The U.N.I. basketball team saw their nine game win streak come to an end with a 76-59 pounding at the hands of visiting Ohio at the McLeod Center last night. The Bobcats scored the game’s first six points and eventually led by as many as 21. Ohio maintained a double digit lead for most of the contest as they shot 52 percent for the game, the highest percentage that U.N.I. has allowed this season.
Ohio has lost just once this year, and U.N.I. coach Ben Jacobsen says they were just as good, if not better than the Panthers expected. Jacobsen says Ohio has played a lot of road games against good teams and they played very well and built a lead and he says his team couldn’t get back to where it was manageable.
Jacobsen says that despite the margin of the loss, there are still plenty of things for the Panthers to take away from the Ohio game, including some improvements in how they scout teams. “There’ll be a number of things that stand out when you go back and look at this tape,” Jacobsen says.
Jacobsen says the loss has nothing to do with U.N.I. needing to get a bad game out of their system, but is more so a product of playing against a very tough non-conference schedule. “When you put together a really good schedule, regardless of where it is and who it is, there’s a chance that you can get beat, and that’s something you can’t be afraid of,” Jacobsen says.
Jake Koch led U.N.I. with 15 points and 6 rebounds. U.N.I. now has eight days off before they open Missouri Valley Conference play at Illinois State next Thursday.
By Jesse Gavin, KCNZ, Cedar Falls