Hlas column: Cyclones grounded by UNI's grind

CEDAR FALLS - The winner, and still champion of men's basketball in Iowa for now, the Northern Iowa Panthers.

Iowa State unleashed a lot of offensive fury in its first six games under Fred Hoiberg's direction, all victories. But then the Cyclones had to leave central Iowa to come north to a place where many a visiting offense has come to die the last few years.

UNI won its school-record 18th-straight home game Wednesday night in the McLeod Center, 60-54. All five Cyclones starters came to the McLeod Center with scoring averages of 12 points or better, but only two topped those norms, and Diante Garrett made just 7 of 23 shots in accumulating his game-high 17 points.

After Garrett missed a 3-pointer and UNI's Jake Koch rebounded with 29 seconds left and the Panthers up 56-52, ISU freshman Melvin Ejim fouled Koch and fouled out. Ejim kicked a chair on the Cyclone sideline in frustration with himself before sitting down on a different one.

Ejim arrived here as the top freshman scorer in the Big 12 so far at 15.7 points per game. But he had just seven here, none in the game's final 12 minutes. The 6-foot-6 Canadian was able to get just three shots in his 33 minutes.

Welcome to the road, kid. Welcome to an in-state game on the road. Welcome to McLeod.

“It's a different style,” Garrett said about the more-grinding, more-defensive focus than the half-dozen contests in which ISU averaged a whopping 84.3 points an outing. “We hadn't played this style yet. Those guys did a good job slowing us slowing us down on the break.”

Make a jumper here and there, though, and it's a different result for Iowa State. ISU made over half of its shots in those six wins, and ranked ninth nationally in 3-point accuracy with 44.2 percent. It was 6-of-20 Wednesday. Little came easy inside, but the 3-pointers were there to be had.

“I'll take those shots all year long,” Hoiberg said. “It was one of those nights. You hope it doesn't happen very often.”

But “those nights” have been happening to opponents here since this building opened in 2006. Moments like those seen in the last minute Wednesday have been happening to opponents the last few years here.

The game was tied at 52 after wide-open Cyclone senior transfer Jake Anderson hit a 3-pointer with 1:18 left. Koch had missed a jumper in a particularly ugly way on the Panthers' previous possession. UNI Coach Ben Jacobson called time with 1:04 to go, setting up a play for center Lucas O'Rear.

That play didn't materialize. So Koch, a sophomore who shined so brightly late last season and was one of the Kansas-killers in UNI's epic Sweet 16 win, didn't hesitate to shoot again. Swish. The lead was the Panthers' to keep.

“With our team,” Koch said, “a lot of guys can step up and hit that shot.”

True, but this isn't last year's UNI. You lose the likes of Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year Adam Koch, big man Jordan Eglseder, and mythological figure Ali Farokhmanesh, and gaps must be filled.

Still, Jake Koch, O'Rear, Kwadzo Ahelegbe, Johnny Moran, Anthony James and Marc Sonnen all played in the 10-man rotation that rolled through the MVC tourney and past UNLV and Kansas in the NCAAs, and all did their parts here Wednesday. This isn't the UNI of last March, but it could be again be a tough out next March.

“I tip my hat to Northern Iowa,” Hoiberg said. “They're very well-coached. They did what they had to do to win the game tonight.”

Those were familiar words from a visiting coach here after a game.

With Hoiberg's short lineup and thin bench, there will be nights like this in the Big 12. His guys got out-rebounded by 11. Rebounding loses importance when you're making 50 percent of your shots instead of the 33.3 percent ISU made here.

At least Hoiberg was able to joke after the game.

“I should have retired when I was 6-0,” he said.