What could help Wichita State basketball defeat another former Missouri Valley rival

A different kind of energy filled Koch Arena last season when the Shockers matched up with a former Missouri Valley Conference foe.

Wichita State men’s basketball coach Paul Mills is expecting another good crowd on Thursday when the 2-0 Shockers face Northern Iowa for the first time since leaving the Valley. Tipoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. with the game available to watch on streaming through ESPN+.

“People recognize familiar names, so it’s always good when you can bring somebody in that fans are familiar with,” Mills said. “I’m not historian, but I know Creighton and Northern Iowa were the two that stick out from the Missouri Valley that were constant nemeses around here.”

The college basketball world is an entirely different place from when ESPN’s College GameDay came to Wichita in 2015 to cover the Shockers’ 74-60 win over UNI at Koch Arena to decide the Missouri Valley championship.

But one constant that will stand out to long-time WSU fans on Thursday is who is on the sidelines for the Panthers. Ben Jacobson is in his 19th season as head coach at UNI. He’s been around so long that he once battled Mark Turgeon, who coincidentally will be in attendance for Thursday’s game.

Jacobson owns a 4-7 record in the Roundhouse, which is better than most from his Valley peers. He most notably engineered a stunning 53-50 upset over the Shockers at Koch Arena in 2016, which was WSU’s first home loss in nearly three years and snapped the nation’s longest home winning streak at the time at 43 games.

“I’ve had a lot of fans come up to me and tell me how Ben Jacobson approaches games here in the Roundhouse and what I need to prepare for,” Mills said. “I’ve heard some say they’re going to play extremely slow because they don’t want the crowd to get into it and that Ben is notorious for that when they come here.”

It is true UNI played the slow-down game to the tune of 59 possessions in its 2016 upset — for reference, WSU’s 91-84 win at Western Kentucky featured 83 possessions. And while Jacobson’s teams typically play at a slower pace, it doesn’t appear likely Thursday’s game will be anywhere close to that kind of crawl.

The Panthers return three starters from last season’s 19-win team, including forward Tytan Anderson, who was picked before the season as a first team all-MVC player. But the matchup that has Mills weary is 6-foot-11 center Jacob Hutson, who caught the coach’s attention by hitting three 3s in UNI’s recent 80-60 loss to UC Irvine.

The recent development — Hutson had just 21 career 3s in 104 games before the outburst — will put plenty of pressure on WSU’s own 6-11 center, Quincy Ballard, who is among the nation’s best shot blockers. The Panthers won’t chuck as many 3s as WSU’s previous opponent, Montana State, but they have shot 46.3% from beyond the arc in their past two games.

“Quincy is going to have to stay down,” Mills said. “We don’t expect him to block shots on the perimeter. The thing we talk to him a lot about is being the second jumper. You’re never the first jump. (Ballard’s) ability to block shots is within six feet of the rim, let’s not get extended out to 23. We don’t need to play backside 5-on-4 because Quincy eliminates himself trying to block shots on the perimeter. Just use your length and if they shoot over you, they shoot over you. As long as you get a hand up and you’re the second jump, we’re OK with that.”

The betting lines have established WSU as an eight-point favorite for Thursday’s game, but one factor that could play heavily into determining a winner is when shots go up on WSU’s end of the court.

The Shockers feel like they should be an above-average offensive rebounding team with the likes of Ballard, Corey Washington, Ronnie DeGray III and Matej Bosnjak. But WSU has collected less than 29% of its own misses this season, which ranks No. 202 in the country.

Meanwhile, UNI has ranked top-12 nationally in defensive rebounding percentage for the last seven seasons under Jacobson. The Panthers have looked somewhat vulnerable early this season, as they are giving up nearly 31% of opponent misses.

If WSU can make UNI pay on the glass and score second-chance points, that could go a long way in helping the Shockers vanquish a former Missouri Valley foe for the second straight year.

“There are things that we have to be good at, and rebounding the ball is one of them,” Mills said. “We haven’t rebounded the ball at a level we need to, so we’ve got to get a lot better there. From film to drills, there’s not anything we don’t drill on the court that they’re not going to see in a game. So we just need a lot more carryover from what’s happening over there on the practice court to what’s happening in games.”

Northern Iowa at Wichita State basketball preview

When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday

Where: Koch Arena (10,506), Wichita

How to watch: ESPN+ (Shane Dennis with Bob Hull)

Radio: KEYN, 103.7-FM (Mike Kennedy with Dave Dahl)

Series history: Tied 28-28 (WSU leads 17-9 in Wichita)

KenPom says: WSU 80, UNI 72

Projected starting lineups

Northern Iowa Panthers (2-1)

Coach: Ben Jacobson, 19th season, 356-234

Wichita State Shockers (2-0)

Coach: Paul Mills, second season, 17-19

This story was originally published November 13, 2024 at 2:09 PM.

Taylor Eldridge

The Wichita Eagle

316-268-6270

Wichita State athletics beat reporter. Bringing you closer to the Shockers you love and inside the sports you love to watch.