This time it’s about the players (hopefully).

Last season, ISU basketball coach Greg McDermott returned to the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls for the first time since leaving as Northern Iowa’s head coach in a 70-57 Panther win over Iowa State.

Tuesday, as Northern Iowa comes to Hilton Coliseum, McDermott hopes the game’s focus will be the intrastate rivalry between the teams, not his relationship with the person that replaced him – UNI coach Ben Jacobson.

“Last year I think that because of Ben and I’s relationship, going back to the UNI-Dome for the first time as an opponent . that made it a little bit unique,” McDermott said. “But that first time is over, and the game’s here this year. It’ll get a little easier every year, and become more and more about the game. I think that’s certainly the case this year.”

Jacobson was McDermott’s assistant at Northern Iowa from 2002 to 2006, and McDermott said he still considers Jacobson one of his best friends, talking to him four or five times a week.

“It’s unfortunate that we’re in a position where we have to compete against each other in the same state, but that’s not going to affect our relationship,” McDermott said. “He knows that I want him to do well except for one game a year, and I know that he wants us to do well except for one game a year.”

How much bragging did the UNI coaching staff do after last year’s victory?

“They’ve been pretty gracious,” McDermott said. “I can’t say if we were to win I would be the same.”

Johnson set to return

The Cyclones are expecting to return guard Wesley Johnson to the floor against the Panthers.

Johnson, who missed the first four games with a bone bruise in his foot, will be limited in exactly how much he will play.

“How effective he is yet to be seen,” McDermott said. “I have to warn our fans, it isn’t going to be the Wesley Johnson we’re accustomed to seeing on the floor, because the guy’s recovering from a pretty serious injury and a pretty painful injury, and from a conditioning standpoint and a timing standpoint, it’s not there yet.”

Guard Sean Haluska said he has seen a difference just having Johnson practice with the team.

“I think getting Wesley back is going to be a help for everybody. We’re going to be that much more deep at the guard spot with him, and he just does a lot for this team,” Haluska said. “He’s a great leader, he’s very vocal on the court, and the past couple days at practice when he’s been in there, you can really tell there’s a difference.

“He just provides a big spark for everybody on the team.”

Injury report

In addition to Johnson’s injury, the Cyclones have had to deal with injuries to other key players in Jiri Hubalek and Craig Brackins.

Hubalek missed Iowa State’s two exhibition games with a broken foot and has spent the first four games of the season recovering. He said Monday that he felt close to full strength after the injury affected him more than he thought it would.

“It slowed me down a little more than I was expecting,” Hubalek said. “I hoped it wasn’t going to effect me at all, but it definitely affected my game.”

Hubalek has averaged 7.8 points and 9 rebounds in Iowa State’s first four regular season games after averaging 11.2 points and 6.8 rebounds last season.

Brackins, the freshman from Palmdale, Calif., has been a dominating presence at power forward, averaging 14.8 points in the first four games, including 23 against Minnesota last Tuesday. After going down with a knee injury with around 2:30 to play against the Gophers and being helped off the floor, Brackins returned in the final minute.

McDermott said Brackins didn’t miss any practice, and would wear a protective sleeve on his knee for the remainder of the season.

“He was sore the day after the game, not to the point that he couldn’t practice but that’s improved every day,” McDermott said.

Bench troubles

The key to snapping the Cyclones’ two-game losing streak may lie in the play of the bench.

Iowa State was outscored 30-1 of the bench in the loss to Minnesota. Outside of the regular starting five of Bryan Petersen, Diante Garrett, Rahshon Clark, Brackins and Hubalek, the rest of the players on the team have only manufactured 29 points in four games.

Haluska, whose only two points on the season came against Centenary, said McDermott has emphasized the need for the bench to step up.

“Coach tells us all the time that our bench needs to come in, and we need to get a bigger spark off the bench, and when we come in the game we need to provide a lot of energy,” Haluska said.