UC-Irvine runs past UNI men’s basketball

CEDAR FALLS — A dominant second half sent UC-Irvine past Northern Iowa in a men’s basketball game at the McLeod Center Sunday afternoon, 80-60.

Trailing 45-38 after a first half that included four lead changes, the Anteaters (3-0) followed up on a sharpshooting first 20 minutes by breaking down UNI’s defense with ball screens and frequently making extra passes.

“I was really hoping to get to halftime tied,” UNI Coach Ben Jacobson said. “I knew we were going to have to make some adjustments to the ball screen defense and to what we were doing, just because they were getting too many easy shots.”

“Their experience and passing showed up. It’s hard to get them to make a mistake. We weren’t able to get them to turn it over.”

A 10-2 run midway through the second half pushed UC-Irvine’s lead to 20 for the first time on Devin Tillis’ layup for a 65-45 lead.

As the Panthers struggled with the Anteaters’ offense, hopes of a comeback were dashed by poor shooting. Throughout the second half’s first 10 minutes, UNI missed 11 of its first 14 shots and finished the half just 9-27 (33 percent) from the field.

“Defensively in the first half they were pretty straightforward, in the second half they adjusted and they put their center on (Tytan Anderson) and they put (a forward) on (Jacob) Hutson so they could guard him on the 3-point line,” Jacobson said. “Then they really left that center in the middle of the lane.”

A featured matchup in Sunday’s game was between Irvine 7-foot-1 center Bent Leuchten and UNI center Hutson. Both teams fed their big men early and Leuchten outdueled Hutson, finishing with 18 points. Hutson shot 5-14 from the field and finished with 13.

“(Leuchten) is good,” Jacobson said. “It’s another guy who’s older and he’s experienced and he’s one of the biggest guys in the country. He’s just got that next level of size where you don’t see it (and) you can’t practice against it. I love our guys up front and we were going to go at him and we did. But, he caused us some problems, didn’t he?”

Hutson’s backup, freshman Will Hornseth, was held scoreless in his 10 minutes on the floor and forward Tytan Anderson was limited by foul trouble, receiving his fourth with 13:47 remaining in the second half.

Anderson and RJ Taylor joined Hutson in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Five Anteaters scored double figures, led by Leuchten’s 18.

UNI (2-1) returns to action Thursday at Wichita State (2-0). Tip-off at Charles Koch Arena is at 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+).