Salukis stun UNI, 68-66

CARBONDALE, Ill. - The SIU men's basketball team shocked league-leading Northern Iowa 68-66 on Wednesday night at Banterra Center. UNI's AJ Green missed a heavily contested 15-foot baseline jump shot in the game's final seconds that would have given UNI the win, and Eric McGill grabbed the rebound to secure SIU's eighth-straight home win.

The upset was big for the Salukis (10-10, 4-3 MVC), who were picked last in the MVC and were facing a UNI team (16-3, 5-2 MVC) that was ranked top-35 nationally in the NET coming into the game and was in position for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. But the Salukis forced the Panthers into 16 turnovers and led by as many as 16 points before holding on at the end.

"This is a great win for our program," SIU head coach Bryan Mullins said. "We've been getting better every single day, and I'm really happy for our guys to be able to get this result. I thought they played extremely hard and stuck to the game plan. The last 10 minutes of the game, Northern Iowa made some big-time shots. AJ Green is a heck of a player. Berhow, Halderman -- that's an experienced team. I'm proud that our guys didn't fold. We found a way to win."

To pull off the upset, the shorthanded Salukis needed someone to step up, and two freshmen answered the bell. Lance Jones, who had made four 3-pointers all year heading into the game, went 4-of-7 from the 3-point line tonight and scored a career-best 20 points. Jones had never played point guard before SIU senior Aaron Cook broke his hand earlier this season, but tonight, Jones didn't commit a turnover in more than 38 minutes running SIU's offense.

"I love coaching Lance. He's a winner, and he doesn't back down from anyone," Mullins said. "He got us going in the first half offensively. He has put a lot of work into his shot, and he shot it with confidence. It was good to see a couple of those go down for him. When he's aggressive and playing downhill, he makes us a better team."

Just as big for SIU was freshman guard Trent Brown, who came off the bench and drew the defensive assignment of UNI star AJ Green. Green is a leading candidate for MVC Player of the Year and was averaging 26 points per game in league play while shooting 53% from the field and 48% from the free throw line. Brown and the Salukis forced Green into a season-high 6 turnovers. Green scored 16 points, but needed 15 shots to get there. And Brown's performance wasn't limited to the defensive end; he hit three big 3-pointers and tied a career high with 11 points, and he dished 4 assists against only 1 turnover.

"Trent is one of our hardest workers. He's in the gym every single day, and he's a tough, tough kid," Mullins said.

While Green struggled, UNI's Trae Berhow kept the Panthers in the game, especially in the first half. Berhow went 5-of-7 in the first half and 4-of-5 from the 3-point line; the rest of UNI's team was 5-for-19 with 10 turnovers. On SIU's side, Jones was nearly matching Berhow; Jones had 14 points in the first half alone, tying his previous career high by halftime. SIU held a 28-26 lead at the break.

Behind a rowdy crowd of 4,319, SIU started rolling in the second half. Brown started a 14-3 run with a 3-pointer, and Jones capped it with a 3 of his own. The run pushed SIU's lead to 16 with 11:18 left. And almost like a switch flipped, Northern Iowa's offense came to life. The Panthers scored on seven of their next nine possessions (including 3-for-3 from the 3-point line) to cut SIU's lead to just two, 57-55, with nearly 6 minutes left to play.

Marcus Domask hit a couple key driving layups to keep SIU ahead down the stretch, and the Salukis never lost the lead. SIU led by six with a minute to go, but UNI ran off four-straight points to get within two. On a night where SIU was uncharacteristically poor from the free throw line (12-of-23, 52%), Eric McGill hit two clutch free throws on a 1-and-1 with 16 seconds left in the game to give SIU a 4-point lead. Seven seconds later, Green hit a 3-pointer to bring UNI within one, and the ensuing inbounds pass was deflected off Domask to give Northern Iowa a chance to win it. But Green -- who hit a similar go-ahead pull-up jumper to end SIU's season at Arch Madness last year -- was off the mark tonight, giving SIU easily its best win of the season.

"This is a special group, and we haven't gotten close to where we can be," Mullins said. "If the guys keep working hard and keep buying in, we're going to be a better team at the end of February heading into St. Louis (for the MVC Tournament). We just need to continue to focus on getting better right now."

Barret Benson had another great game for SIU, scoring 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting. He also grabbed 6 boards and a career-best 3 steals. Domask had a great all-around game, with 11 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals.

UP NEXT: SIU travels to Illinois State for a 2 p.m. game on Saturday, January 25.

NOTES: SIU won its eighth-straight home game, the longest home court winning streak for SIU since 2007-08 ... SIU is 9-1 at Banterra Center this season ... Career highs: Lance Jones in points (20), Marcus Domask in assists (6), Barret Benson in steals (3), and Trent Brown in points (11) and assists (4) ... SIU leads the all-time series 37-31 and is 24-7 against UNI in Carbondale ... SIU has won three-straight home games vs. UNI ... Eleven of the last 12 games in the SIU-UNI series have been decided by single digits; the lone exception was an 11-point SIU win in 2018 ... SIU played without three players (two starters) due to injury: Aaron Cook Jr., Sekou Dembele, and Ronnie Suggs Jr. ... Dating back to the end of last season, SIU has won six-straight MVC home games ... SIU committed a season-low 6 turnovers. SIU has committed only 21 turnovers in the last 3 games combined ... SIU won fast-break points 16-0 and points-off-turnovers 21-7.

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Team Stats

Lance Jones

Barret Benson

Marcus Domask

Trent Brown

Players Mentioned

Barret Benson

Trent Brown

Aaron Cook Jr.

Sekou Dembele

Marcus Domask

Lance Jones

Eric McGill

Ronnie Suggs Jr.

Players Mentioned

Barret Benson

Trent Brown

Aaron Cook Jr.

Sekou Dembele

Marcus Domask

Lance Jones

Eric McGill

Ronnie Suggs Jr.

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