UNI cruises to 78-63 victory over Illinois State behind 12 3-pointers

Jackie Carmichael dominated the paint with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks when the Illinois State University men's basketball team hosted the University of Northern Iowa Panthers back on Dec. 29. The Redbirds won that meeting 65-61, with the Panthers shooting just 37.3 percent from the floor and just 32 percent from 3-point range.

Saturday night, the two teams faced off in a rematch in Cedar Falls, with UNI winning 78-63. UNI freshman center Seth Tuttle did a better job limiting Carmichael's scoring this go-around, while also recording his third career double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. The Panthers (17-10, 7-8 MVC) also shot the ball better, making 50 percent (25-for-50) of their attempts on the night including 57.1 percent (12-for-21) from 3-point range. UNI's 12 made 3-pointers matches their season high.

"I'm becoming more confident in what I'm doing," said Tuttle. "I can tell I'm not thinking as much when I'm out there; I'm just reacting. Knowing that the other guys have faith in you, that helps a lot too."

UNI's assault from 3-point land was led by senior guard Johnny Moran, who chipped in with 16 points (4-for-6 on 3's), one point shy of tying his season high.

"It's always nice when your first shot goes down. After that, my teammates just did a good job of finding me and coach (Jacobson) drew up some plays to get me open. My shots felt pretty good tonight," said Moran.

"Johnny (Moran) had a great game. That's fun to see," said UNI head coach Ben Jacobson. "It's been detailed how hard he works. He is in the gym all day every day, making sure that he is ready when he gets an opportunity in the game. Tonight he had a few more opportunities, and his play was very important for us tonight."

The Panthers and Redbirds were tied seven different times throughout the first 12 minutes of action before Illinois State built a slim 30-26 advantage with under six minutes remaining in the first half.

UNI responded with a 19-4 run that carried into the second half and gave the Panthers a 45-34 lead with just over 19 minutes remaining in regulation.

"(UNI is) a hard team to guard when their big guys are making threes. All of the sudden they become a five-guy 3-point shooting team," said ISU head coach Tim Jankovich. "At halftime I felt like we were certainly within striking distance if we played better, but unfortunately, we didn't."

From that point on the UNI lead never dipped below seven points and the Panther lead was never cut to single digits throughout the final 11:27 of action.

Carmichael finished with a double-double, scoring 14 points and grabbing 13 rebounds for the Redbirds (16-10, 8-7 MVC). Bryant Allen chipped in with 17 points off the bench for ISU, who now hold just a slim one-game lead over UNI in the Missouri Valley Conference standings.

The Panthers are currently in sixth place in the MVC at 7-8, but are just one game back of the fourth place Redbirds, and just two games back of the third-place Missouri State University Bears.

UNI returns to action Wednesday night when they face off with the University of Evansville Purple Aces (12-12, 7-7 MVC). Tip-off in Evansville, Ind., is set for 7 p.m.