UNI PANTHERS

UNI men's basketball drops MVC tournament semifinal to Loyola, 66-43

Alyssa Hertel
Des Moines Register

ST. LOUIS — Northern Iowa men's basketball lost its Missouri Valley Conference tournament semifinal against Loyola Chicago, 66-43. The Ramblers advance to face the winner of Drake-Missouri State in Sunday's championship.

Both teams started out defensive, scoring just two points each in the first three minutes. It was a low-scoring game for UNI and Loyola, but the Ramblers were able to create enough distance in the first half to outlast the Panthers in the second half. 

Loyola enters the title game as last season's defending MVC champion. 

AJ Green led UNI with 13 points. Trae Berhow led the Panthers with eight rebounds. 

AJ Green and Noah Carter needed more help vs. Loyola

Mar 5, 2022; St. Louis, MO, USA; Northern Iowa Panthers forward Noah Carter (35) shoots as Loyola Ramblers guard Tate Hall (24) defends during the first half in the semifinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Green was named the MVC Player of the Year for a reason. He and Noah Carter opened tournament play by scoring 17 and 16 points, respectively, against Illinois State on Friday.

But that success did not carry over into Saturday’s game against Loyola.

In the first half, Green and Carter shot a combined 5-for-18 from the field and they were blanked on a combined four 3-point attempts. Green picked up only six points in the opening frame, while Carter scored five points and pulled down just two rebounds.

Northern Iowa's AJ Green (4) heads to the basket as Loyola of Chicago's Ryan Schwieger (13) defends during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament Saturday, March 5, 2022, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

The pair’s 11 points were still close to 50% of UNI’s 23 in the first half, which showed that the Panthers needed more reliable shooting options for those games in which Green and Carter aren’t scoring in the double digits.

Turnover trouble plagues Northern Iowa Panthers

UNI came out pretty strong, at least on defense. The Panthers recorded three steals in the first five minutes, two of which were by Green. Not capitalizing on those opportunities hurt the Panthers, but not as much as their turnovers did.

UNI finished the first half with seven turnovers. For reference, the Panthers only had a total of eight against Illinois State in the quarterfinal matchup. Loyola took advantage of those moments, scoring seven points off UNI turnovers in the first half.

In total, the Panthers finished the game with 12 turnovers.

Loyola of Chicago's Braden Norris (4) heads to the basket as Northern Iowa's Bowen Born (13) defends during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament Saturday, March 5, 2022, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

First-half failure seals semifinal loss for Northern Iowa

The scoring struggles and turnovers in the first half didn’t help UNI in the second. Loyola isn’t the type of team you want to get stuck in a comeback against, and that’s exactly what happened to UNI.

While the Ramblers built a lead, Loyola also did a solid job of preventing UNI from cutting away at it. The Panthers scored 23 points in the first half, which is unusual as of late. UNI scored 40 or more points in the first half of its past four contests.

A lot of that is credited to Loyola’s stingy defense. The Ramblers might have also had a chip on their shoulder after losing the regular season title to UNI in overtime.

With the strength of the Ramblers program, it would’ve been difficult for UNI to stage a significant comeback and knock out a team hoping to win the MVC championship in its final season in the conference. And it was.

Alyssa Hertel is a college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.