Seniors Adam Viet and Eric Coleman each scored 15 points to lead the University of Northern Iowa men’s basketball team to a 65-58 win over Wichita State Wednesday night at Charles Koch Arena. UNI improved to 12-7 overall, 4-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while Wichita State fell to 8-11, 1-7 in conference.
Second rated Kansas displayed its fire power last night against Iowa State. Five Jayhawks scored in double figures enroute to an 83-59 win over the Cyclones. Iowa State coach Greg McDermott says to the credit of Kansas, if you try to take something away from them, they move to something else and that’s a sing of a very unselfish team.
McDermott says on defense the Jayhawks forced the Cyclones to settle for perimeter shots, and that plan worked as his team couldn’t get them to change as they couldn’t hit their outside shots. The Cyclones shot a chilly 31% and made only six of 28 shots from three point range as they fall to 2-2 in the Big 12 and 12-7 overall. Wesley Johnson led the Cyclones with 21 points.
The Iowa Hawkeyes managed only 17 second half points and seventh ranked Indiana roared away for a 65-43 win in Big Ten action. Iowa struggled against Indiana’s pressure defense. The Hawks shot only 35 percent and the Hoosiers scored 31 points off Iowa turnovers.
Iowa coach Todd Lickliter says his team became almost content to stay in one spot and not reverse the ball and if they didn’t make a play, they got frustrated. He says they didn’t need to make a play, they needed to reverse the ball and make them play defense for awhile and see what happens.
Lickliter says they struggled with that and Indiana is a really good team. Freshman guard Eric Gordon led Indiana with 17 points. He also had three steals and four blocked shots. Lickliter says for his money, Gordon is the best guard in the country, and he says they’re are plenty of other good players to help him out. The Hawks are now 2-5 in the Big Ten.