Wednesday, February 9
Cedar Falls, Iowa
7 PM
Southern Illinois University
12-13,5-8MVC
44
at
53
Northern Iowa
14-9,10-3MVC
1
2
F
Southern Ill.
19
25
44
UNI
26
27
53
Men’s Basketball's rally falls short at Northern Iowa
02/09/2022 | 9:20:00 | Men's Basketball
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — Southern Illinois rallied back from a 14-point deficit to put a scare into Northern Iowa, but first-place UNI made clutch plays down the stretch to pull out a 53-44 win.
The Salukis (12-13, 5-8) dug an early hole, missing 11 of their first dozen shots and committing eight turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the game.
After falling behind, 21-7, Southern came all the way back to take a 36-35 lead on a Trent Brown 3-pointer with 10:32 to go in the second half.
"Our guys are so resilient and competitive," said SIU head coach Bryan Mullins. "They were able to battle back and put us in position to win. It's hard to play championship-level teams, NCAA Tournament-level teams, and spot them 10-15 points."
As has been the case all season, SIU's defense was relentless and kept it in the game when shots weren't falling. The Salukis held a Panthers team that averages a league-best 77 points in conference play to just 16 field goals and 39 percent shooting.
"No matter what the score, we buckled down and just got stops," said SIU guard Ben Coupet, who had six points and a team-high eight rebounds.
The only player for the Panthers (14-9, 10-3) to crack the code was star guard AJ Green — he had 24 points on 7-of-14 shooting, and made a dagger 3-pointer and a dunk in the lane that helped seal the win in the final minutes.
"He's a high-level player," Mullins said. "You kinda pick your poison with him. If you trap him on ball screens, if you over-help on drives, he's able to really make you pay with his passing ability. We were going to try to make him take tough twos, he made a couple threes that we wanted to have back."
Statistically, the game was evenly matched. Both teams finished with 16 field goals and 16 turnovers. The Salukis made seven threes, while UNI had six. The Panthers had a decisive 15-5 advantage in makes at the free throw line.
Southern's top two scorers were Lance Jones (13 points) and Marcus Domask (nine points), and they took 29 field goal attempts between them.
"I thought Marcus caught the ball in good positions, Lance had some good, clean looks, Trent had some good looks," Mullins said.
Jones was 2-for-9 from 3-point, but his 3-ball with 3:08 remaining cut the deficit to 47-44. In its last five possessions, Southern missed three shots and committed two turnovers.
SIU has played close with every team in the top half of the Missouri Valley Conference standings, but has yet to break through for a win.
"The next step is doing it," Mullins said. "We're not afraid to play anyone. We have good depth, so we can use different matchups against different playing styles. We need to continue to improve heading into the conference tournament."
The Salukis (12-13, 5-8) dug an early hole, missing 11 of their first dozen shots and committing eight turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the game.
After falling behind, 21-7, Southern came all the way back to take a 36-35 lead on a Trent Brown 3-pointer with 10:32 to go in the second half.
"Our guys are so resilient and competitive," said SIU head coach Bryan Mullins. "They were able to battle back and put us in position to win. It's hard to play championship-level teams, NCAA Tournament-level teams, and spot them 10-15 points."
As has been the case all season, SIU's defense was relentless and kept it in the game when shots weren't falling. The Salukis held a Panthers team that averages a league-best 77 points in conference play to just 16 field goals and 39 percent shooting.
"No matter what the score, we buckled down and just got stops," said SIU guard Ben Coupet, who had six points and a team-high eight rebounds.
The only player for the Panthers (14-9, 10-3) to crack the code was star guard AJ Green — he had 24 points on 7-of-14 shooting, and made a dagger 3-pointer and a dunk in the lane that helped seal the win in the final minutes.
"He's a high-level player," Mullins said. "You kinda pick your poison with him. If you trap him on ball screens, if you over-help on drives, he's able to really make you pay with his passing ability. We were going to try to make him take tough twos, he made a couple threes that we wanted to have back."
Statistically, the game was evenly matched. Both teams finished with 16 field goals and 16 turnovers. The Salukis made seven threes, while UNI had six. The Panthers had a decisive 15-5 advantage in makes at the free throw line.
Southern's top two scorers were Lance Jones (13 points) and Marcus Domask (nine points), and they took 29 field goal attempts between them.
"I thought Marcus caught the ball in good positions, Lance had some good, clean looks, Trent had some good looks," Mullins said.
Jones was 2-for-9 from 3-point, but his 3-ball with 3:08 remaining cut the deficit to 47-44. In its last five possessions, Southern missed three shots and committed two turnovers.
SIU has played close with every team in the top half of the Missouri Valley Conference standings, but has yet to break through for a win.
"The next step is doing it," Mullins said. "We're not afraid to play anyone. We have good depth, so we can use different matchups against different playing styles. We need to continue to improve heading into the conference tournament."
Team Stats
SIU
UNI
FG%
.333
.390
3FG%
.318
.400
FT%
.714
.882
RB
25
33
TO
16
16
STL
7
6
Game Leaders
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
3
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
5
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
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