they had seen a lot of him on the film. Jacobson says their best player shouldn’t get 10 or 12 points in the first five minutes.
U.N.I. finishes the season with a 20-14 record. They closed the season by losing eight of their final ten contests.
By Jesse Gavin KCNZ Cedar Falls