Northern Iowa holds off Kansas, 69-67, advances to Sweet Sixteen

That time-honored "One Shining Moment" song the nation expected to be ringing sweetly in the Kansas Jayhawks' ears at the conclusion of this three-week NCAA Tournament run? It's not going to happen.

In the most stunning upset of this year's tournament, Northern Iowa probably wanted to cut down a couple of basketball nets of their own Saturday after the Panthers, seeded ninth in the Midwest Region, pulled off an improbable 69-67 triumph over the No. 1-seeded Jayhawks before 15,587 in a second-round game at the Ford Center.

In busting nearly every tournament bracket in America - including President Barack Obama's - the Panthers were last seen humming a happy melody all the way to the Sweet 16. UNI (30-4) will face Sunday's Maryland-Michigan State winner Friday in St. Louis in the Midwest Region semifinals.

Kansas (33-3) was the top overall seed in the 65-team NCAA field and was widely favored to capture its second national championship in three seasons. But the Jayhawks were off-beat all day long, struggling to stay in the game against the Missouri Valley Conference champions.

"I don't know if I'll watch the tape," KU coach Bill Self said. "I know that there's just one or two plays here or there that (were) the difference in the game, but this stings a lot."

The bracket-busting Panthers were in harmony and in control for the balance of the game and wound up giving the Jayhawks the blues in shocking fashion.

"We are certainly going to enjoy this for a day or so," UNI coach Ben Jacobson said. "Then we've got to get ready for our next basketball game."

The knockout punch for UNI came from Ali Farokhmanesh.

After the Jayhawks rallied from a 12-point deficit with 13:12 remaining to slice the deficit to 63-62 with 42.8 seconds to play, Farokhmanesh had the ball alone on the right wing. Instead of killing some time off the clock, Farokhmanesh drilled a dagger-like 3-pointer with 27 seconds still on the 35-second shot clock and 34.8 left in the game.

Kansas' Tyrel Reed was then whistled for an offensive foul, and Farokhmanesh later buried a pair of free throws with 4.8 seconds remaining for a 69-64 cushion.

Farokhmanesh, who hit the game-winning 3-point basket with 4.9 seconds left when Northern Iowa beat UNLV 869-66 in the opening round Thursday, led the Panthers with 16 points.

UNI, which advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history, was in control of this game so much that the only time KU led was 2-0 after Cole Aldrich scored nine seconds into the game. From there, the Panthers scored 12 of the game's next 14 points and seemed to revel in their role as the overwhelming underdog.

UNI led 36-28 at the half and surprisingly kept the pressure on the powerful Jayhawks the duration of the game, turning 15 Kansas turnovers into 21 points.

"You operate under duress, you operate under pressure the whole year that a lot of teams don't operate under because of where we were ranked and expectations," said Self, whose team was ranked No.1 in the nation. "And to put ourselves in a position that we were in, they don't come around every year.

"You've got to make the most of those opportunities when you're granted them. That's probably what stings."

By Dwain Price, McClatchy Newspapers

Hlas: Suddenly, stunningly, it's a Panther Nation

Oklahoma froze over Saturday morning with sleet and snow. Kansas froze over Saturday night, thanks to the icy glare of America's newest basketball darling.

Northern Iowa isn't just on the tip of the tongues of basketball fans across the United States and Planet Earth. It's in their whole mouths.

Who are these guys? They're the Northern Iowa Panthers, a 30-win team that's headed to St. Louis this week to try to inflict its will on some other college superpower, be it Michigan State or Maryland.

Read more

Hlas:  Thoughts from the Oklahoma City airport late Saturday night on UNI's win over Kansas

I'm with the Northern Iowa traveling party, waiting for the jet to arrive that will take us to Waterloo. The plane left Minneapolis at 10:08 p.m. We'll probably get to Waterloo around 1 a.m. I wonder if there will be a reception committee waiting there.

The team went out to eat before getting here. The rest of us just screened by TSA agents and are kicking it in this terminal. The UNI folks seemed oblivious to the icy roads from the Ford Center to the airport, or the occasional vehicle stranded off the side of the freeway.

Read more

Panthers shock No. 1 Kansas, 69-67

OKLAHOMA CITY -- During a run of unprecedented success, the Northern Iowa

Panthers have formed air-tight friendships.

"We've been together for a long time," guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe said recently. "Our brotherhood -- our bond -- has grown really deep."

Perhaps that fact helped UNI bury No. 1 Kansas Saturday night, 69-67, in an NCAA Tournament triumph that was easily the biggest win in school history.

"We just knocked off the best team in the country," UNI's Johnny Moran said in a jubilant postgame locker room. "It feels great to share it with these guys."

With the win, the Panthers advanced to the first Sweet 16 in program annals -- and they became the first Missouri Valley Conference club to knock off the No. 1 team in the country since Cincinnati beat Ohio State in 1962.

"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard," noted UNI cult hero Lucas O'Rear. "When you work hard, good things happen."

"To have a team that is not better than us come out and beat us, it's tough," sighed Kansas star Marcus Morris. But "they outplayed us."

By Kelly Beaton, Waterloo Courier

Kansas suffers another stunning loss

OKLAHOMA CITY - This was supposed to be behind them, this Oklahoma City curse and the label of chokers extraordinaire. Those things were supposed to have vanished the moment Mario's Miracle fell through the net two years ago in San Antonio.

But then Saturday happened. In a late-March snowfall similar to the one in 1998, when another top-seeded Kansas team lost in the second round - that time 80-75 to eighth-seeded Rhode Island - the place that raised Bill Self again came back to haunt him.

This time it was the University of Northern Iowa who played spoiler, winning, 69-67.

"We knew that they were a good team, very good team, sound, disciplined, and I thought they played a great game," Self said.

Nonetheless, the loss was stunning, one to add this to the growing list of Oklahoma City heartbreakers.

By Bill Reiter - McClatchy Newspapers

LINKS: The Hlog | Beaton's Blog | PantherMania | ESPN.com

How does the UNI win over Kansas rank in Iowa college basketball history?survey software

new TWTR.Widget({

version: 2,

type: 'search',

search: '#UNI',

interval: 8000,

title: 'REACTION ON TWITTER',

subject: 'UNI Win Over Kansas',

width: 570,

height: 250,

theme: {

shell: {

background: '#b700ff',

color: '#e1ff00'

},

tweets: {

background: '#ffff00',

color: '#000000',

links: '#1e00ff'

}

},

features: {

scrollbar: true,

loop: false,

live: true,

hashtags: true,

timestamp: true,

avatars: true,

behavior: 'all'

}

}).render().start();

[nggallery id=155]

Culver congratulates UNI on win over Kansas

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Iowa Gov. Chet Culver has offered congratulations to the University of Northern Iowa men's basketball team for their upset victory over the University of Kansas in the NCAA tournament.

Northern Iowa defeated top overall seed Kansas 69-67 in second round of the tournament. Culver said Saturday evening that the athletes have "made the entire state proud."

Culver went on to wish the team luck as they move on in the tournament.

Box Score

N. IOWA (30-4)

A.Koch 4-5 0-0 8, Eglseder 6-11 0-0 14, Farokhmanesh 5-12 2-2 16, Ahelegbe 1-11 3-4 5, Moran 2-3 2-2 8, J.Koch 1-7 7-8 10, Dunham 1-2 1-1 3, Sonnen 1-2 0-0 2, O'Rear 1-2 1-2 3, James 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-55 16-19 69.

KANSAS (33-3)

Marc.Morris 5-8 4-6 16, Aldrich 6-8 1-2 13, X.Henry 3-6 0-1 8, Collins 4-15 2-2 10, Taylor 0-6 2-2 2, Morningstar 0-1 0-0 0, Reed 3-6 0-0 8, Mark.Morris 3-4 4-5 10. Totals 24-54 13-18 67.

Halftime_N. Iowa 36-28. 3-Point Goals_N. Iowa 9-26 (Farokhmanesh 4-10, Eglseder 2-3, Moran 2-3, J.Koch 1-5, A.Koch 0-1, Sonnen 0-1, Ahelegbe 0-3), Kansas 6-23 (Marc.Morris 2-3, Reed 2-4, X.Henry 2-4, Morningstar 0-1, Taylor 0-5, Collins 0-6). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_N. Iowa 30 (Eglseder, A.Koch, O'Rear 5), Kansas 38 (Aldrich 10). Assists_N. Iowa 11 (Ahelegbe 5), Kansas 9 (Collins 4). Total Fouls_N. Iowa 16, Kansas 19. A_15,587.