Defense carries UNI men’s basketball to 67-59 win over Illinois-Chicago

CEDAR FALLS — Northern Iowa got its fifth win in its last six games Wednesday night at McLeod Center, outlasting Illinois-Chicago, 67-59, in a Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball contest.

Despite its last lead coming at 43-42 with over 13 minutes remaining in the second half, Illinois-Chicago never got behind by more than seven until Bowen Born’s game-sealing free throws with 21 seconds left.

The biggest difference in a game that featured eight lead changes proved to be UNI’s defense, as it forced a season-high 18 UIC turnovers that included a season-high 12 steals for the Panthers.

“That’s probably the ballgame,” UNI (8-8, 2-3 MVC) Coach Ben Jacobson said. “That’s what flipped the game for us. Our baseline rotations were not very good, but the stuff at the top of the floor (was) pretty good. We had guys in there and going after the basketball. It’s one of the things we’ve talked about — our overall activity level defensively.”

Another element of the UNI defense that made a difference was guarding the 3-point line.

Jacobson spoke plenty during his weekly press conference on Monday about the need to guard the Flames’ 3-point attempts, and also limit their ability to find attempts from distance.

After struggling to limit UIC (8-8, 1-4) in the first half from bonus distance — allowing the Flames to shoot 6-for-13 (46%) from 3 — the Panthers adjusted at halftime and limited UIC to a 2-for-13 (15%) mark in the second half.

“There’s too many 3-point shots being taken where we don’t have anyone close to guys. That has to get fixed,” Jacobson said. “We aren’t going to play at a high enough level consistently, and even if we are, if that continues to be a part of it, you’re going to have a hard time winning in this league. The second half it did feel like we were closer on some of them.”

Four Panthers reached double figures with freshman Kyle Pock finishing with 13 points. Pock finished 4-for-4 from the field, 3-for-3 from 3 and 2-for-2 at the free throw line.

Jacobson complimented the freshman’s ability to play specific to the game plan and communicate on defense.

“As the possessions kept going, as the game kept going, I kept hearing him talk (and) kept watching him make the right play defensively,” Jacobson said. “And then offensively he’s got such a great confidence about the way he plays. Whether he shoots the ball or he doesn’t.”

Born, Tytan Anderson and Michael Duax joined Pock in double figures with 12 points apiece.

Duax — who came into Wednesday’s game averaging half as many minutes as he did a season ago — tied his season high in scoring as UNI’s bench produced its second-best output of the season with 28 points.

“It felt good,” Duax said of his performance. “One of our game plans was (to) just kind of attack them. I felt a little more aggressive this game.”

UNI returns to action Sunday afternoon at Valparaiso (4-12, 0-5). Tipoff at the ARC is at 1 p.m. (ESPN+).