Jake The Giant Killer

(St. Louis, MO) – Northern Iowa has done it again. For the second time this season the Panthers have knocked off a top five team. Saturday’s win over Number 5 Iowa State (81-79) gave the Cyclones their first lost of the season and UNI improved to 7-3.

Head Coach Ben Jacobson is gaining a ‘giant killer’ reputation. For the second time this year and the third time in his career, Jacobson has engineered victories over teams ranked in the top five in national polls, and Saturday’s win was his seventh against top 25 teams in his nine plus seasons at UNI.

As Indiana State Head Coach Greg Lansing says, “Nothing they ever do surprises me. I love those guys and want them to win every game they play, accept when they play us.”

As Jacobson, who is 6-2 against Iowa State told www.unipanthers.com he loves the way his team plays with confidence.

“That’s something I really like about our guys, they have the ability to rise to the occasion. They do believe in what we’re doing and more importantly they believe in each other.” Jacobson said.

As we’ve noted before, point guard Wes Washpun steps up in games like these. He scored 16 in the Panther win over nationally ranked Wichita State in January, had 21 points and eight assists in November’s win over then Number One North Carolina, and Saturday he set career highs with 28 points and eleven assists against the Cyclones.

Washpun felt a little bit of redemption with Saturday’s triumph, saying they missed an opportunity the last time they played ISU, “We played these guys a couple of years ago and felt like we let one get away there. The guys who played in that decided we weren’t going to let that happen again.” (courtesy of www.unipanthers.com)

UNI shot over 59% from long distance (13 of 22), including Paul Jesperson’s seven treys in nine attempts. When Jesperson fouled out late in the game, his teammates told him they would hold on and win one for him. His 21 points were a career high.

The game was part of the Hy-Vee Big Four Classic played in Des Moines. Fellow Valley member Drake fell to Iowa of the Big 10 by the score of 70-64. Iowa is now 8-3 and the Bulldogs who fell to 4-7 were led by sophomore Reed Timmer’s 25 points.

A potential opponent for Northern Iowa in this week’s Diamond Head Classic is number 3 Oklahoma. Northern begins the tournament with a game against host Hawaii on Tuesday.

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