Northern Iowa won its second consecutive Missouri Valley Conference tournament title in dramatic style Sunday, as the Panthers edged Evansville, 56-54, in the championship game at the Scottrade Center.
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Evansville defeated Indiana State 68-42 on Saturday night in the semifinals of Arch Madness, the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) tournament. Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet were limited to a combined total of eight made field goals on 31 attempts. Balentine finished with a game-high 20 points and was named to the All-Tournament team.
“We learned our lesson going through that period of time”, said Jacobson.
Lohaus said the key will be digging for steals to try and slow the tempo of the game.
Wichita State turned the ball over on a shot clock violation, ironically.
Northern Iowa’s mid-season slump felt miserable, frustrating and seemingly endless to the players.
Perhaps no team that hears its name called on Selection Sunday will have had a more freakish road to the NCAA Tournament than the Panthers. Although the program has really, really good wins this year (North Carolina and Iowa State), it took on too many losses to truly be considered for at-large status.
“Oh, man – I don’t think I’ve really processed them enough to go through them and rate them all”, said Washpun.
“We feel like we’ll definitely be playing somewhere, we just hope it’s the NCAA Tournament”, Frankamp said.
Wichita State had won six straight games. I thought we drove the basketball.
“We’ve dreamed about it since we were kids”, Blake Simmons said. Washpun snapped that drought with a three-point basket, and the competition was on.
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Washpun finished with 18 points, five rebounds and three assists, while his teammate, Klint Carlson, had 17 points. “It’s a special win, ranks up there with the biggest ones we’ve had this season”. It’s being relaxed and believing in each other.
