UNI men’s basketball starts fast, cruises past Milwaukee

CEDAR FALLS — An efficient offense and quality on-ball defense pushed Northern Iowa’s men’s basketball team past Milwaukee Thursday night at McLeod Center, 87-68.

Leading 45-34 at halftime, the Panthers replicated a sharp-shooting first half by making 15 of their 27 field goal attempts in the final 20 minutes.

After holding a double-digit lead for the majority of the game, UNI (2-0) got its first 20-point advantage after a Trey Campbell turnover led to a Jacob Hutson chase-down block and Campbell fastbreak 3. Campbell grabbed a missed layup on the following Milwaukee possession, sprinted down court and threw an alley-oop finished by Leon Bond for a 78-56 lead with 6:41 remaining.

“Aside from the X’s and O's, the other thing that we’ve invested time in from a coaching staff standpoint is the mindset, the mentality. The ability to let things go,” UNI Coach Ben Jacobson said. “You’re going to make a mistake and that ability from a mindset standpoint, from a mentality standpoint to be able to immediately move on to the next thing. We have invested heavily in that.”

UNI opened the game with a 17-5 run that included seven of RJ Taylor’s 11 points, five from Hutson and four from freshman Will Hornseth.

“As we know, our base offense runs through that (center) position,” Jacobson said. “It runs through (Hutson) and it runs through (Hornseth) and it runs through (Wes Rubin). This is a harder game when there’s that much ball pressure. For a true freshman, for (Hornseth), to be in a game like (this) — the first time against this level of competition — to handle himself the way he did I thought was just very impressive.”

Trailing 23-5 early, Milwaukee (1-1) mustered a 7-0 run with 8:42 left in the first half, but the Panthers countered with a 7-0 run of their own.

A pair of Jamichael Stilwell free throws got Milwaukee within single digits at 39-30, but it was the last time it was within single digits.

“It told us we have some grit, we have some fight, but we already knew that,” Campbell said of the result. “At practice we work hard. We got at each other. So, we were prepared for this dogfight because we have a dogfight everyday at practice.”

All five Panthers that started finished in double figures, led by Tytan Anderson’s game-high 19 points that included a career-high four made 3s.

Joining Anderson in double figures were Trey Campbell with 16, Hutson with 15 and Taylor and Bond with 11.

“There were so many things in (this) game that happened. We knew going into the game it was going to be full-court man-to-man. They were going to run and jump or trap a little bit. Maybe change their defenses and they started the game in a (zone),” Jacobson said. “So much going on in that game and to see our guys adjust and respond and really attack the entire 40 minutes — a fun game to be a part of.”

UNI returns to action Sunday when it hosts UC Irvine (1-0) at 1 p.m. (ESPN+).