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STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 2, 2017

St. Louis, Missouri - Arch Madness

THE MODERATOR: No. 3 seeded Northern Iowa Panthers are with us. They'll play the 6th seed Missouri State Bears. Ben Jacobson, the head coach, is here, along with Jordan Ashton and Jeremy Morgan. We're going to ask him to open up with a statement about his team, the tournament, the prospects.

BEN JACOBSON: We've had a good week. I think guys were maybe a little disappointed in our play the last couple games. I think anxious to get on the practice court and get prepared for what we know is going to be like the first two games, hard fought and close games with Missouri State the first time around there in both those games.

In terms of Jeremy and Jordan and what they've been able to do, obviously, a tough start for us, and these guys were able to get us to do the right things defensively and really making some of the changes we had to make so we could get on a good run, and we did that. What I asked them to do is understand that it's not easy to win 9 out of 10 games, whether it's the first 9 out of 10 or the middle 9 out of 10 or all the way toward the end of the season, and it took a lot from these two guys to get that done.

So really proud of what they've done to get us to the 3 seed and give us a chance here come tomorrow night. Paul's done a terrific job with these guys. And we understand what's coming, but I like the week we've had, and I love what these two guys have done. So I'm excited to get to tomorrow night.

Q. Jeremy, could you talk about how easy it is -- Coach talked about clearing the slate and putting the last couple weeks behind you and get going again. How easy is that for you as a player?
JEREMY MORGAN: You know, it's not easy, but it's just something that you have to do. Obviously, you've got to use that as motivation and go into this week firing. So that's what we're doing.

Q. Jeremy, how different does it feel this time around? You've been here a couple of times, but not a lot of returning guys back here for the Valley Tournament. How different does it feel for you with this group with a lot of newcomers to the tournament?
JEREMY MORGAN: A little bit, but in the same sense, it feels the same. It's just got a lot of excitement around it. Really excited to get to tomorrow night. I love this time of the year, and I think these guys are ready to go.

Q. Coach, it's been well documented the season that Alize Johnson has had for Missouri State. Rebounding is always something of importance that you preach to your team throughout the year. Given the year that he has had rebounding but also scoring the ball, does rebounding become even a bit more important looking at the matchup tomorrow night?
BEN JACOBSON: He's had as good a year for a first-year guy, whether it be a freshman or a transfer, a junior college or Division I transfer, as anybody that I can think of in the time that I've been at our place. He's just put together a terrific season. No question that it's a challenge to keep him off the boards.

This time of year and after you've seen each other a couple of times and after you've gotten to know each other pretty well, it gets to the point where you've got to have guys just rise up to the challenge, and I think we've got some guys that are -- they understand it's going to be a challenge, and they know it's going to be a difficult challenge. They understand how good he is and how good Missouri State is, but like I said, I'm looking forward to tomorrow night, and you've got to have some guys just step up and rise to the challenge. At some point technique goes out the window.

These guys have done a great job this week in practice, and I think they're ready to take that challenge on, as difficult as it's going to be.

Q. Jordan, this is your first Missouri Valley Conference postseason tournament. How excited are you for tomorrow night to get this first tournament game in?
JORDAN ASHTON: Yeah, I'm real excited about it. I watched this tournament last year and years before that as well. It seems like a lot of fun, a lot of excitement at this time of the year, of course. So I'm ready to get going tomorrow.

Q. Coach Jake, just talk about facing Missouri State for the third time. You split the regular season series with them. Maybe if the two guys could comment on that too, playing the same team three times that you split the regular season games with.
THE MODERATOR: Jeremy, then Jordan, then finish up with Ben.

JEREMY MORGAN: Obviously, they got us at our place early. They played us tough again later on in the season when we played them a second time. They're a good team. No game you play down here is going to be easy. They're all going to be difficult. So it's just another challenge we're going to have to overcome, and all the guys are ready to get going.

JORDAN ASHTON: I feel like it just comes down to execution, a lot of it. Both teams, we've played each other twice. We both know kind of what each other wants to do, certain types of plays, things like that. So whatever team plays tougher, smarter, and executes better should come out on top.

BEN JACOBSON: That's the -- it seems like I'm getting a little bit older now. This is 11 times as a head coach and 16 in total now being down here and being a part of this. As the guys have alluded to, it's an exciting time of year because you have the opportunity to go out on a larger stage and compete for something that's worth competing for. And it's going to be the third time you play no matter who it is and no matter what year it is, and the guys said it well about what it's going to take.

At the end of the day, you've got to -- Jeremy mentioned it briefly about coming out firing, and Jordan mentioned it about toughness and competing. I learned a few years back that trying to put in a bunch of new plays -- we've got -- like everybody else, we've got one or two things that will be a little bit different, but 90-plus percent of what we need to do tomorrow we've been working on all year, and in particular, the last month. So it's not about tricks tomorrow night, and if you get to Saturday or you get to Sunday. It's about being who you are, and it's about having the will and the toughness to compete for what's worth fighting for on Sunday.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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