PHOTOS: UNI style, pace prevail over Iowa State

CEDAR FALLS - Fred Hoiberg knew his Iowa State team couldn't keep torching the nets at the pace it was.

And facing a defensive-minded team like Northern Iowa was the perfect storm for the first clunker of Hoiberg's coaching career.

UNI held the hot-shooting Cyclones (6-1) to 33.3 percent shooting and had all five starters score in double figures in last night's 60-54 victory at the McLeod Center.

“I guess we were due for a night like this,” said Hoiberg, whose team entered shooting 50.3 percent from the field and ranked in the top 10 nationally in 3-point shooting. “We had been shooting the heck of it. I was proud of the way we defended. We just couldn't make our shots tonight.”

The game was played at exactly the kind of pace the Cyclones expected.

They had been running and gunning and scoring in the 80s and 90s through their first six games. UNI was able to keep the game at their tempo, and battled through shooting woes of their own (32.7 percent) well enough to extend their home court winning streak to a school-record 18 games.

“We haven't played this style yet,” said point guard Diante Garrett, who had a game-high 17 points. “Those guys did a good job slowing down our break.”

Lucas O'Rear's layup with 2:45 to play put UNI up 52-47 and had seemed to have the Cyclones on the ropes.

Garrett drove the lane for a layup and then hit Jake Anderson with a cross court pass in the corner. The senior guard buried the shot and tied the game with 1:18 left.

The deadlock didn't last long.

Jake Koch made a 15-foot jumper, Garrett misfired on a 3-pointer from the top of the key and the Panthers (3-2) made good on their free-throw tries to put the game away in the final minute.

Garrett scored just four points and was 2 of 11 from the floor in the second half.

“They did what they had to do to win the game,” Hoiberg said. “They were going to make Diante make shots. The ones he was making in the first half just weren't going down.”

Panther freshman Anthony James scored his team's first eight points of the second half and had the crowd into the game. The Panthers were active on the glass during that stretch and took advantage of second shots.

They out-rebounded ISU 41-30 for the game.

“We were trying to box down and the ball was going right over our heads,” Garrett said.

The Panthers also tested ISU's limited depth with reserve guard DeMarcus Phillips back in Ames because of an academic issue.

Freshman Melvin Ejim fouled out in the final minute and was so frustrated he kicked over a chair on ISU's bench before sitting down. Calvin Godfrey and Jamie Vanderbeken were on the bench with four fouls midway through the second half.

The Panthers threw the ball in the post quite a bit. O'Rear finished with 10 points and had several offensive opportunities in the paint.

“We weren't expecting him to be as offensively into the game as he was and that's our fault,” Vanderbeken said. “He went at us and me and Calvin picked up some early fouls. We have to learn from that.”

Garrett kept ISU in the game early. The Cyclones managed just three field goals over the final 12 ½ minutes of the first half.

They led 14-5 after Garrett's three-point play and looked to have control of the game. The Panthers missed nine of their first 11 shots from the field but finally started hitting and led by a point at the break.

UNI's defense didn't allow 3-point specialists Vanderbeken or Scott Christopherson to get very good looks.

Christopherson hit a pair of treys and Vanderbeken missed his only attempts.

“Those guys have been shooting the ball so well,” UNI coach Ben Jacobson said. “We tried to find Christopherson on the floor and keep the basketball in front of us.”

Photos by Jim Slosiarek

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