Southern Illinois University
14-3, 4-1MVC
Northern Iowa
9-5, 4-1MVC
Men's Basketball Knocks Off Northern Iowa, 83-58
01/12/2002 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2002
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois romped to an 83-58 win over Northern Iowa in the battle for first place in the Missouri Valley Conference Saturday night at SIU Arena.
A crowd of 7,367 watched the Salukis pick apart the Panthers' defense as SIU shot 54.5 percent from the field. SIU was led by freshman Darren Brooks, who scored a career-high 19 points, including 5-of-6 from 3-point range.
The win moved Southern Illinois (14-3, 4-1) into a tie for first place with Northern Iowa (9-5, 4-1).
"We wanted to make a statement and put some fear into them, make them doubt a little bit," Saluki head coach Bruce Weber said. "We wanted to send a message around the league. Hopefully we did, and hopefully now we can continue that.''
The game was close early as the Panthers led 11-10 after six minutes of play. However, the Salukis went on a 29-8 run during the next 12 minutes and built a 40-19 advantage at halftime. Brooks hit three of his 3-pointers during the stretch.
"We were pretty upset about the loss to Wichita State," Brooks said. "We knew we had to come out ready to play and put them away early. We made a statement. Hopefully, we can continue to play well and not get complacent."
In the second half, the Salukis led by as many as 30 points, 71-41,before settling for a 25-point win. Weber cleared the bench with six minutes remaining in the game, and all the reserves scored except for walk-on Jason Ward.
"They are better than any team in the league right now," Northern Iowa caoch Greg McDermott said. "I believe in order to win the conferencec championship, you have to go through SIU. I hope when we meet again (Jan. 26), we are tied or even one up in the conference lead so our game at Cedar Falls means something."
Quoting Coach Weber: "It was a great victory, a great crowd, great intensity," Weber said. "We played with an attitude. We were ornery. There's an old adage that says, `it's not who you play, but when you play them.' That was true tonight."
"We just came out with some energy. We thought that if we just moved the basketball, which we didn't do against Wichita, and also push it, that we were going to be able to wear them down. That opened it up from the outside, and we put up some pretty good numbers out there.''
"The bench was good. We played four games in a week, and we felt that we were going to have to play our bench, and they did a good job. Darren just played fantastic. He did a great job on defense guarding a bigger guy.''
"Jermaine has been very consistent, and he has made big strides in the classroom. He had a great semester with his grades as a business major, which has been hard on him. He has been consistent on the basketball court. He has matured. That has been a major factor for our team.''
"We have got to win at Bradley if we are going to keep up with the pack.''
UNI Head Coach Greg McDermott
"The saying goes `sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug.' Unfortunately, we were the bug tonight. I thought we started out well. We kept (SIU's) intensity down the first five minutes. But the bottom line was we just got dominated on the boards, especially offensively. We had a great game plan, we just lacked the intensity at the beginning of the game and we rushed our shots."
"We were just afraid to go inside. (Rolan) Roberts is swatting everything in sight. We were tired and afraid to force it in, and the result was us taking quick shots."
"We were worried about (Kent) Williams. But (Stetson) Hairston and (Darren) Brooks surprised us. They are both athletic and they can shoot. These are two wonderful freshmen, and they're only going to get better as they play, especially Brooks."
