DES MOINES | Take one part defensive intensity from the University of Northern Iowa men's basketball team and one part offensive woes from Iowa coming out of halftime.
We've had a taste of both before.
Mix the two together, and it's a sweet night for UNI at the Big Four Classic.
The Panthers leaned on their defense, quickly erased a six-point deficit and allowed just 15 second-half points on the way to a 56-44 victory Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena.
Hawkeye fans, look away from the final numbers. Iowa (8-4) had more turnovers than points for most of the second half. It missed its first nine field goal attempts -- UNI scored the first eight points of the second half to take a lead it would never give back -- and the Hawkeyes went 3 of 24 overall from the field with 10 turnovers in the final 20 minutes.
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Of course, some of the credit goes to the Panthers for really locking in and giving a sellout crowd of 15,124 a show.
"Once you put a couple together, you can really start to feel it," UNI's Seth Tuttle said about the defensive stops. "We did a great job to start the second half and, basically, the whole second half putting one together and then the next one and then the next one."
It's similar to what Iowa did to UNI (10-1) in the first half. The Hawkeyes clogged the lane, kept UNI scoreless for over four minutes and forged a six-point lead.
The Panthers upped the ante coming out of the locker room.
"They definitely ramped it up," said Iowa's Aaron White. "A little disappointing that we didn't ramp it up, as well, defensively."
Tuttle helped multiply the intensity on the other end, as well. The senior was held scoreless in the first half with just one field goal attempt, but scored six quick points to end a personal scoreless streak of 50:31 on the game clock that extended back to last week's game at VCU.
Tuttle finished with just nine points but the game's leading scorers -- Mike Gesell and Paul Jesperson -- only had 10. Tuttle also had eight rebounds and four assists against Iowa's big front line and size advantage down low.
"Play every possession as hard as I could," Tuttle said. "Make the right reads, play defense and rebound the way we needed to tonight."
After giving credit to UNI, Iowa also had to look at itself and a recurring problem -- the inability to make shots. Head coach Fran McCaffery couldn't recall many shots that he didn't like going up, but the team that has battled field goal percentage problems for much of the season didn't see any relief.
And through it all, the Hawkeyes still had a chance as UNI took its time putting the game away. Peter Jok had a chance to make the score 49-44 with over three minutes left, but a wide open 3-point attempt turned into another miss. Mike Gesell closed the gap to six points on the next possession, but that's as close as Iowa got.
"We came in here two years ago and made 12 3s. To beat UNI, you have to make jumpers," McCaffery said.
Deon Mitchell's lay-up gave the Panthers their first double-digit lead with 4:36 to play. Wes Washpun swatted away Aaron White's lay-up attempt with just over a minute to play to protect a 10-point lead.
And now the double-overtime loss at VCU last week is even smaller in the rear-view mirror as the Panthers put away a big victory over an in-state rival that will look good to the NCAA Tournament selection committee in March.
"Moreso, coming off our last game, for our guys to taste success going into Christmas after the VCU game," said UNI head coach Ben Jacobson. "To be able to get in here, for all the reasons everyone knows about, and also for what we're coming off of, that's important for us headed into Christmas."
TOURNEY TALK: UNI has built a fantastic non-conference resume, and, with one game left against South Dakota State left before the Missouri Valley Conference season, couldn't have done much better over the past two months.
Iowa, on the other hand, can hang its hat on a road win at North Carolina, but now has four losses and a lot more question marks heading into the rigorous Big Ten.
"It's one of those where you don't want to be too hard on yourself, but you also have to be honest with yourself and say, 'OK, we have to change some things, get better in some areas,'" said McCaffery.
STATE CHAMPS: Iowa State handled Drake, 83-54, in the opening game of Saturday's doubleheader and the lingering question is what would happen between the Cyclones and Panthers.
Of course, the two teams aren't scheduled to play, but Jacobson fielded the question and quickly pushed it to Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg.
"Ask the Mayor," he quipped. "From what I understand, the Mayor has never been wrong, the Mayor is usually right, so ask him."