Iowa vs. Northern Iowa men's basketball: Final score, stats, highlights

No. 21 Iowa ended the final Hy-Vee Classic with a dominant 77-54 win over Northern Iowa Saturday night at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

The Hawkeyes are now 8-2, while the Panthers are 4-6.

Coverage from Des Moines

» UNI's offense bottoms out in Hy-Vee Classic loss to Iowa

» Too much Tyler Cook (and Hawkeyes) spoils the broth for UNI

MVP: UNI couldn't match up with Tyler Cook. The Iowa forward tallied 17 points on 6-for-7 shooting, plus 13 rebounds and five assists, most out of double teams. He surpassed 1,000 points for his career Saturday.

Turning point: It was obvious in the first half that the Panthers were in for a long day. UNI trailed 12-3 and later went nearly 8 1/2 minutes without scoring, as Iowa increased its lead to 25-7 on a Nicholas Baer 3-pointer with 7:19 left in the half. Iowa led 39-18 at halftime and was never tested in the second frame.

Key stat: 21.4. That was UNI's first-half field-goal percentage as Iowa quickly made this a one-sided game. The Panthers hit just 6-of-28 field goals in the first 20 minutes, including 2-of-15 from from 3-point range. UNI improved in the second half, shooting 48 percent from the field, but Iowa's offense was more than good enough to prevent a comeback.

Stat Leaders

Points: Tyler Cook, Luka Garza, Iowa (17); Wyatt Lohaus, UNI (15)

Rebounds: Tyler Cook, Iowa (13); Shandon Goldman, UNI (6)

Assists: Tyler Cook, Iowa (5); Isaiah Brown, UNI (3)

Steals: Connor McCaffery, Iowa (2)

Blocks: Nicholas Baer, Iowa (1)

3-Pointers: Jordan Bohannon, Iowa (3-5); Isaiah Brown, UNI (3-5)

[Box score]

Hy-Vee Classic: Iowa State rallied to beat Drake 77-68 in Saturday's first Hy-Vee Classic game.

Up next: Iowa hosts Western Carolina (3-9) Tuesday at 8 p.m. (BTN). UNI takes on Grand Canyon in Cedar Falls at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN+).